Oswego Boys Tennis has New Coach, Outlook

By Nicholas J. Casella, intern

One of the newest members of the Oswego boy’s tennis team isn’t a player, it’s a coach. Jim Hartmann enters his first season with the squad but has already made an impact.

Hartmann, who was in the military and played tennis at SUNY Oswego is bringing a new sense of discipline and conditioning to the team. Seniors John Kangah and Joe Hart already notice the change in coaching style from previous years. The team is working more as a team this year and staying focused.

“He’s looking to bring out everything that we have, he wants us to do good, he knows we can, he’s just trying to bring that out as much as he can by pushing us,” said Hart

Working as a team is a theme that the Bucs want to have throughout this season. This is true because they want to stress the focus on doubles matches this year according to coach Hartmann. He thinks that is the key to how far this team can go. Based on the numbers it makes sense there are 4 doubles matches compared to 3 singles at each event.

This is an area where the team has struggled in the past but coach Hartmann wants to change that this year.

“A lot of these kids don’t have experience with doubles play; I think that is something that I can hopefully teach them that will translate well to the court.”

The singles events are going to be more consistent as they are led by senior captains Mathew Randall, Joe Hart, and John Kangah. Randall will be the team’s number one in singles. As for Hart it is fourth year on the team and he is still searching for his first sectionals berth and tags that as a major goal of his. This is Kanga’s second season playing and is hoping that his hard work in the off-season will pay off.

“I personally want to go to sectionals for doubles or singles this year,” said Kangah.

Hartmann attributes a lot of the team’s preseason success to the athletic director, Scott Sugar and the custodial staff for preparing the courts for them. Allowing them to get all the time they needed to have a chance to be competitive.

The Bucs first match will be against Henninger on Tuesday April 6, at the Oswego High School tennis courts at 4:30 p.m. missing or outdated ad config

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