By Samantha Steinberg

Isabelle Seymour is a sophomore at the Westborough High School. As a freshman she made the junior varsity field hockey team in the fall where she could be seen running around the field and always putting in the most effort. During the spring, she tried out for the tennis team and was given a spot on the team becoming the number one player. Seymour says that becoming number one on the tennis team made her realize that “I was actually better than I thought I was.”

Seymour started playing tennis when she was in the third grade and has trained her hardest in order to get where she is today. She practices at the Westborough Tennis and Swim Club with her coach Dan Flanigan. Flanigan has influenced Seymour as a tennis player by his strategies that he offers to her for each match that she plays. In order to prepare for a match Seymour will practice with Flanigan. Seymour says he “gives strategies that help me during a match to play certain people.” When she is not on the court with Flanigan, she is either running on the treadmill, hitting on the courts with her teammates, or participating in tournaments.

Seymour played against the toughest people on each team during the season. She said that “there was a lot of pressure at the beginning, but then I got used to it because people were really supportive.” She would control the pressure by “focusing on each point and not the outcome.” Seymour made sure to control the pressure especially when she was playing her most difficult competitors.

The hardest people that she played against were Darby Kim from Algonquin and Jillian Winer from Nashboa. If Seymour could redo any match, she would choose to redo the first match that she played against Kim. Seymour was not mentally ready the first time she played against her. The next chance that Seymour got to play against Kim she would mentally prepare herself in order to have a better outcome.

Before each match, Seymour would have a routine that would help her during each point. She would mentally prepare herself by thinking “no matter what happens you are going to get another chance.” In order to prepare herself physically she would “practice the day before or right before the match” to make sure she is ready to perform her best strokes. Seymour knew that whatever the outcome of the match was her team would always be beside her to encourage and reassure her that next time she would do better.

Seymour says that she enjoyed being on the tennis team last year because it was a friendly environment. She “felt that the tennis team was tighter than the field hockey team because it was such a smaller team, so we were able to do a lot of things together.” Seymour enjoyed the pasta parties with the other players and just being with the team during practices, matches, and the bus rides.

Seymour is excited to play on the team this coming Spring in 2017 and hopes to have fun again with the other players. Seymour wants freshmen or any newcomers interested to know that it is a friendly atmosphere in order to socialize and enjoy tennis. She also advises players that it is relaxing and to not focus on the score but on having fun and learning.

Seymour hopes to play on the team all four years at Westborough High School and continue to play in college. Her goal for the year is to improve her strokes and perform better against her toughest competitors. Seymour believes that the score doesn’t count; however, working hard and being proactive with the team is an important part of being a good teammate on the Westborough High School girls’ tennis team.