Five members

of the Peachtree City Tennis Center's High Performance program went to

Arizona over Christmas to play in the Super Nationals. The players are

of varying ages and had to qualify for the tournament in different tournaments

around the country. Though tennis is an individual sport, there is little

doubt that the High Performance program is a team focused on helping each

other become the best tennis players they can be.

To qualify

for the Super Nationals, players have to be in the top 128 players in

the nation in their age group. The five players that qualified for the

Super Nationals were Starr's Mill junior Jenny Shular, McIntosh junior

Priscilla Roberts, Rising Starr eighth-grader Michael Browder, Booth seventh-grader

Nathan She and St. Paul Lutheran sixth-grader Kevin King. Shular and Roberts

qualified for the tournament by placing fifth and sixth respectively in

the Girls 18 National Open in Pensacola, Fla., while Browder and King

qualified by playing in the Boys 14 National Open in Arlington, Texas.

King toppled the number one seed in the tournament and finished in the

top 12, while Browder finished in the top 16. She placed sixth in the

Boys 12 National Open, which was held in Augusta.

The team practices

four days a week and every other weekend, along with attending one tournament

a month. Other members of the program include Nancy Peaden, a senior at

Woodward Academy who will attend and play for Auburn University in the

fall, Rebecca Timmis, a junior at McIntosh High School and Link Leskowski,

a sophomore from Macon, Ga. who makes the trek up to Peachtree City for

practices. Leskowski is ranked number one in the south in her age group

and toppled the top seed in the Junior International Orange Bowl.

Both King and

Browder have been playing tennis for years and have traveled to a large

portion of the country to play in tournaments. They enjoy the fact that

their success in tennis is based on their individual efforts and that

there is always room for improvement. King knocked off the sixth seed

in the Super Nationals, while going 3-2 in the tournament. Browder went

1-2 and is aiming to break the top 50 in his age group.

Shular and

Roberts have played frequently as doubles partners, though each spring

they face each other with their respective high school teams. Last year

both McIntosh and Starr's Mill's girls tennis teams made the final four

of the state playoffs. The girls enjoy the sport because they can play

it forever and they really enjoy the camraderie of the program. In fact,

aside from sightseeing when they travel to out of state tournaments, they

enjoy meeting a lot of the same players in each tournament. Roberts has

reached as high as 42nd in the nation in her age group, while Shular reached

75th.

The program

is coached by Jon Reeves and Sean Ferreira, who share in their players

successes. They are optimistic that many of the players will receive college

scholarships.

"The members

of this program work together a lot and compete and play against each

other to make themselves better players," said Reeves. "They

spend a lot of time together." Ferreira agreed, adding, "Though

they play as individuals, this is a team."

Back

to the Top of the Page