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Sports

Big Red Tennis Team Looks to Ace the Competition

Glen Cove High's varsity boys' squad aims to reach playoff level this season.

While working as the assistant wrestling team coach at Robert M. Finley Middle School and Glen Cove High School, Chris MacDonald also searched for a sport to coach during the spring of 2008. Fortunately for MacDonald, the high school's boys' varsity tennis head coach position opened up and, MacDonald said, he immediately jumped at the opportunity to lead the program.

His first order of business was to increase the seven players on his roster to 11, which is the required number for league play. MacDonald noted that he utilized his wrestling resources, recruited a few grapplers, and posted flyers all over the high school to help drum up interest in the program. 

And his hard work has shown fantastic results.

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"When I took over the team, we had seven kids," said MacDonald, who also teaches kindergarten, first and second grade as well as substitute teaches at the high school. "We put flyers all over the hallways, and we got 17 kids."

That season, the team improved to 5-7 and tied for fourth place, just missing the playoffs (the top three teams in the division make the playoffs), and it was a monumental accomplishment for Big Red's tennis program, which has struggled to find victories in the past.

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"It felt so good to put five wins in my first year," MacDonald said.  "One win here and there and we could have made the playoffs."

This time around, however, MacDonald believes Big Red, who had 25 students tryout for this season, is even better and has a legitimate chance of seeing postseason action this year. The team also has nine seniors returning this season, who will help give their team the experience edge over its competitors. 

Leading Glen Cove in 2010 is senior first singles player Kieran Basra, last season's captain and MVP. Big Red's top doubles team is comprised of senior Andrew Mora and junior Raul Contreras, who came together to post a winning record last year.

"We think we have a shot of making the playoffs," the second year tennis coach said.  "The kids are ready to work. We got a lot of seniors returning. They're real excited to get going."

Although MacDonald is thankful for his hard working players, he said, it is their work ethic and positive contributions in the classroom that impress him the most, leaving him with more time to concentrate on teaching the game.

"These kids do the right thing," the former All-American junior college tennis player for Nassau Community College said. "They get good grades. It's a perfect coaching situation."

For the first week or two, MacDonald will have his boys face one another until his lineups are decided (three single players and four doubles teams). Then, he explained, that he will continue his five-day a week practices (three to four days during the district's upcoming Spring Break) leading up to Big Red's season opener against visitor McCarthur High School on April 9. That game, MacDonald said, is one Big Red is looking forward to, without question.

"It's so exciting," he said.  "This is the highest level I've coached at, and we're ready for the season."

Learn more about this team by visiting glencove.k12.ny.us/athletics/teams.html.

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