Jacob Reding went into his sophomore year with little to no experience with tennis and got moved up to varsity later in the year. 

Reding played baseball his whole life until his freshman year when he “fell in love with tennis.” The origin for his passion for tennis started the summer before his sophomore year.

“I went to Walmart and saw a tennis racket and wanted to try it,” Reding said.

Nowadays he practices with a professional coach at Kingwood Country Club every Saturday at 10 a.m.

Currently a junior, Reding’s most memorable experience on the tennis team was the night of Aug. 11 when he went to a team dinner and played Fortnite and games.

“I beat everyone in ping pong,” Reding said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Although his friends and family approve of him playing tennis, he said his dad wishes he still played baseball since he played it for so many years. Reding stopped doing baseball after he suffered a major injury. He hurt his shoulder, got a black eye, tore a rotator cuff and injured his growth plate.

It took him three months to recover. Afterward, throwing a baseball still hurt. That’s when he tried tennis.

Reding’s main goal is to eventually go to college for tennis, and his advice for others is: “It’s not too late to start.”