Tennis, a perennial favorite of summer and spring, is now a fall sport.  The girls PSAL  tennis season has moved from the spring to the fall.  According to the commissioner, Ms. Janet Miles, “there are myriad reasons for the switch.”

These reasons include: Title IX compliance, it allows girls an opportunity to attend the NYSPHSSAA Tournament, allows more opportunities for teams to play and practice so they will not have to share the courts with boys teams, the weather is better, there is more time to practice before matches since practices begin August 17, the rescheduling of “rain outs” is easier, more courts are available, and boys and girls teams can share the same coach.Commissioner Miles said, “a few coaches grumbled and a few teams had a difficult time recruiting players or getting a coach due to the change in season but most of the coaches I have spoken to love the fact that they have great weather.”

Curtis High School’s girls tennis coach, Ms. Antosz, weighed in on the positives. “The weather is better, there will be no missing girls from games due to AP tests, and the workload on students isn’t as rough as it would be later in the year.”

“Sharing courts is the worst. During the spring season, the girls shared the courts with the boys tennis team but now in the fall, they share the courts with Notre Dame Academy, and the public. There has been some issues with local players who insist on playing on the courts everyday even though they do not have a permit to play. In the spring, this was never an issue,” says Antosz.

Another negative is, “We have to get twelve games in before daylight saving begins on November 1st. Games cannot be played in the dark and this causes a rushed season of only a month and a half,” continued Antosz.

Aside from local players who have caused issues, the Notre Dame team have been very willing to share courts and exchange schedules.

Those who played a sport in the fall of last year had to choose between tennis and another sport. Luckily, only four girls had this problem but they all chose tennis. Second singles player, Kamila Mazitova, who was on the girls bowling team,  said, “I was looking forward to doing two sports this year, but tennis is my number one sport. Being a bowler senior year was something I was definitely looking forward too and it hurts to not be able to play with the girls I was with last year.”