Nicholas Hamlin Tennis Memorial Scholarship

My affair with tennis began when I first witnessed the sport's essence. Sitting courtside on a cold metal bench, entranced by my mom's spirited matches with other adults in their exclusive as she called it “adult scrubs” league. Those mesmerizing experiences marked the birth of my tennis dreams. Filled with excitement, I approached my mom with a simple request: "Can I play tennis, too?" Her response, she encouraged me to watch more, to gauge if my enthusiasm was more than a passing phase or whim. After three months of dedicated spectating, she finally granted me the chance to step onto the court and she paid for tennis lessons. Throughout my middle school years, my tennis journey was defined by a single, unwavering goal: to surpass my mom's tennis prowess. This ambition became the foundation of my passion for the sport and has shaped my identity to this day. I spent countless hours practicing my serves, forehands, and backhands. The thrill of improving my skills, step by step, fueled my dedication to beat my mom on the court. Along the way, I created meaningful friendships with others my age who shared my passion for tennis. Our days weren't just about matches; they were about shared laughter, setbacks, and the excitement of competition. Surprisingly, our bonds extended beyond the tennis court (with occasional corn-maze trips and go-cart racing dates) demonstrating how the sport could spawn off-court moments of gaiety. Tennis has been a mirror reflecting my character, even during life's bitter chapters. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I faced an agonizing tennis elbow injury that turned even the simplest tasks, such as lifting a coffee mug, into a painful ordeal. Coupled with the pandemic and this setback, I had no choice but to take a two-year hiatus from tennis. That break laid bare the profound impact tennis had on my life. The void left by the absence of matches and practices echoed in the emptiness of my social calendar. Many connections within the tennis community waned, and I found myself adrift, uninspired, and struggling for balance. It was a period of self-reflection, a time to truly appreciate the role tennis played in my life. After healing and resuming my tennis journey, a transformative shift occurred in how I perceived the sport. I began to play for enjoyment and not “just to win”. Tennis became my refuge, a stress reliever, a steadying force for my emotions, and a vehicle for maintaining physical fitness. I cherished the cool feel of the racquet grip, the sound of the ball striking the strings, and the satisfying thump of a successful serve. These sensory experiences became more cherished. My interactions with tennis and its community not only taught me about diverse personalities on and off the court but also insights about myself. To my younger self, tennis was a vehicle to surpass my mom, but as I matured, It transcended being a passion; it became a wonderful journey. Tennis is not just a sport, it's an intricate tapestry of self-discovery, memories, and friendships that continue to enrich my life with each rally and each match. Tennis has imparted lessons in perseverance, a quality akin to the enduring spirit required in tennis matches, a lesson I can now apply to life's twists and turns. As I continue to play tennis, I aim to extend this ethos of self-improvement to my other passions in life, understanding that one can stumble upon something and leave armed with prescriptions that can lead to a better version of yourself.

Becoming more than just a sport to me, tennis has taught me a lot. I have not just learned on how to play the sport with better strategies, I have learned a lot about myself. Joining tennis my sophomore year in high school had set me at a disadvantage, regarding my development of skill. Although it is perceived as late to just have picked up the sport, it was the perfect time for me. Mentally, I was in a position where my thoughts would consistently guide me to negative spaces. I knew I needed an outlet, and I found the right one. As a child, I was unathletic and overweight, which made me uncomfortable with who I was. The sport had caught my attention in middle school, but I did not develop a drive or passion for the sport until high school. The day I finished my freshman year of high school, I knew I needed to start my tennis career, I did not want to wait any longer. Fortunately, my mom had found a private coach who assistant-coached tennis for a local men’s Division II collegiate team, at Mckendree University. The coach helped build the foundation for me making my high school tennis team. From my experience on the junior varsity tennis team for my high school had opened my eyes. I would constantly observe the varsity girls, admiring their drive, which had helped me set goals to carry out in my own tennis career. After making the tennis team, I achieved the first step into developing more goals for my tennis experience. My goal for my junior tennis season was to make the varsity team. With that goal in mind, I had found a new private coach who was the head coach for a different local college tennis team, at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC). In the off season and summer, I took the insights I gained from that coach and earned my spot on the varsity team. Not only did I make the varsity team, I was the fifth seeded player for my school, which was exciting to have a position, rather than just barely making it on. Knowing that many varsity seniors would be graduating, I knew there was room for me to move up the roster during my senior year, as long as I put in the effort. My next goal was to be the number one seeded player on my high school team. Over that off season, I joined an indoor tennis club to play when it was cold, and played tennis over half of my summer. When I was not playing tennis, I was increasing my fitness by conditioning. When the challenge matches came around for team positions, I left them being the number one seeded player for my school’s girls tennis team, alongside being head captain. Tennis has shaped me as a stronger individual who strived for progres. Changing who I was, tennis helped me for the better. I became disciplined and a more goal oriented individual. In addition to that, I gained lots of leadership experiences and many unbreakable bonds with my teammates. All the experiences I have gained are invaluable. From the excitement of my wins, to needing to keep my head up after losses, tennis is something that I would not trade for anything. Forever being my escape, the courts will always be calling my name.

From my first week of playing tennis, I knew I would fall in love with the sport. My school district did not offer tennis before high school, so my tennis journey started during my first year of high school. For the past four years, tennis has been the most meaningful activity in my life. I experienced the highest of highs while playing tennis and learned several priceless lessons. My tennis experience started rough. The day after my first match, my tennis season was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I did not even get a month into playing tennis before the pandemic took everything, and I could not play for months. I had prepared immensely to play competitively during the season but was restricted by having surgery. Three months before my second tennis season, I had surgery on my spine to cure my scoliosis. While I still competed during that season, I was not performing at the same level as before. I will battle the effects of the spinal surgery for the rest of my life. When playing tennis, I can not twist my torso and hips as much to hit powerful groundstrokes. This lack of mobility was initially a significant disadvantage against my competitors because my hits were easier to receive. I was dissatisfied with my tennis abilities, so I got personalized help to refine my tennis strategies. My former tennis coach taught me to highlight my strengths as a competitor and minimize my weaknesses. I have high stamina from playing sports throughout my entire life. I learned that I do not have to win the point as quickly as possible; I only have to keep the ball in play until my competitor makes a mistake. I do not have to hit the ball hard and fast to keep playing the point. Accuracy and precision became my main focuses in practice. I prioritized hitting the ball in places that would make it difficult for my opponent to return the hit. This strategy was the most effective while playing singles matches because there is less court that one person can cover compared to two. To add power back into my groundstrokes, I learned to lift my back leg during my follow-through to compensate for my little mobility. This adjustment allows me to gain force from the twisting motion without only twisting my upper body. My tennis capabilities improved significantly after learning to highlight my strengths and minimize my weaknesses. This tennis season, I made second doubles on my school's varsity team. Previously, the highest level I had competed at was high JV. Aside from tennis, I have highlighted my strengths and minimized my weaknesses in the classroom. While studying for a subject, I will try to relate the concepts I comprehend to the information that confuses me to better my understanding of all of the facts. In the past, I would drill myself on unfamiliar topics until I forced a basic understanding. I have saved hours of studying using this new method, and my test scores have reflected the increase in my comprehension. This study technique should serve me well in college, where time management is vital to academic success. Looking back at my journey, I am proud that I persevered through my hardships. With the funds from this scholarship, I can use the lesson I learned in tennis to help me be successful in college. I intend to play tennis along with majoring in engineering. I am excited to see what new lessons I can learn from playing my favorite sport.

For the past five years, tennis has been an integral part of my life. Played by multiple other relatives, tennis is a family sport which was my introduction to the tennis world of support and compassion, as well as how fortunate I am to have access to it. I must recognize my privilege in being able to play tennis. Tennis is not an easily approached sport, given the rudimentary $100 cost of acquiring a racket. In addition, teams and tournaments often have fees to join that can quickly add up. Prospective players must have access to an open court to play, which is rare in cities and seldom free of cost. Tennis is not abundant in money, attention, and resources outside of the professional sphere, so it is difficult to help those who cannot afford to play. Based on my own experience, tennis is the sport at my school that receives the least care from our athletic department. Last spring, we earned the best record of any spring sport, yet we still had our administrators complaining about having to support us. This inequality is made worse by the fact I play on a girls' team because these sports are disproportionately excluded from resource allocation and attention. Over my five years with this sport, I have witnessed some of its greatest heartbreaks. Teammates of mine have played with broken and cheap rackets, used beat-up sneakers instead of proper tennis shoes, and had incorrect gear. I watched my teammates have to put themselves at greater risk of injury or give up the sport entirely as they were unable to afford it. It has been my pleasure to teach many people how to play tennis or to improve their skills since my sophomore year, and it has been my privilege to provide coaching feedback to my teammates and fellow players for free. I joined the boys' team as a manager at the beginning of my junior year. In this role, I continued to give feedback and coaching to the players. I continued as a manager for the boys' team and led the team's social media during my senior year. I used social media as a method to recruit potential players and encourage participation. Higher team participation would lead to more funding and resources from the school and district, meaning that, hopefully, the inequality would lessen. The wealth gap in this sport is disheartening and unfortunate, but it is an issue I want to continue to work on whenever possible. As a result of seeing people who lack these opportunities due to money or resources, I strive to live a life of service to others. At some point, I hope to work with women and underrepresented communities within the world of sports. The work I have started to do is nowhere close to finished because there are still a plethora of instances of inequality within tennis. When I play the sport for my final time this spring, I will likely have teammates facing obstacles. Service has been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember which compels me to help those less fortunate than myself. There is true kindness in giving to others. As Luke 6:31 instructs, “do to others as you would have them do to you.” In kindergarten, it is taught that this is the golden rule that we should follow. However, I believe and want to show that charity is a cardinal duty of being human. Helping others has been my past and present, and I am determined to make it part of my future.