CANDID CAMRYN
When Tinley Park’s Camryn Shupryt mangled her right wrist during a hockey tryout, she had no idea that a few months later she would make program history in tennis.
Hockey is not a sport sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association, and the start of that season runs concurrently with the IHSA’s girls tennis season in the fall.
Even though tennis is not her primary sport, Shupryt still tried to play last season with the sprained wrist, although her results in singles were not what she wanted.
“I was (struggling),” she said. “I wasn’t 100 percent with the wrist.”
After taking a few weeks off and returning to play in a few more singles matches, Shupryt joined forces with Phaul Barnes and things clicked in doubles.
Shupryt and Barnes, who was a junior, qualified for the state meet thanks in part to a pair of three-set wins in the second and third round of the Class 1A Marian Catholic Sectional.
The duo became the first state qualifiers from Tinley Park since 2014, and they could be a force this season.
Shupryt was just the second sophomore in program history to qualify for state, according to coach Greg Postweiler. Haley Wilcox also qualified as a sophomore, earning berths in all four of her seasons from 2011 to 2014.
By some accounts, Shupryt competes in the graceful sport of tennis like a hockey player.
“She has that hockey mentality,” Postweiler said. “She is aggressive and can cover a lot of ground. Her mentality is not a tennis mentality. It’s more of a constant go-go-go mentality. She sets the tone for the other girls. They are not used to seeing someone so aggressive on the tennis court.”
“I play tennis like I play hockey,” Shupryt said. “I want to put points away as fast as I can, and you can do that more in doubles when you are close to the net.”
Shupryt, who also plays softball for the Titans, has become a versatile hockey player in recent years as a member of the St. Jude travel program, the Orland Park Vikings and Chicago Fury.
“Whatever my coach tells me to do, I’m going to do it,” she said. “I’ll do my best at it. I move around all the time. I try to be a playmaker. I try to find the open person and make something happen.
“I don’t want to be the person who scores all the goals and takes all the credit. I want to be the person who gets that pass off and gets the puck where it should be.”
Tim Roe, who has coached her with the Knights and the Vikings, said Shupryt succeeds in that department.
“She is a puck-control specialist,” Roe said. “She understands you have to have the puck on your stick to do something with it. She is one of the best stick handlers I have ever coached.
“Once she has the puck, she can deke and get a good shot off or a good pass. Ninety percent of the time, she is going to do something positive.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and a shrinking field of girls hockey teams, there’s a chance Shupryt might not be as busy this fall.
Last fall, she spent many days sweating on the tennis court and racing to a chilly ice arena.
Roe is trying to put together an organization — the Chicago Hockey Club — that caters strictly to girls. He has interest from players who attend Mother McAuley, Stagg, Andrew and Sandburg.
Shupryt hopes to stay busy with the challenging aspects of both sports in the fall.
“You have to be really, really consistent with everything in tennis,” she said. “You are out there the entire time. In singles, it’s just you. You have to motivate yourself. You have to keep going.
“In hockey, you have a whole team behind you. While it is a fast-pace game, it’s short sprints. You can switch out. In tennis, you can’t.”