The warmup routine on a windy Tuesday in early May—laps around the tennis courts followed by a stretching circle—was far more wholesome than expected.

Spurred on by two-year captain Mia Townshend’s ice breakers, the girls varsity tennis team pondered which teammate they’d “trade lives with” for the day. Junior Noura Younes and senior Isabel Sorkin-Camacho picked senior Chloe Raker, who teared up in gratitude. Raker, in turn, chose classmate Blue Meyerson (captain alongside Townshend and senior Ashely Zhang) because she “knows when to be more carefree and when to lock in.” Deniza Dosmuratova, a junior from Kazakhstan, picked junior Mary Choo for her consistent positivity.

As the girls continued warmups, coach Patrick Loftus explained that this outpouring of appreciation is entirely a product of his three captains and their inherent ability to lead by example.

“The captains do a great job supporting one another,” Loftus said. “Blue, Mia, and Ashley have been spectacular as leaders. They know how to pull a team together without me ever telling them what to do.”

That ability to make a coherent, positive, supportive unit in a sport where each player, aside from doubles teams, competes individually, can be a challenge, but Loftus said he’s proud of how well his captains have done in that regard.

As the girls transitioned from stretching to pairing off to practice, another side of the team began to show itself: a fierce competitive spirit. It was the same intensity on display the week prior, on April 29 against a strong Pomfret team, when Lloret and senior Bella Marinello came from behind to win their doubles match. During that match, the teammates cheered each other on, communicated extensively, covered the court masterfully, and learned quickly from their mistakes.

These attributes, it turns out, extend beyond the confines of the court.

“Tennis has taught me you can’t spend all your time worrying about your mistakes,” said Choo, adding that the sport has improved her confidence.

For Younes, the sport has made her more accountable, both to herself and her doubles partner Kiara Santos ’27.

“When you’re playing doubles, what you do affects not just you,” she said. “It’s made me more aware and better at communication.”

Townshend agreed, noting that playing tennis has improved her ability to work with a partner. She said she’s grown a lot in the four years she’s been on the team, and now she’s excited to pass on what she’s learned to the younger players. (Seven of the girls—Townshend, Meyerson, Sorkin-Camacho, Raker, Marinello, Zhang, and Lauren Martinez—are graduating seniors.)

She and Meyerson, in fact, have already started impressing upon the campus at large just how much tennis and its lessons translate and resonate with the larger world.

At this year’s annual Why Not Speak Day, held April 30, Townshend and Meyerson ran a workshop called “Unforced Errors: The Real Challenges in Tennis” with the goal of portraying, both in a presentation and a kind of immersive on-the-court experience, what superstars of the sport have had to go through on their climb toward success.

For example, the girls discussed Venus Williams’s fight for fair pay, and then, to mimic in physical form her advocacy and the roadblocks she faced, had one side of a doubles team start every game at love–30. Or one partner of a doubles team wasn’t allowed to move, a nod to the chronic foot pain suffered by Rafael Nadal; another team had to do pushups for every mistake, a reflection of the mental blame Naomi Osaka put herself through.

“It was a little rambunctious, but once people figured it out, it got competitive,” Younes said. Held at the Galbraith Field courts, both sessions reached capacity.

Back at the stretching circle and the ice breakers. The last player to go, eighth grader Julia Lloret, picked Santos. First, she said, it was for her music preferences, but also because, as she told her, “You’ve been a great role model for me.”

The team was all smiles, but then they quickly broke off to practice with the same intensity and persistence they’ve been demonstrating all season.

Images for this article were taken by Risley Sports Photography.