Eastside Catholic’s tennis program had a tough 2022 season. With a record of 3-10 and a total of just 16 individual wins, spirits were lower than Coach Trista Campbell would have liked. Despite that, Campbell had high hopes for the next season.
One of the main reasons for her optimism was that she knew that Aidan Conley and his brother Owen Conley (featured in a previous MPA article), both nationally ranked players, were going to enter her program. Aidan and Owen, already sought-after recruits when coming to Eastside Catholic in the fall of 2023, would be relied upon to spearhead the resurgence of Campbell’s tennis program.
Campbell is quick to recognize her good fortune in welcoming the Conleys to EC.
“To get ranked nationally, it’s a really, really big deal. So they’ve put in the work.”
Although Aidan Conley is nationally ranked, he feels like his teammates see him as just another tennis player.
“I didn’t feel any different than if I never played a national tournament. I don’t think it would have felt any different if I had never played tennis before.”
Going into the Metro League postseason, the twins both had amazing regular-season records. Coach Campbell says that this was a special year for EC Tennis, sending two great players into the Metro League tournament.
“The result of [the regular season success] was we had players go further in Metros than we’ve ever had in the past. Normally, we’re out in the first round, but we had players going to the second, third rounds.
Aidan went undefeated the whole season and actually ended up having to play his brother and doubles partner in the Metro League final. While both brothers are fueled by competition, Aidan said that, although he lost, “[competing against his brother] was a great feeling, I mean, getting to play him, I think that’s something I’ll remember for a while. [Coach Campbell] got the balls from our first two sets [from the Metro championship] and put them in like a little glass cage, like a trophy.”
The thoughtful gifts highlight Campbell’s intent to make her players feel special.
Building a community has always been something Campbell has prided herself on.
“One thing I would say is that this is my sixth year of coaching, and I think the one thing we try to focus on more than anything is kind of creating a community environment.”
Her community is known as “the village.”
“We call [the team] ‘the village’ because it is a place where all of the players, no matter what skill level, can feel a part of the community.”
This “village” allowed these young additions to the team to feel included in their community. Young tennis player Aidan Conley states, “Yeah, after the first week, I really felt like I was part of the village.”
With this growing sense of community, Campbell is hoping to create a better place for her players and a spot that promotes team building and tennis skills.
Coach Campbell does a lot of team-building exercises that are there to help her team get closer to each other. Every one of these team-building exercises was made to help get the team closer together. “We start with open courts, but for all the new kids coming in, we do a huge kickoff kind of, we have a big swim party and then the parents come and the new players come. And that’s kind of where it starts to kick it off as getting them to know each other.”
These team-building experiences were a good way for the players to get closer to their teammates. One of these places was getting to go to Indian Wells. “It’s an amazing experience to be in a high school team and get to go to a professional tennis tournament. I don’t think any other school can say that, but, you know, going there was just a great team-bonding experience.”
Coach Campbell takes the team extremely seriously, and she will look at what the player stands for before she looks at their skills. “The number one nationally rated player could walk in the door and i wouldn’t take him if had a bad attitude.” Creating this positive place helps the players out a lot.
Campbell’s coaching style focuses a lot on the mental side of the game as well. She claims that, “Our coaching is more about, kind of the mental side to the game because that’s equally as important as your skill set.”
Players took to this coaching style well; “She focused on the mental side, and honestly, it’s said that mental is 80% of your tennis, and your tennis is only 20%, because if you can’t think on the court, you’re never going to be a good tennis player.”
This sent Conley and his brother through to the districts, where the twins ended up pulling out some wins and were able to achieve a spot in the state.
Conley said to get into state was a “Great feeling. I was definitely happy, you know, Metro, our division, and you know, KingCo, there’s some very strong players.”
The twins ended up getting a second-place finish and being semifinalists in the end. They definitely have something in store for us in the upcoming years.
Although she didn’t get the state win that she was hoping for, Coach Campbell knows her players are capable of winning a state championship. When asked if she thinks that the freshman can get a win in the state in the upcoming years, she said, “Yeah, I definitely knock on wood. Don’t want to jinx it. But yeah, to be this close as freshmen is a ginormous deal.”
Conley also sees this in the EC team’s future, “Oh yeah, for sure. Next three years, we’ll have a state winner, 100%.”
Conley states, “Well, I think we were both still pretty happy. My brother, you know, was a little bit more upset than me, he was obviously up a lot, so, it was harder for him.” When asked how he felt after him and his brother came so close to a state championship.
Going into next year the team and coaching staff have high hopes. Both the coaching staff and the players see a state championship win in their future.
Coach Campbell says “Got everybody just ramped up and everybody worked really hard in the off season, but yeah, to be this close as freshmen is a ginormous deal.” Clearly having faith that her players will bring home a state championship within the upcoming years.
The new tennis courts that were just recently added at EC’s campus were a major help, according to coach Campbell.
Within that next year, the team went all the way up to fourth place, bringing home a third-place finish for the team in the state tournament. They also boosted their individual wins by 26. This isn’t all from the freshman, but they definitely played a role in this.
Coach Campbell and her mental-based coaching style helped her players get the best performance that EC tennis has ever seen. The young freshman are just getting settled into the new style of coaching and the new changes that high school brings.
Luckily for Coach Campbell, it looks like the rough years are slowly coming to a close, but the future of this Eastside Catholic team right now is not certain. They definitely hold high hopes for the future. This young Eastside Catholic team is a force to be reckoned with, and in the upcoming years, it certainly won’t be left out of the conversation of a state championship win.
