In the last issue it was mentioned that in the sports section of the Skyline View there are mostly articles about soccer, volleyball, and baseball. So because of this horrible neglect I decided to report to you, my fellow students, on some of the lesser talked about athletics. Last issue I went into the wrestling program and now this issue with Skyline’s Tennis class

While there hasn’t been a Tennis team at Skyline in decades, Mike Fitzgerald has been teaching the Tennis class here since 1980 and was on the Skyline team here back in 1973-1974. Because of his time on the team he was inducted into the Skyline Sports Hall of Fame along with Mike Francis, Ken Roberts in 1986 and Katy Blume in 1987.

While not a team the class works hard together practicing singles and doubles in three separate skill groups, beginning, intermediate and advanced. In the beginning of the semester Fitzgerald uses high tech cameras to film the students as they practice so as they can study and improve their game.

And while they are all practicing the same sport some students have very differing views on what the sport means to them.

Tiffany Herbert a first semester student on the team says that her reason for being in the class is that, “I want to exercise and don’t want to be fat”

While this may be a priority for most of the class some find a deeper meaning to the game such as Joe Tong, who has been playing for three years, feels that the ethics of tennis go beyond the court,

“Tennis is a game of thinking, of strategy, of life. Knowing your opponents weaknesses and strengths,” Tong said.

The official Tennis team for Skyline was taken out in 1980 when the coach left. The program was stopped and since has not been restored more than likely because of costs. Fitzgerald says that a team could have a possible future but it’d probably be at College of San Mateo because of our lovely hometown weather.