It takes a lot of hard work to be No. 1 at anything. Samantha
Polayes knows that and the hard work that she has been putting in
on the tennis court is paying off. The Morgan Hill resident has
been ranked the No. 1 girls 12-year-old tennis player in Northern
California since March.
Morgan Hill – It takes a lot of hard work to be No. 1 at anything.
Samantha Polayes knows that and the hard work that she has been putting in on the tennis court is paying off. The Morgan Hill resident has been ranked the No. 1 girls 12-year-old tennis player in Northern California since March.
She’s placed 33 trophies in her trophy case – including some from soccer and baseball when she was younger – and recently took first place in both the singles and doubles competition at the Spare Time Memorial Day Excellence tournament in Roseville.
Through all of her success, the biggest thing for Polayes is the fun she gets to have while playing.
“It’s fun because I get to be with my friends and get to earn confidence – and trophies,” Polayes said.
Polayes has been playing tennis for five years and played her first tournament when she was eight years old, although she didn’t experience immediate success.
“She took eighth out of eight and was so excited,” her mother Penny Polayes said.
But since then she has put in her share of hours on the court to improve her game. She practices four to five times per week and plays anywhere from 10 to 20 tournaments each year.
She’s spent the last year and a half under the tutelage of coach Mathias Kroll, who works with her up to three times per week.
Her parents even had a tennis court installed at their house two years ago because of Polayes’ increasing skills and love of the game and a lifelong dream of her father Larry to have a court on his property.
“We didn’t want to go to Community Park anymore,” Samantha Polayes said, explaining that it could be difficult to find a free court at times. “We just wanted to go walk outside and there’d be a court there.”
Polayes has learned a lot through her experiences on the court, including how to motivate herself when she’s not doing as well as she would like.
“When I shouldn’t be losing, then I try to play harder,” Polayes said. “I know what I need to work so next time I play I can do better.”
Her main goal in the sport is to be able to earn a scholarship to play in college and she would particularly like to be able to play at Stanford.
“It’s possible,” Penny Polayes said. “We’re just setting up with her technique. The really important years will be her 16 and 18 year old years.”
She’s in her final days as playing in the 12-year-old competition – she’ll age out in July and move up to playing against 14-year-olds – and that will create another new challenge for her.
She would also love to accomplish her goal of winning a national tournament, but she’ll start with the Northern California Sectional Tournament, which began Monday and runs through Sunday at the Sierra Sport Racquet Club in Fresno.
Polayes is the top seed in the singles tournament and her and Julie Leong – the No. 2 seed in singles – are teamed up as the top-seeded doubles team.
Polayes is grateful for the support she has received from her parents, who usually take turns taking her to tournaments.
“They are really supportive,” Polayes said. “They drive me to all the places and cheer me on.”
Despite the many hours she puts in on the tennis court, Polayes still finds enough time to be an high honors student at Oakwood Country School, where she will be a seventh grader in the fall.
She finds time during the drives to and from tournaments to do her homework even though she says, “It’s not fun to do school work when I’m not at school.”
“She’s a really good student,” Penny Polayes said. “So we’ve never had to worry about her not doing her work.”
Jimmy Durkin is the Morgan Hill Times sports editor. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 203 or jd****@*************es.com
