By Shenna Gonzalez:

Tennis doubles player, Elyssa Gorospe was cut short during last year’s season due to a serious knee injury but this pre-season she has come back strong with a positive attitude.

“Motivation mostly comes from my teammates,” Gorospe said. “Even during a losing match, they always tell me to keep trying.”

Gorospe, a junior at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, strives through practice under the raging sun on Birmingham Community Charter High School’s heated courts together with her teammates.

For Rebekah Spector, a junior varsity player, Gorospe serves as a great role model as well as being a good friend.

“Elyssa’s a really good player,” Spector said. “She’s a very bubbly person and she’s very easy to approach. I can’t think of anything bad about her.”

Spector doubts that Gorospe’s dislocated knee would affect how she plays at all, but Coach Todd McGauley believes otherwise.

“Tennis is a high impact sport on knees and ankles so it is a concern,”  McGauley said. “We’re trying to work on developing her calf muscles using footwork techniques to make sure that they are strong enough to avoid (further) injury.”

Although Gorospe was only able to play a tight game against Taft High School last year, her dedication paid off when McGauley informed her that she was chosen to play in the girls varsity team this year.

“I think being able to go back to the start is the thing I’m most proud of and being able to make it to varsity even if I didn’t finish my season last year,” Gorospe said.

On Oct. 14 Gorospe had her first singles match against Marshall High School, losing by a score of 8-3. Nevertheless, the loss does not hold the her back from moving forward and “putting a spin” on her serves.

“It’s all about repetition,” Gorospe said. “Once you get a hit, you just start from there.”

The girls varsity tennis team has its last seasonal match on Oct. 30 against Taft High School.