The boy’s tennis team is looking forward to a successful second half of their tennis season. After a promising start including several commanding victories over North Thurston and Peninsula among others.

The team has been an important part of Capital High School in both excellence in their sport, and in the culture of the school. The team has close to 50 members which makes it one of the biggest athletic programs at Capital, and they have also been dominant for the past couple of years.

Tennis has been a strong point in Capital’s athletic programs in the past decade, culminating in 2021 where they went 14-0 going undefeated. However, the tennis team is still strong, with a large roster led by seniors Ryan Jansen, Kaloyan Menser, and Preston Solis. The future is looking bright for the team because of their strong underclass group. Ryan Jansen said, “I believe in our new freshmen, they are going to be able to turn this around again and make our team undefeated for the next coming years.” Hopefully, the Capital team can continue dominating with that strong freshman class for the next 4 years and beyond.

In addition to being a highly successful team, one of the biggest impacts of the boy’s tennis team around the school is the community it builds, both Ryan and Preston mentioned a sense of family that builds within the team as the season progresses. Preston said that his favorite part of the team was, “by the end of the year we become a family, and the freshmen get included”. This sense of family and togetherness fosters a safe, supportive environment for all of the players including freshmen, who may need that sense of support coming into high school. Ryan also felt that sense of family, “It’s like we’re a family, everyone is really close, everyone is really nice” Sports are a great way to bring a community better, and it seems like the tennis team is doing a great job of that, by winning, but also by forming bonds between everyone involved.

The boy’s team has their hopes set high for the rest of their season, as they think they can make it to state. The future is also bright for the team because of their strong freshman presence who Ryan hoped could continue to build on the success of the team, and continue bettering the community surrounding the team.