ON HER GAME
St. Michael’s tennis star shows major commitment to her sport
Haley Garcia can one day see herself wielding a microphone in front of a cameraman as she interviews notable sports figures or works the sidelines of professional or college games.
For now, however, the St. Michael’s High School junior is wielding her tennis racket like a virtuoso, hoping to help vault the lady Horsemen past four-time defending state champion Robertson.
“As a team, we hope to get a high seed and hopefully play against some teams we’ve had experience against and we’re just going to do our best,” Garcia said. “We have a really good team this year and hopefully we can go out and do our best and whatever happens, happens.”
St. Mike’s has compiled a gaudy 23-2 team record, with Garcia (25-3) and freshman Cameron Calbrese (19-1) leading the charge.
“I had very high expectations for the girls this year,” said coach Jeremy Garcia, Haley’s dad. “We have a lot of returning players. We have two seniors that have been playing with us since they were freshmen and two others returning out of our top four. We really do well as a team this year if we can get them playing together.”
And that has been a successful game plan.
“So far, they’ve done really, really well,” coach Garcia said. “That’s because of a couple of things. Our team chemistry is really good. We have really good captains. And the girls want to play and want to succeed. It makes it easier to coach a team like that.”
Seniors Kyra Chavez and Kayli Nordby hold down those captaincy positions, he said, and have done a fine job keeping the players on task.
And it helps that his daughter, who made a run at the individual singles championship last season before finishing as the runner-up, also has taken on a leadership role.
As a matter of fact, Haley Garcia is so committed to having a strong season on the tennis court that she gave up both volleyball and basketball, sports in which she also was a varsity player for the Horsemen.
“I wanted to focus on tennis,” she said. “This summer, I came to Albuquerque on the train every single day (for workouts with a professional coach). It was kind of tough, but I knew what I wanted to do and that just kept me moving forward and working hard, more hard on tennis.”
Although tennis is a team sport at the high school and college levels, it’s very much an individual pursuit, which the younger Garcia said she appreciates.
“I like it because it’s not only like a team sport, but it’s an individual sport, too,” she said. “If you go out and have a bad match, you can’t blame anyone else but yourself. It’s just you out there.”
The summer of preparation, which not only included the rigorous training regimen but also travel to regional and national events, prepared her for the season.
“Coming into the season, I knew I was going to be a better player this year than last year,” Garcia said. “I think everyone that works hard is going to be a better player than they were. And I was just hoping to stay stronger mentally because I had that problem last year and I think this year, I’ve been coming out better.”
It’s led to an increased leadership role, as well.
“I try to be a leader on the team,” she said. “I try to push the other girls to be better. You can’t have a bad day because everyone looks up to you and they’re going to start having a bad day. We try to push each other a lot, try to get better every day.”
The endgame goal is to achieve a college scholarship, and already several schools in Texas are keeping an eye on her.
Another goal is to earn a journalism degree.
“I want to coach tennis and do stuff like that,” Garcia said. “I’d want to focus on what I’m doing in college. I want to go into journalism. I’m on the school paper, but I more like the broadcasters.”