Highlights from Home: Men's Tennis

The student-athlete experience at Lake Forest College is more than just practice and competition, and this year extends across the country and, in some cases, around the world. Forester teams are like families and their members support each other and the community in numerous ways.

This fall, student-athletes at the College are attending classes remotely, finding ways to keep in touch with one another, and continuing to be active and successful Foresters. The "Highlights from Home" series gives them an opportunity to share their experiences.

The men's tennis update below comes from senior captain Chase Garber.

	Our team is made up of all returning members for the coming season, which has made upholding team values like keeping in contact and holding each other accountable feel very natural.
	Every member of the team has been staying focused on tennis and some of us have found more formal ways of playing. Brant Christensen plays in a men's doubles league and Oleksyi Vyshyvanyuk has been competing in tournaments. Others have simply been getting together to hit whenever their schedules allow.
	Three members of the team have jobs coaching tennis in the Lake Forest area. Zach Cho is giving lessons to kids and adults at a local country club. Matthew Pawlowski is helping kids grasp the basics of tennis as an instructor at a local tennis camp. Oleksyi Vyshyvanyuk is coaching tournament-level youth players and working to improve member's skill sets at a local country club.
	Teammates that are local to the Lake Forest area have been enjoying the reopening of the College's tennis courts. It is common to see four members of the team playing doubles on our home courts. We are grateful for the small sense of normalcy this has brought us during our online semester.
	The men's and women's teams have been having periodic zoom meetings to discuss important topics like mental health, diversity, inclusion, and equity. During the height of racial tensions this summer, we drafted a pledge calling for student athletes to be consciously anti-racist. Today, we understand that this pledge is just the groundwork for work that still needs to be accomplished.
	The men's and women's teams also met with three recent alumni, Joe Bove, Leeza Bodnar, and Allison Watts, to hear them discuss their transition out of college and into full-time employment. The three of them were able to provide a unique perspective into starting a career, while also discussing the resources at Lake Forest that helped them along the way. This talk was particularly helpful due to the large number of upperclassmen in the tennis programs who will be making a similar transition soon.
	- Chase