This Spring marks Jason Teets’ third year as a Varsity Boys’ Tennis player here at Warren Hills for the 2017-2018 school year.

Teets said he started tennis when he was young by attending summer camps, but it was later when he got serious.

“I really started learning freshmen year from Coach Powers, and from one on one lessons with the former Varsity Coach, Mr. Fiore,” he said. “I go to Courtside Racquet Club, but more for match play practice than learning fundamentals.  I still take lessons from Coach Fiore whenever I get the chance and am also learning under Coach Henning this year.”

Teets has played both doubles and singles over the past two years. His freshman year, he played doubles and ended up being 3-15. He improved the next season of his sophomore year, ending with a record of 5-13. This season, he hopes to improve his record.

Teets said his favorite part of playing tennis is his relationship with his teammates.

“My favorite part, other than winning matches, has always been downtime with the team on bus rides or at events,” he said.  “Over the past three years I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with different teammates who are just fun to be around.  Especially this year I find it harder to stay down after losing a rough match when I get on the bus with the guys, and they’re joking around and having a generally good time.”

 While Teets enjoys his team’s camaraderie, he still prefers to play singles.

“The problem I always had playing doubles was that I always felt that I was letting my doubles partner down or they were letting me down,” he said. “In singles when it’s one on one, I know everything that happens good or bad, is because of me and letting a partner down on the court is not a concern.”

            Going into the season, one of Teets’ goals was to make the quarterfinals at the Hunterdon Warren Sussex Tournament. He accomplished his goal by winning the quarterfinal match.

“It felt great to be able to see and play against the other players,” he said. “I did accomplish this by making the semis. Now with qualifying for states, I am shooting for a winning record.”

Teets said while on the court he uses specific strategies.

“During the course of a match, a lot of thoughts go through my mind, positive and negative about how I’m playing,” he said. “I play my best when I keep those to a minimum and think only about the strategy within points: where I am going to hit my shots, what type of serve I should use, and what are my opponent’s weaknesses.”

Teets gave advice for beginning tennis players.

“You can’t expect to get it right away.  Tennis is all about fundamentals that take a while to develop,” he said. “The best kids I see have been training since they were six or seven, but they didn’t become great players overnight.”