The boys tennis team huddles in the middle of the court as Coach Jeremy Rohrbach calls an end to warm-ups. Coach Rohrbach begins explaining the plan for practice and congratulating everyone for making it through the first week of practice.
Coach Rohrbach has been part of the boys’ tennis coaching staff for eight years and the 2024 boys tennis team is the largest one he has seen yet. With this Coach Rohrbach has watched more and more love pour into the sport by the players
“This year we have the biggest team in school history at 36,” Coach Rohrbach said. “A lot more guys are getting interested and working hard in the offseason … just kind of falling in love with the sport, it’s a fun thing to see.”
Throughout his years’ at FHC Coach Rohrbach has stayed true to his values and he has always made sure to look for players who are good people as opposed to only prioritizing skill. He follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Coach Harris, who always made sure his team had good sportsmanship.
“Coach Harris always said ‘compete with class,’” Coach Rohrbach said. ”So one of our big things is win or lose you need to show good character and class on the courts.”
“In a player I look for someone who wants to work hard, has a good attitude, and is just willing to help.” Coach Rohrbach said
One exciting thing about this season is that there is a very large group of incoming freshman who are beginning to exemplify Coach Rohrbach’s values.
One of these boys is freshman Kyle Behlmann, who within his first year as a Spartan has already earned the number five spot on varsity. Behlmann prioritizes consistency and hopes to encourage his teammates to do the same.
“The most important part of practice is just making sure you have that consistency,” Behlmann said, “I feel like consistency is better than power in the long run.”
Another player who shares a similar sentiment to Behlmann is senior Jerome Carnigal, who has been playing for the past three years. Carnigal’s mindset for his final season as a Spartan is not quite the same as what it used to be as his goals have changed as he’s improved.
“In the beginning I just tried to improve as a player and simply return the ball,” Carnigal said, “Now that I’ve gotten that down I try to actually hit winning shots and just have consistency.”
Carnigal has learned the importance of consistency through experience since he participated in multiple matches and seen multiple different playing styles.
“I think being able to practice consistency is important because you can have good shots, but the more consistent players will probably win most of the time,” Carnigal said.
Overall the boys tennis team has begun paving the way for Spartan success on and off the court with the implementation of their core values of consistency and character.
