COOKE

Athlete Spotlight

Jenna Cooke: FHS Senior, Tennis

By Ben Miller

-    Where are you going to

    college?

I’m going to Central

    Washington University.

    I want to become a teach

    er and that was one of my

    top choices for a long time.

-    Who is your hero?

I’d have to say my older

    brother (Jordan). I look up

    to him a lot. He goes to the

    UW right now and he’s

    amazing.

-    Why do you play tennis?

My grandparents play ten-

    nis and my dad played in

    high school. They were

    the ones who kind of got

    me into it, and once I got

    out on the court I

    kind of noticed that it was

    a lot of fun and I liked

    doing it. There’s always room for improvement – it’s not

    one of those sports that you just get.

-    Is it nice that it is a sport you can continue to play

    after high school?

That’s what I love about it. When I’m 65, I can still be

    playing tennis.

-    How do you get ready for a tennis match?

Just kind of sit and think to myself. I don’t really do any

    big preparations. I just sit and listen to my iPod a little

    – get into the zone. I smile a lot. I notice that if I’m angry

    going into a match, it’s never right.

-    How do you feel about your final season of high

    school tennis being over?

In some ways, I’m really ready for it to be over, but in

    other ways I’m really going to miss it a lot. I’m definitely

    ready for it to be over.

-     What is your favorite sports team?

The Huskies. I just have always liked watching the

    Huskies. It’s a family thing, I guess.

-     What is your favorite thing about tennis?

I like everything about tennis. I like that you can play it

    from when you’re a young child to when you’re really old.

    It’s pretty easy to teach other people to do it.

-     What is the most important thing you’ve learned

    playing sports?

Just hard work and not to give up on things easily. I’ve

    noticed that a lot of times, what happens is we’ll go into a

    second set after we’ve won the first one, and we get this

    mental block like ‘we had them the first set, it’ll be easy

    the second time.’ And we’ll end up going into a tiebreaker

    because we have the attitude like ‘we already have this.’

    Don’t always over-think things, don’t always think that

    things are going to turn out your way – you have to think

    about it every second.

-     What is your favorite moment playing tennis?

Just the bus rides, spending time with all the girls. And

    the coaches are awesome. They’re really fun. Coach really

    knows what he’s doing, and Miss Loomis is just a goof

    ball, she’s really funny.

-     What is your favorite movie?

Probably the “Shawshank Redemption,” I really love that

    movie. My dad showed it to me one time and I just really

    liked it. And I like “Castaway,” the “Boondock Saints” is

    a good one. I like movies like that.

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