Most schools have the traditional football, basketball, soccer and baseball/softball as their school sports. Most students play these sports during their four years of high school. Outside of the school grounds, football, basketball and baseball are watched all of the time by a majority of Washington; but what about tennis? Many people don’t watch tennis as much as the other “traditional” sports, but it’s just as engaging. That’s why tennis should be added as an option for WHS sports.

The sport of tennis requires a lot of cardio, from running across your side of the court, and a lot of strength to get the ball over from the back of your side of the court. Tennis is considered a safe, non contact sport according to the United States Tennis Association. Furthermore, tennis is a good way to let out any anger or tension built up.

Not many high schools have tennis on their list of sports the school offers. In fact, according to Statista.com, only 187.5 thousand girls participated in a high school tennis team in the United States in the 2016-2017 school year. High school boys are a little lower than that with only 158.1 thousand participating in tennis for a high school.

Some people may say that having a tennis team for their school could be a little pricey or they just don’t have the money to do it. Many sports who are going on a trip for competitions or new uniforms often have to raise the money somehow. How do they raise the money? They raise the money by fundraisers. That’s how many high schools get certain requests for their school sports, and frankly, high school fundraisers make roughly about $13,000 per school according to PTO Today.

Tennis would be a great sport addition to any high school; it’s a non contact sport, it helps you with your cardio and your upper body strength. But schools are focused on the main sports that everyone knows and don’t find very different. Let’s be the school that changes it up and throw in a sport that draws people into watching it. You can play tennis on “Wii Sports,” why not take it into real life?