Waynesburg Central adds tennis to its list of athletic programs
Waynesburg Central High School hasn’t added a sports program since before the 1998 fall season. That season was the first for the Raiders girls soccer team and since then, it has not only stayed as part of the fall sports landscape, but its participation numbers have grown steadily. Now it’s the boys turn to have something new to do, or at least that’s what the school and a local lawyer are hoping for. Tim Logan, 45, of Waynesburg went to the school a little over a year ago and thought that his son Jason, who was about to start his freshman year, and his friends should have a new sport to participate in, one that he has enjoyed for years.
Logan’s idea was for the first varsity tennis program in school history. However, after his first attempt didn’t work out, Logan visited WCHS athletic director Bobby Stephenson early this year and he was given approval to put together a club team.
“Most of the time he (Jason) will come out and play, but he doesn’t have other guys his age to play with,” Logan said. “This year, I just thought, if it’s going to be done, I’ll have to bite the bullet and just get it done.”
Immediately, there was a definite interest shown, as Logan had an estimated 25 male and female students express interest. Since early March, around 15 of those students who signed up have been regularly attending practices for the club team. Since that first practice, Logan has observed visible improvement in many of those participating.
The unofficial head coach is assisted by 26-year-old Greene County native Zachary Hughes who played tennis at the collegiate level while attending St. Francis College in Pa.
“When we went out there on March 6, kids were just whacking balls all around the court,” Tim Logan said. “Since then I’ve seen them improve and regularly have 10-to-12-volley rallies.”
Stephenson sees the prospect of another athletic outlet for the students at Waynesburg as nothing but positive and hopes the team gains varsity status.
“I think the more that we can offer as a district to our students, the better as a whole our district will be,” Stephenson said. “The positives are that we are involving more students in an extracurricular sport and activity while trying to meet the needs of all the kids in the district. As the nation faces the problem with obesity, this is another great avenue to go at that problem.”
However, before the team can gain full varsity status, Stephenson must go before the school board and let them vote on whether or not the team can begin competing in the WPIAL next spring.
“In speaking with Dr. (Jerome) Bartley (school district superintendent), the first thing will be attendance and interest along with commitment on a regular basis,” Stephenson said. “I think the last thing the district wants to do is start a program and then not have a commitment to field a competitive team, or a team at all for that matter.”
That fear of not having competitive players doesn’t appear to be a problem according to Logan. In fact, he thinks the players he has want more competition. That’s why he has made a tentative agreement with University High School in West Virginia to have a scrimmage match in late April.
Logan has had to go outside the boundaries of the WPIAL to find an opponent, because teams in the league are not allowed to scrimmage with non-members.
Speaking of the WPIAL, even though they are not yet a varsity program, the Raiders will send a representative to the sectional round of the boys individual tournament, which begins on April 10 at a yet-to-be determined site.
To determine who will get to represent the Red and Black at the school’s first ever WPIAL tennis tournament, Logan held a tournament of his own involving nine of his players. The finals featured junior Christopher Cappellini and Logan’s son Jason, a sophomore.
The younger Logan beat Cappellini the best two-out-of-three set format final and will represent his school at the historic event. Needless to say, he was certainly excited.
“It’s a really good feeling,” Jason said. “This will be something new to the area and I’m just glad I get to be a part of it.”
However, along with that excitement and anticipation, Jason Logan admits that the thought of competing against players from established tennis programs makes him pretty nervous.
“I’ll be pretty nervous and excited because it’s such a new thing,” he said. “It’ll be a cool thing to do.”
So even though the enthusiasm is there, a few concerns are still in the back of Logan’s mind. Mostly, they deal with just where the Raiders will play their home matches.
With the pending relocation of the tennis courts at the Central Pool in Waynesburg due to a planned renovation of the area, the elder Logan has already been scouting different locations, in case the team gets to the varsity level. However, he hopes there will be new courts built by the time the 2007 spring boys season comes around.
For now, there is no girls club team in existence at Waynesburg, but, Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rules state that girls are allowed to compete on a boys team if no girls team exists. If the interest is there, Stephenson said there is no reason why a girls team couldn’t join the WPIAL as well.
While there is still much to do before WCHS adds its 15th varsity team, all signs point to the completion of the goal that the Logans, Stephenson and many others are hoping to reach: a varsity tennis team at Waynesburg Central.
Even though he admits that he really doesn’t see himself as a long term coaching option if the program gets going, Logan is very pleased with how his vision is slowly becoming reality.
“I would certainly like to work with them, but I don’t know if I’m head coach material,” Logan said. “I just want to thank Mr. Stephenson for giving us a chance to let us get the club team together and hopefully we can go varsity, because they really want to compete.”