Girls sports in any school are often underfunded, underrepresented, and frequently side-lined in favour of their more popular male counterparts. Despite these obstacles, the San Leandro High girls tennis team all continue to show up for the sport they love, athletes and coaches included.
The fall 2025 season got off to a late start for the team, due to the hiring of a new coach last minute. The new hire, Coach Jose Ramirez, has adopted a different approach to coaching varsity compared to last year’s coach. First and foremost, he aims to make tennis enjoyable for all of the players.
“You know, last year, the old coach really just let us do things on our own, it was really self paced, self learned,” said Varsity tennis player junior Elizabeth Sun. “But this year, he really has us practicing serving drills and hitting drills, and he gives us his mindset. He says this thing: ‘Just get the ball into play.’”
Coach Ramirez is really honing in on the girls’ playing style, with the intent of making them as good as they can be, she said.
“Coach Ramirez does a really good job at paying attention to all members of the team, and he’s also very energetic and he makes a team really feel like a family.” Sun said.
Coach Ramirez’s encouraging attitude makes her look forward to practice, and unafraid to ask for help.
“So some goals that Coach has for us is to really just have fun in the games. A point he really emphasizes every game is to get the ball started.” She said that, with so many newcomers, the current goal is to get as much experience for the players as possible.
“I really think even though the season just started, that my skills have improved so much based on these like couple weeks, you know?” Sun said.
The general consensus among the players is that they approve of their new coach, she said.
“It’s about building a community and having our members really love what they do because you know, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re a winner or loser. What matters is that you’re having fun.”
Coach Ramirez’s nurturing coaching style has had a positive effect on the athletes, motivating them to continue with the sport.
