New Milford boys tennis coach Kate Emerson talks with players from left Ryan Lewis, Marcus Kern and Javier Goodwin at the end of practice on Monday. Milford has a boys tennis team for the first time since 2018. (Courtesy photo)

MILFORD – It was the spring of 2018, and then Milford High School boys tennis coach Jean Marie-Lambert said before the season began, “We were hoping to get a couple more boys. It will be a small team this year.”

Marie-Lambert later that spring saw the handwriting on the wall, that after barely getting through the season there probably wouldn’t be enough players to sustain the program the following 2019 season.

She was right, and we said good-bye to Milford boys tennis.

And now, six years later, we’re saying welcome back.

Enter Kate Emerson, a former Souhegan High School and Stonehill College standout who coached at Hollis Brookline nearly 20 years ago. Emerson taught at HB for 17 years, and in 2020 came to Milford to teach. Much of her free time was spent taking care of her elderly parents, but both sadly passed away in the past year. The whole time she’s been at Milford she was waiting for the opportunity to someday have the time to revive the boys tennis program.

That time is now.

“I knew that I couldn’t commit to getting a team started right away, but that there would be a right time for me to return to coaching,” Emerson said. “I knew when I first got there that at some point in time I wanted to resurrect the tennis team, because I was flabbergasted that there wasn’t one.”

Once she realized she wanted to restart the program in the fall, she had the school make an announcement, and had an information form for those interested to fill out. Did they have experience, did they belong to any of the local clubs like Hampshire Hills, etc.

Sure, there were a couple of obstacles. One was the fact that a few months ago athletic director Don Gutterson told her while it would be great, there was no money in the budget. But Emerson was set to do it anyway, gratis, and work out the transportation with parents, etc. “I told Don we’d just figure it out as we go,” he said. But then Gutterson came to her some weeks ago to tell her some money had freed up – and the Spartans were ready to go with funding. “The most important thing we get a team up and going,” Emerson said. “We get a team up and going, then we can build excitement, and enthusiasm.”

The next step was simple.

“Find bodies,” Emerson said with a chuckle. “I was looking to see who was not already committed to a spring sport. I knew that there were some kids who grew up playing baseball, and there was no way I could tear them away from that for a starting tennis team.”

She also were looking for a few athletes from other fall or winter sports, and then maybe some she knew who weren’t doing much for the spring. As a result she has 12 players who are from all walks of the high school life.

“We have a handful of kids who are athletes, and a couple who have never really played a sport before,” Emerson said. “It’s worked out really well. … I have basketball players, football players, soccer players and a wrestler. I hope to leverage their athleticism while building basic tennis mechanics and technique.”

One athlete recruited about three or four more, “and once kids saw there were some football players, they thought, ‘Hmm, maybe that’s a cool thing to do.'”

The roster has eight freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors. The freshmen are Tyler Constable, Brendan Courtney, James Crawford, Ryan Delli Colli, Will Emerson, Marcus Kern, Ryan Lewis and Brady O’Connor. Sophomores are Huseyin Alperen and Tiegan Barb, while there’s also juniors Javier Goodwin and Jake Neubeck.

Emerson has to teach the basics, even explaining to somehow to keep score.

The only real experienced tennis player is her son, Will, who plays basketball but does compete over the summer, has been playing the game since 2015, learning from local tennis guru Moe Leclerc, the former Nashua Country Club pro who currently coaches the Alvirne girls and runs a year-round program in Hudson.

Emerson herself has learned a lot from former Nashua South coach Dave Santerre. She’s been really happy with the players willingness to learn.

“They show up to practice eager to listen, learn, and work hard to get better,” she said, noting that a big goal is practice good sportsmanship on the courts because it could be a struggle of a season due to lack of experience.

But the players aren’t lost on what they have set out to accomplish – revive a program.

“These boys are competitors at heart but care mostly about helping to biuld a reputable tennis program at MHS,” Emerson said. “And they find it unacceptabe that our last state championship in tennis was 1982”

They start the season next Tuesday at, ironically, Hollis Brookline. The Cavs play indoors actually, at Longfellow Tennis Club in Nashua.

But in this situation, everyone gets a win in Emerson’s mind, including her.

“For some kids in high school it might be the only chance they have at playing a high school sport,” Emerson said. “Sports teaches us so many things we can’t learn in the classroom. … I was so close to my parents but this is filling a void, I can reclaim parts of my life again.”

And make history while she and her players are at it.

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