Topher Tennis

02/16/2025

Friends, Jett Drouillard was working hard on his serves in a church gym today. Follow Jett's example and find creative ways to prepare your game for our first week of matches coming soon!
**1 day left to order uniforms. https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/Qzd7oVvZsx
**21 of our 27 athletes have completed their order. Let's get it done!
**15 days till our first tennis match away against MTCS for Varsity & JV
**16 days till our first home district tennis match against rival Warren County!!!

Practice Outlook:
Monday - Optional Chilly outdoor practice 3-5pm
Tuesday - Optional Chilly outdoor practice 3-5pm
Wednesday - No Tennis
Thursday - Indoor Tennis till 4:45pm
Friday - Chilly Challenge Matches Outdoors

02/15/2025

Friends, it was a great day on the tennis courts. We appreciate all the love shown between players even while you were on opposing sides of the net. We're going to be well prepared for our first matches!

*3 days left to order uniforms. https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/Qzd7oVvZsx
*17 days till our first tennis match away against MTCS for Varsity & JV
*18 days till our first home district tennis match against rival Warren County!!!

Coaches were impressed with several positives from today.
*All players were able to score their own singles match by the end challenge practice!
*We loved hearing some of the scorekeepers' constructive feedback to their teammates after the match. Sharing is caring!
*Even when scores didn't go the way someone wanted, we always saw mutual respect. Thank you!
*Players felt comfortable with asking coaches for rules clarifications.
For the most part, scores were called loud and clear. We appreciate you!
*We incurred no extra injuries today!
*Two of our players on the injured list have been at all four practices this week!!!! That's awesome!

Next week
*Monday - no school but optional practice at 3:30pm
*Tuesday - no school but optional practice at 3:30pm
*Thursday- mandatory practice at 3:30pm - the weather shows a high of 23 degrees, so we will try to reserve a gym for indoor play.
*Friday - challenge matches if good weather from 3:30pm - 5pm

WCHS Tennis Players******
We are proud of you and your challenge matches today! It was a good look into the start of our season. We're excited for the growth we've seen!

If you would like personal teaching time with me in private lessons, I am available some on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Parents are welcome. Some could use extra time to work on specific strokes such as serves and backhands. Book an hour or two on my website at: https://www.tophertennis.net/lessons-1

Be blessed tennis friends. We love because HE first loved us!

02/11/2025

WCHS Athletes and Families, purchasing instructions on our WCHS Tennis Shop is here! Deadline is next Monday, February 17th.

Friends, it's finally here! Our WCHS Tennis Shop is open online for you to purchase any of the tennis items you're interested in. Here are some things you need to know before you click the link to go to the shop. 1. We are willing to purchase one of the BSN uniform tops from the shop, BUT if we purc...

02/04/2025

Our first practice is next Monday, February 10th from 3:30pm to 5pm. We look forward to having our whole team together for this practice! We will still have optional practices this week on Tuesday and Thursday, weather permitting.

Strings: We've been stringing a lot of tennis racquets in the last week ever since the weather turned warmer. You will likely want your strings redone sometime before our first match in March. You can get your racquets restrung at Fairfield Glade and Topher Tennis.
Racquets:
SHOES: Let us know if you are looking to buy more shoes. We DO NOT recommend FILA tennis shoes. We bought our first FILA's in December for Gabriel and Ethan to try out. Within two months of slow winter play, both have worn their soles smooth. The FILA's lacked durability in this year's model. It's still hard to be the Nike and Adidas hardcourt lines of shoes as far as durability is concerned.
Women's on Tennis Point - There are several KSWISS shoes for $40 here: https://www.midwestracquetsports.com/womens-sale-tennis-shoes/c/500064/
Men's on Tennis Point - Several KSWISS for less than $50. https://www.midwestracquetsports.com/mens-sale-tennis-shoes/c/500063/
Women's on Tennis Warehouse - Several Adidas are on sale here: https://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Womens_Clearance_Tennis_Shoes/catpage-WCOSHOES.html
Men's on Tennis Warehouse - Nike has some Vapor-Lite2's for under $70. https://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Mens_Clearance_Tennis_Shoes/catpage-MCOSHOES.html

01/30/2025

Our friends, looks like our optional practice will be rained out today. There is a 93% chance of rain today and the chances will persist throughout the day all the way to practice. We now have 11 days until our first mandatory practice on February 10th and 33 days until our first home match on March 4th against Warren County. Let's go!
Make sure to follow our Instagram for all our updates!
https://www.instagram.com/wchs_warrior_tennis?igsh=MWdvMTVsYXY4bmhlcg==

01/27/2025

We have 37 days until our first home match against district rival Warren County. We have 15 days until our first official practice on February 10th. The weather looks good for optional practice this week on Monday and Tuesday. 40% chance of rain on Thursday. Monday will be open play and anything any student wants to work on. Tuesday and Thursday will be a return to singles and doubles strategies. Let's go!

01/12/2025

Big thanks to the Moore family for creating our snowy teammates!

12/12/2024

WCHS Tennis Christmas Party coming up on Monday!
https://www.tophertennis.net/post/tennis-christmas-party

12/02/2024

Alrighty friends. I know we do need to practice in the cold to be ready for matches in the beginning of March, but at 4pm tomorrow we're forecasted for 35degrees with a real feel of 30 degrees. If we feel below freezing, optional practices will be called off. Tuesday and Thursday we're looking at similar weather. We'll let you know what we're up to based on the forecast. PS, there might be some snow flurries tomorrow night!

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving Day friends! We've got a lot to be thankful for. Great athletes, great parents, great health, great coaches! We're so blessed! I hope you are blessed in your Thanksgiving preparations.
https://www.tophertennis.net/post/black-friday-turkey-tennis-deals

I know it's the time to purchase tennis gear and it gets really hard to know what to purchase. I've looked through my two most trusted retailers and the best prices and markdowns. If you're purchasing on a budget, I'm including a listing of all the tennis racquets, shoes, bags, and apparel that caught my eye. As far as racquets go, these are the most discounted frames from brands that I trust that have a long track record. There's a lot of other good frames that are not on this list, but these are the best markdowns I'm spotting for this season. I'm surprised to see Solinco offer it's first sale on racquets (I love an American based company). Oh, and those Prince Twistpowers look really intriguing with the new technology! Check it out!
https://www.tophertennis.net/post/black-friday-turkey-tennis-deals

11/19/2024

Friends, the courts aren't going to dry in enough time for us to be able to have practice today. Remember that wet courts are a hazard. I was told yesterday of a high school tennis player in the Upper Cumberland who tore an ACL while sliding on a wet tennis court.

We will have optional doubles strategy practice on Thursday.

11/11/2024

This video shows in short order some of the key concepts I work on with some of our students in developing more power from the body on the serve. This is a worthwhile video to burn into your memory banks!

10/28/2024

Happy Halloween athletes! Here's a look at the week ahead including no practice on Thursday. Make sure to signup for the Wheelchair Tournament Trip! https://www.tophertennis.net/post/sign-up-for-wheelchair-tennis-tournament

10/24/2024

We still have a few tickets left if you'd like to help put the fun in Fundraiser! Message me if you would like a ticket.

10/21/2024

Athletes, welcome back from Fall Break! We hope you have been blessed! Come to practices ready to tell a highlight from your break. Those positives are moments we can use on the court to shift momentum. Also, the tennis team is responsible for bringing potato chips to the fundraiser for dinner. Here's a quick look at the week ahead.
Monday
Greet your 8am teacher with a smile, whether you want to or not!
Turn in those Fundraiser ticket sales to Coach Hawkins in her office.
3:30pm Optional Practice focused on Individual Skills - Let's Go!
Figure out who toilet papered my house on Saturday night (the cross country team). Then plot to get fun revenge on the perps (cross country team).
Sign Up to Volunteer for the Wheelchair Tennis Tournament - https://www.tophertennis.net/post/sign-up-for-wheelchair-tennis-tournament
Tuesday
3:30pm Singles Optional Practice - Strategy - BEATING A PUSHER
Sign Up to Volunteer for the Wheelchair Tennis Tournament - https://www.tophertennis.net/post/sign-up-for-wheelchair-tennis-tournament
Thursday
3:30pm Doubles Optional Practice - Learn 5 NET MOVES
4:30pm - Go set up for the Fundraiser Dinner from 5pm-8pm
Sign Up to Volunteer for the Wheelchair Tennis Tournament - https://www.tophertennis.net/post/sign-up-for-wheelchair-tennis-tournament
I had a great time this weekend at the USTA Doubles Tennis State Championships. Our Upper Cumberland Team finished 5th out of 6 teams, which is a step up for us! The other regions are Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Murfreesboro. These are all bigger tennis communities with bigger tennis resources than the Upper Cumberland. So, in the last couple of years we've built a team to play in the State Championships (Think of this like a baseball All-Star tournament). This year we beat Chattanooga and gave Murfreesboro a good run! That's great progress. We had a men's team and a women's team, pictured in a previous post. It was a blast and I look forward to this competition every year! There are opportunities for you to keep playing tennis easily into your adult years!

Here's a 15 second point of my partner and me playing in the Adam's Tennis Complex in the USTA State Championships Indoors. Thanks to Krysta for filming some highlights!
https://youtu.be/twuazfG4RjU

USTA State Championships with Dennis!

10/19/2024

Our Upper Cumberland men's and women's teams playing in the state championship doubles! These are such great people to enjoy a wonderful sport with!