“I started playing when I was around seven,” said senior Erin O’Neal. “I played with my dad because he played in high school, and he’s also a coach. He cares about it a lot. It’s probably his most important hobby other than his job.”
O’Neal is on the varsity girls’ tennis team and competes one to two times a week, weather allowing. She played soccer and began to play tennis when she was younger, soon falling in love with the sport.
“The thing I liked about soccer was it’s a team sport, you always have other people on the field. With tennis the difference is it’s just you and I really liked that mental aspect of it,” O’Neal said.
She’s played at the Overland Park Racquet Club for a year and a half, where she currently takes weekly private lessons.
In O’Neal’s first three years of high school, she had a doubles partner named Syra Honargohar, who graduated last year. O’Neal no longer plays doubles but is instead competing in singles, a whole new world for her.
“I’m a little bit nervous because it’s my senior year, it’s something completely new. I really liked the aspect of having a partner, because it takes the pressure off of you, takes the light off of you.” O’Neal said, “I figured I would be able to build on the last three years, which I am, but it’s also a turn in a different direction.”
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“Tennis can hurt you in some ways, but it can also help you, and I think it’s made me stronger mentally to be able to figure out what I’m doing wrong and right,” O’Neal said.
Having the right coach and a strong support system can help a person do better in a game, and help improve their mentality towards the sport. O’neal works with two different coaches, Austin, a private coach for during the summer, and sophomore English teacher, tennis coach for Northwest and spirit club sponsor, Mrs. Moberg.
“I’ve been working with Austin for about three months, the thing I like about him is he’s a very technical coach, and it’s not just, the basics, like, move your feet, keep your racquet in front of you, but it’s tricks that I can keep to learn how to figure things out for myself.
O’neal values her relationship with Moberg; she’s there for her, whether she wins a match or not.
“I know that she really cares about me as a person, which I feel like a lot of people can’t say for a coach.”
Mrs. Moberg isn’t just O’Neal’s coach, she’s her guide, her friend.
“I’ll go talk to her, she’s our spirit club sponsor. I love just knowing she’s there. After a game, you normally go to the fence. You go talk to your coach, figure out what you can do better. Even when I didn’t really need help or I was winning by a considerable amount, I would still go talk to Moberg, just ’cause it regulates my nervous system.”
When tennis won the sunflower league in 2025, Moberg cried as the team went over to her.
“I feel like that just showed me how much she cares about us and how much she cares about our success.” O’Neal says.
Though every sport has its up’s and down’s, O’Neal values how tennis has changed her, she doesn’t focus on the downs of it all.
”I look forward to tennis. I play almost every day, and just knowing that, later in the day, I have tennis, is kind of motivation to get my stuff done so I can relax.”
