Girls Tennis Team Serves St. Louis Life

This fall, the St. Dominic high school girls tennis team gave back to the St. Louis Life residents by putting on tennis practices for the residents and inviting them to be an honorary guests at their tennis matches. St. Louis Life is a residential program for adults with developmental disabilities, where residents are able to work and live in the community.

We caught up with Head Coach Mark Borst for more information about how they connected with St. Louis Life this fall.

USTA.com: Why did you feel inspired to work with the St. Louis Life residents?

Borst: As the girls tennis coach at St. Dominic, I preach about giving me to the community and being great representatives of the school. Giving back is important for me and my student athletes.

USTA.com: What have you done to reach out to and work with the St. Louis life residents this year and in past years?

Borst: I heard about St. Louis Life from one of my tennis players mom, Donna Herr. A few years ago, her son was coaching the residents in basketball. She came and asked me if our tennis girls would like to teach tennis to the St. Louis Life residents, and I said it would be a great idea.

USTA.com: What did your team enjoy about working with the St. Louis life residents?

Borst: My tennis girls loved to see the residents of St. Louis Life smiling and having fun doing our tennis drills and pre-match stretching exercises. The team taught the St. Louis Life residents that tennis is a fun and lifetime sport.

USTA.com: Do you have any future plans to stay connected with St. Louis Life? 

Borst: Yes, we want to stay connected with St Louis Life. I just don’t know what our new parent representatives' plans are. I tell the girls it’s very important to give back to the community, which we have been doing. 

USTA.com: How do you believe it can be valuable for your players to do continue doing community outreach, such as with St. Louis Life?

Borst: We want to, but I just can’t commit since I am having a new parent representative for my last girls tennis season. I won’t know until August 2020, but it was a very valuable experience to be with some of the St. Louis Life residents.

The players had their own thoughts to share about their positive experience with the St. Louis life residents as well. 

Junior Abbi Worster: "It was a great experience teaching tennis to the members of St. Louis Life. They were so excited to learn about the game, and I had such a fun time teaching them.”

Senior Kaylie Meyer: “I loved playing tennis with the young adults from St. Louis Life. It was fun seeing how much they improved over a couple of hours and how happy they were in their achievement. I already miss this experience, but hope to be able to help them in many other ways in the future.”

Sophomore Emilie Meyer: “Teaching St. Louis Life how to play was such a great opportunity. I loved seeing them smile as they learned new skills! St. Louis Life was so supportive when they came to watch our match and they were really fun to hang out with. I can’t wait to see them next season!"

Along with giving back to their community, the St. Dominic girls tennis team has other notable goals they are looking to achieve such as making it to the state championships. According to Borst, the St. Dominic players are continuing to work hard on their cardio, hit around and participate in tournaments during the off-season, which begins now and lasts until the tennis camp kicks off in the summer.