{"id":2447788,"date":"2019-08-20T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sailors-boys-tennis-team-faces-major-changes-in-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-08-20T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T05:04:00","slug":"steamboat-springs-boys-tennis-team-faces-major-changes-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/steamboat-springs-boys-tennis-team-faces-major-changes-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Steamboat Springs boys tennis team faces major changes in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Wyatt Stempel, a senior on the Steamboat Springs tennis team, runs drills at the Tennis Center during practice on Tuesday, Aug. 20.<\/strong>
Shelby Reardon\/Steamboat Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 The 2019 season will be one for transitioning and rebuilding for the Steamboat Springs High School boys tennis team.<\/p>\n

In 2018, four Sailors qualified for state, two of which were expected to return this year.<\/p>\n

Senior Gabe Rabanal would be back in the No. 1 doubles pairing, and sophomore Andy Schuiling would look to improve on his fifth-place finish at state from the No. 1 singles spot.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Sailors, neither will play for the team.<\/p>\n

Bill Conway, in his second season as head coach, will lead a very young team willing to learn and improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always tried to create a great culture and these kids are 100% bought in to the culture of working hard,\u201d Conway said. \u201cThe effort and the attitude that I always preach is if you control your effort and your attitude, the match will take care of itself. These guys are 100% in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fun season because they\u2019re going to be a very different team at the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a lot is uncertain for the team, it\u2019s official that senior Wyatt Stempel is taking over as the No. 1 singles player. Stempel didn\u2019t play tennis last year while at a boarding school in Utah.<\/p>\n

As for No. 2, Conway says it\u2019s a battle between Gabe Gray, Kyle Saunders and Xander Dalke, all freshmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (it\u2019s a) mental game; being able to keep it cool,\u201d Stempel said of his strength. \u201cAnd being able to stay in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a senior, Stempel expects to take on a leadership position on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of new kids and I\u2019ve been playing for six or seven years, I\u2019m just kind of welcoming everybody in,\u201d Stempel said.<\/p>\n

Although Joey Westermeyer is another senior, he won\u2019t have the same upperclassman authority as Stempel, since he had never picked up a racket until a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a soccer guy, then I got a couple concussions,\u201d Westermeyer said. \u201cI decided soccer was a little too risky for me at this point and tennis seemed like a really fun sport, so I thought I\u2019d pick up a racket and I\u2019m loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westmeyer said he already feels like part of the team, which begins its season Thursday in Montrose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team\u2019s awesome, honestly. They\u2019re so much fun to hang out with,\u201d Westmeyer said. \u201cThe coach, Bill, he\u2019s just absolutely amazing, especially with new people. He helps you with whatever you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the team is young, but came up through the junior program. Their familiarity with the game and each other could be an asset, especially in doubles play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a good group. They know the strokes, they know those things. It\u2019ll be the first time they face you-need-to-win pressure, rather than let\u2019s have fun about it. It\u2019ll be real interesting to see,\u201d Conway said.<\/p>\n

Conway doesn\u2019t want the youthful, inexperienced group putting pressure on themselves by thinking about the prospect of going to state.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal right now is to be a better team each day. How do we improve daily? We\u2019re not gonna worry about the last match, we\u2019re gonna worry about what we do the next day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not just in tennis. That\u2019s, are we a good sport, do we make the right line calls. It\u2019s just life in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to be better people and players at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

sreardon@steamboatpilot.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wyatt Stempel, a senior on the Steamboat Springs tennis team, runs drills at the Tennis Center during practice on Tuesday, Aug. 20.Shelby Reardon\/Steamboat Today STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 The 2019 season will be one for transitioning and rebuilding for the Steamboat Springs High School boys tennis team. In 2018, four Sailors qualified for state, two of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 11:23:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}