The Wiregrass Ranch boys’ tennis team earned a share of the Class 3A state championship last season. As a result, they knew expectations would be high headed into 2015. For his part, coach David Wilson has already admitted he doesn’t think the team will be as good as last year.
He thinks it will be better.
(Courtesy of Alejandro Feliciano)
“This will be the deepest team we’ve had,” Wilson said of the current lineup. “We actually added depth and strength to our team.”
Part of that depth and strength will come from a familiar last name.
Augie Moreno, defending state champion and a top player on the team, will welcome his little brother, Daniel, to the squad as a freshman. And with the championship team mostly intact from last year, the Bulls look to be stronger than ever.
That’s a significant statement, since Wiregrass Ranch has had successful tennis teams almost from its inception. Wilson has built a strong program since he took the job for the school’s opening athletic season in 2006-07. While the tennis title was the first state championship in school history, it was their third trip to the state tournament. And the district title was nothing new, either. Wilson said it was the team’s fifth-straight district championship.
Part of the team’s success stems from the excellent competition they face in practice. Wilson said the top players are all very competitive, and are capable of beating each other on any given day. So, honing their skills against each other makes the team stronger.
“If you’re always playing against competitive players within your own team, then you’re just going to keep getting better,” Wilson said.
Senior Alejandro Feliciano, who was ranked fourth on the team last season, agrees that the team has taken steps forward as it tries to defend its title.
“We actually have better players this year,” he said.
Feliciano is one of those great players, with a United States Tennis Association ranking inside the top 100 and a national ranking around 306 for players 18 and under.
While sheer talent gives Wiregrass Ranch a clear advantage over most schools, Feliciano said that their coach plays a big role as well. Instead of trying to force them to adapt to his strategies, he gives them the leeway to simply put their talent on display while he provides support however he can.
“I think it’s the fact that he bonds with us as if he were somebody our own age,” he said. “It’s like he’s one of us.”
Wilson is part of the tennis program because he had a characteristic nobody else had when the school began athletic play: He was willing to do it.
“When I took the job, nobody else wanted it,” he said. A recreational player, he knows that many of his players can beat him on the court. But his job is to provide support, let them have fun and create a positive experience that keeps them wanting to participate in high school sports.
Creating that desire is no easy accomplishment, since many players have their own personal coaches, a bright future in tennis and don’t really need the high school team to further their careers.
“I think that’s the one thing that makes me the proudest, is that kids want to play in my program,” Wilson said. “My saying for all my sports (Wilson is also the school’s boys’ soccer coach and athletic director) is the experience outweighs the outcome. If it’s not a great experience for them, what’s the sense of doing it?”
Part of that experience includes hitting the road to face elevated competition. Wiregrass Ranch will travel to Florida State University in Tallahassee next month to face Pensacola Catholic High School, one of the state’s top tennis teams. In March, they’ll travel to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the national high school tournament.
Wilson isn’t concerned about a letdown after achieving a state title. The team is full of skilled players with plenty of experience and a good working relationship together. But they also know that they had to share their state title with Barron Collier High School in Naples, since they finished with the same amount of points in the competition.
Being “co-champion” helps to motivate them to claim the title for themselves in 2015, Wilson said.
“The fact that we weren’t outright champions by ourselves, we still have something to prove,” he said.
Published January 21, 2015
