Washington High School Adds Girls’ Tennis Program

A community-wide effort dating back two decades has finally culminated in the creation of the Washington High School girls’ tennis program. Though it took a multitude of individuals and hit stops and starts along the way, the WHS team has arrived. The Blue Jays will play their inaugural season this fall.

Head Coach Bill Stahlhuth explained the wheels were set in motion 21 years ago when local tennis aficionados formed the nonprofit Franklin County Community Tennis Association to bring players together. The area more recently has hosted junior tournaments and got World TeamTennis events rolling.

Washington High School students and their parents pushed for a tennis program the past decade in particular. The FCCTA hosted informational meetings and pizza parties to try to create momentum, but each time the effort met a snag. Stahlhuth said the program was nearly greenlighted a couple years ago, but the Covid-19 pandemic caused yet another stall.But now, the Blue Jays have broken through and are ready for Year 1.

“Here we are today,” Stahlhuth said. “We’ve got a team. We’ve got a program. We’ve got 27 girls participating in our second camp of the season. We have 24 or 25 who I believe will be trying out and then playing with the team as of August 8.”

With no tennis courts on campus, Phoenix Center Park — which features six courts — will serve as the Blue Jays’ home facility for camps, practices and matches. Washington held a pair of girls’ tennis summer camps at the city park with strong turnouts. Stahlhuth and WHS’s activities director, who swung by, were pleased with what they saw.

“He noticed — and I’m happy about it as well — we’re not really cannibalizing players from other sports,” Stahlhuth said. “They had an interest in playing tennis. They are girls who were not doing other sports. They will now have an opportunity to participate in athletics and grow physically as well as with their academics. Everybody is really happy with that.”

Stahlhuth has no intention of cutting any student-athletes. With potentially big numbers, players may be split up and train on A days and B days to create enough room for singles and doubles match preparation.

“Even if they are No. 27 on the team, I still want them to have a place and opportunity to learn the game,” Stahlhuth said. “They may be a freshman or sophomore and could be starting in a few years. If nothing more — if they just learn tennis in high school and it’s a game they play in college or later on — well, that’s fantastic too.”

Stahlhuth said the program has received outstanding support from the FCCTA, which donated tennis balls. Some members of the nonprofit helped at one of the summer camps. USTA contributed, too, as the WHS girls’ tennis program was awarded a 2022 USTA Missouri Valley Serving Up Tennis grant. This enabled the team to purchase equipment including squeegees, a ball machine and tennis balls.

“It was absolutely phenomenal,” Stahlhuth said. “It’s fantastic. It gives us opportunities to get equipment fast. It gives us great extra leaps and bounds of opportunity to be able to handle 25 to 30 players. It’s very meaningful and helpful for us.”

Stahlhuth — who called himself simply “a spoke in the wheel” — said his assistant coach, Laurie Bryson, was critical in the Washington program getting off the ground. Bryson is a mom of tennis players whose youngest daughter will join the squad in the fall.

“Whenever Laurie would be at the school, she would have a tennis ball. When she saw the activities director, she’d launch it at him,” Stahlhuth said with a laugh. “She’d be throwing them his way to keep reminding him of the interest there was amongst students and parents to get that going.”

Now that the girls’ tennis team has arrived, Stahlhuth said he’s frequently asked when the boys will get their turn.

“It is something that there is definitely a groundswell of interest,” he said. “It is reminiscent of where we were with the girls’ team four, five, six years ago.”

While that time may come down the road, Stahlhuth said he, Bryson and their first-year girls’ players are looking forward to their ground-breaking fall campaign.

“We’ve got a lot of passion, a lot of excitement and a lot of opportunity,” Stahlhuth said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make the most of it.”