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Sports

Leaving Court

Oakton tennis coach Joshua Henry is heading to South Lakes

Coming off a 10-0 season, you would think the Oakton High girls tennis team would have been ecstatic days before the 2010-11 playoffs, but if you looked around the courts, the team members were mostly somber last May.

They had learned their coach of three years, Joshua Henry, would be leaving after the season to accept a new job.

“Coach Henry leaving is very difficult for the whole team because we had three great seasons with him and he just is a great person. He really knows how to work with us all and is very understanding,” said upcoming senior and the team captain, Alina Suyama. “I know that I was very sad to hear that he was leaving us because he had helped us to become better players and we had a great showing, especially this year.”

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It was last spring Henry was offered, and accepted, the chance to teach at South Lakes High School. 

“I will be teaching A.P. Government and U.S. history. It was a good opportunity to teach in South Lakes’ IB program and to have a little change of scenery,” Henry said. “I’m excited about it, but it was really hard telling the girls. I really enjoyed teaching and coaching here at Oakton. I’ll miss it.”

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And the girls will miss him. In addition to leading them to the undefeated record, Henry was someone the girls could count on and talk to about anything.

“He was definitely a nice coach who did help me a lot, and it’s hard to see him leave,” said Taleen Avedisian, who will be a junior next year. “He gave great speeches before a match and really pumped us up. I was hoping to be with him through my senior year because he was really great.”

Henry has coached tennis for nine years. First, in Pennsylvania for five years, then a year at Rachel Carson Middle School and the past three at Oakton.

Throughout Henry’s three years at Oakton, he had a 24-6 regular-season record, improving from third to second to first in the Concorde District.

“It was great winning the district championship with the girls this year and going undefeated,” he said. “In addition to the team championship, we had several All-District players and one All-Met player, the district singles champion, district singles second runner-up and the district doubles champions. Overall, a great season.”

Surprisingly, Henry wasn’t a tennis player growing up. He played basketball in high school and only played tennis recreationally. His college roommate was the school’s top-ranked tennis player and he used to play with him for fun.

“My dad and I decided to start playing tennis a year before I started coaching,” Henry said. “I didn’t expect to coach tennis. I didn’t have plans for that. The tennis coach [at his first school] had quit, and I knew how to play and the rules, but wasn’t a tennis person. They asked me to do it for a couple of weeks and it turned into nine years.”

Reflecting on the last three years with the Oakton girls, Henry is sad to be saying goodbye.

“We got our district championship banner and had our picture taken the day after I accepted the job. I had some of these girls since freshman year, so I have developed close relationships with them,” he said. “It was really hard to tell them. I really enjoyed coaching at Oakton.”

Suyama said Henry was a great coach because he knew how to relate to the students in the best possible ways, and coach in a matter that allowed the team do their own thing when necessary.

“He never was angry with any of us in a bad way, but if he saw that we were struggling, he would make multiple suggestions of how to pick ourselves back up,” she said. “The most valuable thing that Coach Henry taught me was that even if you lose the point, to forget about it and focus on the next point, and to take everything one point, game and set at a time. If anyone was having a tough time, he would tell us ‘focus on this point’ and after the point ‘focus on taking this game.’ It was great advice and many of us were helped by it.”

Although South Lakes has a tennis team, Henry is unsure if we will be involved next season.

“Making this decision was big in itself, and I did ask about the team and it’s something we will talk about more this summer,” he said. “I just wanted to let the changes sink in first. I’m excited for my new opportunity.”

As of now, a new tennis coach for Oakton has yet to be announced.

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