HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS TENNIS

For Alyssa Peterson, you could say tennis was a family affair.

Her grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles all played tennis. She first started tennis lessons at age 5 and, from then on, it has been her main sport.

Peterson grew up in Irmo where she attended Dutch Fork High School. As the head coach for the Lexington High School boy’s tennis team, she finds it quite exciting to play against her alma mater.

Despite not growing up in the Lexington area, Peterson was a regular at TopSpin Racquet and Swim Club where she took lessons and participated in tennis clinics.

For Peterson, having a competitive edge was one of the reasons why she wanted to play a collegiate sport.

She describes playing collegiate tennis at Coker College in Hartsville as one of the best experiences ever. It allowed her to travel, meet tennis players from other countries and form a closer bond with her teammates.

Her coaching career started in Hartsville where she coached a middle school team. After graduating from Coker College, she accepted the position of assistant coach for the school’s men’s and women’s tennis teams.

Eventually, she moved back to the Columbia area and continued coaching at the Lexington County Tennis Complex. She focused on junior tennis there and helped the players develop a passion and love for the sport of tennis

The biggest piece advice Peterson has about playing tennis is simple. She suggests to play tennis and stick with it. It is a sport you can play no matter your age. If the opportunity of collegiate tennis is an option, then take the opportunity or simply play club tennis at your university or join a USTA Tennis league.

After leading the girls’ tennis team to a 3rd place finish in Region 5-5A title during the fall, Peterson has the boys’ team off to a 3-0 start in region play this spring. She’s confident their academic efforts will earn them scholarships.

The Wildcats have a lot of competitive matches that are the primary focus for now, but they plan to take it match by match. Quality practice time allows the men’s tennis team a chance work on improving weaknesses that occur during their matches.