Q&A: Topeka captain Danielle Thoele shares team’s journey to spot in Section Championships

How did your season go?

We were all starting our first USTA season ever, so everything was new. From setting lineups to traveling for matches, the indoor season was a lot of firsts. We lost our first team matches and that was incredibly humbling. But we didn’t let that loss stop us! We kept working and keeping our nose down and got better.

When we won the indoor season, we felt better prepared for the outdoor season. Our team had to shift slightly for outdoor due to availability, but we all had one goal: going to sectionals. I’m a bit of a data nerd, so I watched to see when we would secure the spot to go to sectionals. It was really fun and incredible to watch this group of women work together toward one goal and have so much fun in the process.  

What was your experience at sectionals?

We had a lot of friends within the Topeka tennis community who we talked to about sectionals and what to expect. It was as they had described, but also so different from what we expected. Of course we were there to play tennis, but no one can prepare you for the buzz that is sectionals.

It was really cool to see so many people all there to play. We were, at first, a little bummed to play at a different site; however, the courts were fantastic and it was a really nice venue. Our schedule worked out so we could also pop in and watch some matches from other members of the Topeka tennis community.

Our team played hard and played the best we could, but we didn’t come out on top. We had a lot of fun, though, and we look forward to making it back again!

What are your future tennis plans?

I plan to continue to play and hopefully improve. I’ve become a little addicted to the game, so I won’t be stopping anytime soon! Hopefully our team will mostly stay intact for the next season.

Anything else you’d like to share, please do!

I’ve had the blessing and honor of captaining what I believe to be one of the best teams out there. Every person on my team played with an incredible amount of heart and encouraged each other throughout the seasons. They’ve worked hard together to get to the point we had this past season. I very much look forward to seeing where we go next (perhaps Nationals in 2025?).