High School Players Form Team

connections at tournaments build team of rivals

By Ron Cioffi, USTA Southern

Tiffany Meyers celebrates cracking
a winner with teammate.

Ron Cioffi/USTA Southern

This is a team put together by cell phone.

This is a team in which players from four high schools can put aside county rivalries to mesh on the tennis court.

This is a team that invited players who they knew they could have fun with and merged into a tight band.

Jake Welsh and Will Coons were the ringleaders who reached out to high school teammates and cross-county rivals to form the Georgia 18 Advanced team, which won the state championships.

“We found players at tournaments we could feel comfortable, sometimes choosing them over some players who might have been better,” Coons said. “We tried to convince players that we could do well together. Then we got their cell phones when we were playing against each other at tournaments.

“Our goal is to make it to Nationals,” he continued.

Welsh and Coons play No. 1 doubles at Etowah High School in Cherokee County. They don’t seem to mind that two players are from Woodstock High, their arch rivals.

Tiffany Meyers, who plays for Woodstock, said, “We have so much fun together that we’d hang out together even if we weren’t on the same team.”

Two others go to Creekview and Cherokee high schools that are know for not sharing much love when the schools face off.

Welsh described the team’s history. “Some of us have been playing together for years. We’ve played USTA in Jr. Team Tennis since we were 10. Some players look down on Jr. Team Tennis like it’s not as competitive as tournaments. But, that’s not true. A lot of DI players have come out of Jr. Team Tennis.”

“They all just get along so well,” reported Kim Welsh, team captain. “They nuzzle up together and play silly games and just enjoy being together.”