2018 Roster Announcement
The 2018 Tennis Roster Announcement is below. Please read the entire post, rather than simply scanning the names.
Hello all,
First things first. We are humbled by the number of student-athletes that came out and want to be part of our team. Your hard work certainly did not go unnoticed. It is a blessing for Faith to have this many excellent kids want to be a part of our tennis program. We have never had this many people, specifically girls, try out for the team, as we had 30 young ladies at tryouts over the last three days. Unfortunately, Nevada HS Tennis does not have JV teams, and in fact there are many schools that struggle to field the needed nine players for a full Varsity team. In that respect, playing tennis for Faith is a double edged sword, as you have a chance to be on one of the top teams in the city, but the competition is very steep, especially this season.
This is, without question, the toughest set of roster decisions that we have ever had to make. After much careful review and prayer, we have arrived at the decision to go with the following roster numbers for the Boys and Girls teams. We will have 16 on the roster for the boys and 24 on the Active/Travel roster for the girls.
However, thanks to the efforts of two Faith Lutheran Tennis Alumni who have offered their assistance, we will be able to keep all 30 girls that tried out, with six of them designated to be on the Practice Roster. We have never done anything like this before, and the reason we are trying it this year is simple: the talent level of those trying out was simply to good to make cuts. We are 100% convinced that girls on this Practice Roster can compete on the HS level, and as such we wanted to do everything that we could to keep them active in the sport and active with the Faith Tennis program, so when the time comes they will be even more ready for the competitive team. Those on the Practice Roster will come to all practices and all Home matches, but they will not travel with the team to road matches, unless there is an injury, illness, etc - in which case we will ask someone to move onto the active roster for that day, etc. Those six WILL be on the full roster that we submit to the NIAA, and will be eligible to play in home matches should the situation present itself, and thus have the chance to earn a Varsity letter if the required match minimum is met.
These players will predominantly be coached by our alumni volunteers, but there will of course be some time with Coach Jeff, Coach Buskirk, and Coach Keith. There are some other teams in the area with large rosters, and if something is able to be worked out with those school to get some match time for the Practice Roster, then that is something we will absolutely will explore. Bear with us, as this is new to us as well, but we think that this will be a positive experience, and we hope the folks on that roster feel the same way. However, academics are very important, and we acknowledge that there are other opportunities at Faith as well, so if anyone on the Practice Roster feels that her time would be better served in another way, we would understand, although we would be quite sad to not have any of the six as members of the Faith Tennis Team this year. We created this Practice Roster so people WOULD BE WITH US, but we do respect any decision that is made.
If you have come to tryouts and do not see your name on the Girls Active Roster below, then you are on the Practice Roster. (Email Coach Keith for clarification of that if needed.) ALL PLAYERS, Active/Travel and Practice Rosters, should be at practice the rest of this week, and Saturday for Family Fun Night.
With that said, it is time to get to the Rosters, which are listed in alphabetical order. If there are misspellings, please let us know and we will fix it when we submit the final roster to the school.
Boys:
Zack Balliet
Chris Bangan
Maxwell Blum
Alex Brodsky
Nick Cherubino
Hayden Coffing
Christian Conway
Kenneth Dobrev
Stephen Dobrev
Colin Gardner
Carson Holeman
Blake Kelly
Taylor Pettigrew
Carson Richards
Juno Suwanduan
Kevin Zhang
Howard will also be joining us, but he will only be able to practice, not play in matches, due to his transfer status.
Girls Active/Travel Roster:
Naja Allen
Kennedy Barr
Katie Briggs
Eleni Ciulla
Christina Chen
Isabelle Cottingham
Greer DeBoni
Eylse Dulaine
Mira Filaberti
Sarah Fridrich
Hannah Lundgaard
Courtney Martin
Adrianna Martinez
Jade Mayweather
Eden O'Sullivan
Ireland Otto
Megan Parrish
Aliyah Perry
Chloe Pollack
Kelsie Seigle
Kenadee Semenik
Summer Stadtlander
Paige Truman
Arianna VanHouweling
Thank you, and we will see everyone on Wednesday. If anyone has questions about roster status, please allow us to answer them on either Thursday (if Coach Jeff is back by then) or on Friday, as Coach Jeff wants to be able to help answer any such questions.
As always, we thank God for His blessings on our student-athletes, and pray that we honor Him in all we do, both on the court and off.
Go Crusaders!
Coach Jeff
Coach Buskirk
Coach Keith
