Lester B. serves up undefeated player

“We’re a pretty small school,” noted tennis coach Kelly Kinahan, whose Panthers tied Ashbury for top spot in the east with a 5-1 record in regular-season league play. “And we certainly haven’t been known as a tennis powerhouse, but this year we did very well.”

Hamzeh represents quite well how interest in tennis has built at Lester B. The Grade 10 student tried the game out once at a tournament during middle school and got hooked right away. Now Hamzeh’s a member at Rideau Tennis Club – where the city finals were held Nov. 7 inside the dome – and has an overpowering first serve that’s meant a guaranteed point against most competitors as long as it was inbounds.

“To go undefeated, it’s unbelievable – for me, at least,” said Hamzeh, noting he didn’t do very well last season when the Panthers competed at the senior level and his skills weren’t at all developed. “Having only played for two years, I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve come.”

Hamzeh enjoys the mental challenge and the excitement of individual sports; that’s why he also competed for the Lester B. cross-country team this fall.

“Oh my gosh, September and October were the busiest months of my life,” Hamzeh said, noting he was thankful his toughest courses weren’t in the first semester. “Every single day of the week, I either had cross-country or tennis. It was pretty hectic.”

Hamzeh congratulated his team on making it as far as they did – the first time the Panthers qualified for the championships with the city’s top schools. Another big key to the success of the Lester B. team was the mixed doubles pair of Jenna Scalia and Gianfranco Savone, who won all their matches at the finals and lost only once – in a tiebreaker – during league play.

“I’m extremely proud,” said Scalia, a Gloucester Hornets soccer player in Grade 10 who had never played tennis before this season. “I would have never believed that we could have done that.”

Her partner was a rookie at the high school level, but Savone – also a hockey and badminton player – has been playing tennis for much longer on community courts. All the Panthers noted that watching pro tennis on TV was a reason why they wanted to try playing themselves, and Kinahan said it’s then just a matter of time before they fall in love with the game.

“It’s one thing to see it on TV, but when they get out there, they really realize that it’s a great game and it’s a lot of fun,” Kinahan said, noting he’s hoping the interest level will continue to rise at the high school with about 700 students. “The key will be to see how it grows next year to see if any other kids come out after hearing how things went this year.”

The senior tennis finals began on the same day at the Rideau Tennis Club, but could not be completed within the booked time. The Colonel By Cougars have won all of their matches thus far and will look to carry on that momentum when the competition is completed at a to-be-determined time.

In other high school sports, the Cougars senior boys’ volleyball team lost a five-set match to Béatrice-Desloges in the National Capital semi-finals, while the St. Matthew Tigers fell 1-0 to the eventual city champions from St. Pius in the semi-finals of senior boys’ soccer.