Finding Her Court: Christ Preparatory Academy freshman Ilah Hull finds her place on the East Girls Tennis Team

Freshman Ilah Hull scanned the 60 unfamiliar faces at girls tennis tryouts for someone to warm up with. It was the first day of tryouts and Hull was the only non-East student in attendance. 

Hull is a student at Christ Preparatory Academy — a 200-student private school located 20 minutes away from East that doesn’t have a tennis team. A 2023 KSHSAA rule, K.S.A. 72-7121, allows Hull to play tennis at East since she lives in the feeder area. 

According to head tennis coach Andrew Gibbs and assistant coach Susan Hallstrom, Hull underwent the same treatment and tryout process as every other East tennis player.

“I have no different expectations for her; she’s just part of our team,” Hallstrom said.

Hull has been playing tennis for six years as a “fun summer activity,” but in recent years, she started taking one-on-one private lessons with a coach to prepare for the high school season.

After playing nine matches and practicing volleys, groundstrokes, overheads and serves in the 90-degree weather during a competitive and tiring week of tryouts, Hull made the JV/Varsity East Girls Tennis Team.

“It was overwhelming because I didn’t realize how many people were going to show up [to tryouts],” Hull said. “I was burnt out after the first week.”

Despite her initial nervousness, Hull felt welcomed and connected to the team after competing in matches, doing drills and attending practice with her teammates. 

“I know a lot more names than I did before and it’s fun to have someone new to warm up with every time,” Hull said.

Hull’s current doubles partner, freshman Sloane Henderson, approached Hull and asked her to warm up at tryouts. Bumping rackets to support each other during matches and eating snacks with teammates while waiting for their next match makes Hull feel part of the team.

Since Hull’s school schedule is structured differently — with three-day school weeks, rather than five — sometimes tennis conflicts with making up tests and submitting homework on time. Hull has fewer days to ask for help because she doesn’t have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Hull’s teachers help her work around her busy tennis schedule if she communicates with them and contacts them about missing school ahead of time.

After participating in East tennis, Hull’s main sport is shifting from club soccer to tennis. She appreciates how the coaches structure the practices with engaging matchplay rather than the endless soccer drills she’s been doing for eight years.

“[The tennis coaches] make things easy to understand and try to make [practices] fun,” Hull said.

During Hull’s first singles match for East, Hallstrom pulled Hull aside when she noticed Hull was missing the balls that landed close to the net. Hallstrom’s advice was straightforward and effective: predict where the ball will land by focusing closely on how your opponent hits the ball. 

“[Coach Hallstrom] told me, ‘If you look at the angle of [her] racket you can kind of see where she’s going to be hitting the ball and how she’s gonna hit it,’” Hull said. “And after that, it helped so much. That girl didn’t get another point.”

Hull ended up winning the match 6-1, coming back from a 1-1 tie after Hallstrom’s advice. Away from the court, Gibbs notices her talking and laughing with her teammates. 

“[East tennis] gives her an opportunity to play a sport that she enjoys, even though her school doesn’t offer it,” Gibbs said.

Hull hopes to finish the season by competing in more varsity matches and moving up in the team rankings.

“I was way more nervous to join the team than I should’ve been,” Hull said. “Everyone’s been so nice and I’ve got some friends here now.”