Troilo To Pass Baton

FARMINGTON — For Farmington senior Samantha Troilo, signing a national letter of intent Oct. 12 to play tennis at Lindenwood University at Belleville, Ill. leads to a career path.

Troilo wants to posture herself where she can pass along the baton she has been handed. Reflecting on four years of high school tennis competition, Trolio talked about various adversity she has overcome, particularly in battling injuries each season. Teamed with Patti Bruno for doubles competition, she wore a walking boot most of the season as a freshman. Still, Troilo and Bruno came into the last week of the season unbeaten. They swept a first-round match at district, then nearly won in the second-round which would have put them in the state tournament before losing in the third set.

Troilo counts that among her favorite memories from Farmington tennis, saying the reception she got as a freshman coming out for varsity tennis exceeded her expectations.

“Everybody was so welcoming, I don’t know if it was because I was good or not, but it was definitely a good feeling coming onto a team where I knew nobody,” Troilo said.

The only person she knew on the tennis team was her older brother, Seth, now 19, but he had just quit tennis and was concentrating on football. Yet, Farmington upper classmen and coaches instilled a sense of belonging.

“Everybody was like, ‘we need you here,’” Troilo said.

Troilo will rejoin one of those Cardinal teammates, Teah Flynn, who is on a tennis scholarship at Lindenwood-Belleville, and showed Troilo around during a campus visit.

“Before she even knew I existed, I was watching her kick butt at tournaments,” Troilo said. “I wanted to be like her.”

Trolio was shy about talking to Flynn, but in her sophomore year at Farmington, Flynn began mentoring Troilo during practice. Troilo credits this as a key factor in obtaining a college tennis scholarship.

“In 10th grade, she took me under her wing,” Troilo said. “I would never have got the scholarship if that didn’t happen.”

Despite Flynn’s mentoring a friendship didn’t develop with two years separating the girls in high school, but that has changed.

“We’re practically sisters now,” Troilo said.

Troilo plans on taking the baton handed to her as a gift by Flynn and passing the benefits of her knowledge and experience on to younger students. Troilo once thought she wanted to become a high school teacher, but after mentoring an-11-year- old boy named Hunter, her perspective shifted.

“I realized my passion ( for teaching) was much younger,” Troilo said. “I definitely liked the positive, go-getting mentality of the younger kids.”

As students get older, Troilo said there remains a core group who are excited about school, but in general there are less people who are enthusiastic about learning.

“I don’t want kids to dread coming to my class,” Troilo said. “I want them to look forward to it.”

Troilo’s tennis coach for her senior season, Denver Holt, can relate to challenges at different levels of learning. Holt teaches K-3 physical education at Folsom Elementary, then leaves that environment to coach high school tennis and basketball in the late afternoon.

“I go from little kids to teenagers every day,” Holt said. “Some situations you can treat the same. There are others where your responses are different just because of the different mentalities in the age groups.”