Elisabeth Slay
Northeast News

For the first time in 104 years, Northeast High School will have a tennis team during the 2018 fall season.

Language Arts teacher and competitive tennis player Frank Fleming will coach the team.

“The tennis team was an ongoing effort for Northeast to be able to provide more activities that were interesting and help develop the youth at our school,” Fleming said.

Throughout the last school year Fleming said he taught narratives regarding his love for tennis Eventually some students became interested in starting a team.
About 24 girls showed interest in joining, and there was great support from Northeast High staff.

“It really started from an interest of students, the interest of staff and providing students with another way of having leadership and empowerment,” Fleming said. “It’s been really exciting.”

The girls season could start as early as August 6, but the official schedule is yet to be determined. Fleming said he anticipates that the girls team will grow. There were also a small number of boys who showed interest in the team, but Fleming will work with the school to develop the boys team as their spring season draws closer.

From July 20-27, Fleming held a free tennis camp at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Tennis Square, where he helped a handful of players with their skills. Over the summer, the team acquired a place to practice, new rackets, new uniforms, tennis balls and even a ball machine.

Fleming has played tennis since he was 13 years old, and he said it was a family passion: both of his parents played, and he’s passed the game on to his son. He’s coached, been a tennis director for a youth program, and even participates in various tennis tournaments throughout the city.

“I really love it; I’m a competitor myself,” Fleming said. “I play USDA and I’m about 4L level.”

The tennis coach said he’s looking forward to the new program and sharing his love for the sport with students.

“It’s an amazing leadership opportunity for our students to try something that can stay with them for a lifetime, and that Northeast hasn’t provided before,” Fleming said.

Fleming applied a quote from Helen Keller to what he feels tennis represents in both his life and the lives of his students.

“She has a famous quote that says, ‘A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships,’” Fleming said. “So I think that really speaks to why tennis is so important in my life and why I think it could be beneficial to a lot of student athletes.”