A season like none other

It was a question Phil Harder heard throughout the summer.

"Will we get to play?"

For the head coach of Green River High School's tennis teams, it was a question he didn't know the answer to. The spring sports season, which includes a tennis season, was canceled once the coronavirus pandemic hit Wyoming and while the team was able to have summer workouts, nobody knew if they would even have a fall season.

That lingering uncertainty didn't keep athletes from showing up. Harder said his students showed up, ready and eager to participate in the activities he had planned. For many students, those workouts were one of the few activities they could participate in during the pandemic. Many students even practiced outside of their summer drills. Harder, who lives near the high school, said he would often see the tennis court lights shining at night from his house.

"I'd look out there and wonder who was playing so late," Harder said.

When the fall season was finally approved, the team, its coaches and the players' parents quickly got to work to ensure they would remain healthy and compliant with the new, COVID-19-compliant rules. Team dinners took on a new look as pizza was often ordered for the team and handed out by masked parents wearing gloves. Players and their families would maintain at least 6 feet apart during team functions, spreading out near the tennis courts in the days leading up to their first competition.

"They wanted to be there and it showed," Harder said.

Missing spring tennis put every player at a disadvantage because they didn't have a chance practice the strategy involved in match play. Harder said the coaches worked it into the practices leading up to the season and said players also played friendly matches amongst each other outside of school.

A different experience

For their first matches of the season, the team visited Jackson and the different atmosphere they would be competing under was apparent almost immediately. Harder said students were required to complete a COVID-19 questionnaire and had to undergo temperature checks throughout the day. Harder was required to carefully track who students were in contact with throughout the day for possible contact tracing. They wore face masks on the bus and, once arriving in Jackson, played without spectators. For competitions in Wyoming's resort town, the team usually have a chance to visit some of the attractions in Jackson. That opportunity wouldn't come this year, as the team left for Green River as soon as their matches concluded.

Harder said the team didn't complain about the COVID-19 procedures and complied with all of the requests made of them and through the season, players made the effort to remain as safe as possible. Harder said no one wanted to be the person to end the team's season prematurely and treated each chance to play as their last.

The dedication saw improvement across the entire team, with the team of Emmie Archibald and Kaylee Carson exemplifying the improvement he seen. Harder said the duo was placed in No. 3 doubles last year and moved their way to the top doubles spot for the Lady Wolves this year. They ultimately took second at Regionals and placed fourth at State.

Also playing for the Lady Wolves were Gabrielle Heiser and Megan Counts, who played for No.1 and No. 2 singles respectively. The two took second place at Regionals, with Heiser taking fourth at state and Counts finishing fifth.

For the No. 2 doubles team of Alicia Harrison and Kayde Strauss, Harder said he was impressed with Strauss' ability to pick up the game as it was her first time playing tennis.

She and her teammate were able to synch up and improve throughout the season, ending with a third-place showing at State.

The third doubles team of Kiley Strange and Ali Brown also impressed Harder because the two had worked hard to reach the varsity level, coming from the junior varsity team last year. In their first year playing varsity, the duo finished second at Regionals and State. Overall, the girls finished second in their conference and took fourth at State.

"They battled hard," Harder said.

For the boys, the No. 2 doubles team of Braxton Cordova and Zach Friel took the state championship in their division. Harder said the team took an important loss while playing against Cheyenne Central in a match that would determine the No. 1 seed at Regionals. The loss ended up inspiring the duo to play differently. He said the two are not the tallest or strongest players on the team, but emphasized placement over power as they played.

"You talk about losses being bad, but they learned from that loss," Harder said.

The team later beat the Cheyenne Central players at Regionals, which they also took top honors at.

For Caeden Grubb and Connor Friel in boys singles No.1 and No. 2 respectively, Grubb would take third at regionals and make the All-State list at State while C. Friel was the conference champ and the regional runner up in his division.

The doubles No. 1 team of Camden Nelson and Domenick Kunkle took first in the conference and at Regionals. The doubles No. 3 team of Jon Ty Leininger and Jake Findlow also managed to impress Harder. The two took first place in the conference and Regionals. The boys team were the Regional champions and finished fifth at state.

The support from coaches

Harder was named the 4A South Boys Tennis Coach of the Year, an accolade he's received several times for coaching the boys and girls teams. Harder is quick to point out the award speaks volumes about the students he coaches, as well as the assistant coaches working with him.

Andy Trumble, who was a former head tennis coach for Green River, and Bradley Skinner, the high school's performing arts teacher, join Harder as the team's coaching staff. Harder sees Trumble as a unifying glue for the team.

"Andy does so good with relationships," he said. "He's such a unifying personality."

Harder describes Skinner as an eternal optimist who works to spread that optimism to everyone around him. Skinner created a hype video for the students at the start of the season, featuring the song "Here Comes the Boom" by Nelly. Harder said the song became an anthem for the players throughout the season. The team motto was "hitting harder than 2020." While most conversations about sports often devolves into discussion about the winners, the losers and who best played the game, the wins and losses don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. It's the relationships built upon the shared experience of improving oneself and the life lessons learned along the way that will stick with high school athletes. To that end, a global pandemic and the possibility of not having a season underscored the importance of those lessons for the players.

During the team banquet at the end of the season, Harder said the common theme during the senior send-off was players talking about the relationships they created while playing tennis, not the final win-loss tally.

"That really stuck out to me, it was about them being around each other," Harder said. "(The season) placed a new emphasis on mental health. Relationships are crucial and our kids figured it out."