Imagine being so good that you are not just undefeated in tennis, but that you have pros coming into practice and playing with you. While this may seem unbelievable to some, this is just routine to Liam Coley.
“I just really like playing…My favorite thing is probably winning as a team, as Bear River.”
Coley has been on the tennis team at Bear River for the three years he has been here and in that short time, he has made a huge difference.
“He’s allowed the other players to get better because they saw how he could win without having to just pound the ball, which was huge,” said coach Jeremy Kerr. “So he's overall been an amazing role model to everyone, and that helps people get better; they start to feel good and then he humbles them.”
Coley’s journey with tennis didn’t just start at Bear River though.
“I’ve been playing tennis for about seven years. My family got me into it — my grandmother and my uncle play tennis so that got me interested,” says Coley.
While getting into the right mindset can be difficult for some, it has always come easy to Cloey.
“I just try to really focus my mind to get in the zone,” says Coley.
Coley is no. 1 on the boys ladder and is by far the best on the team.
A professional tennis player comes into practice just to rally with him.
“His consistency has just been getting better over the season, especially when he’s got the energy,” said Coley’s playing partner, Andrew Whiting. “He hits a heavy ball that can drive an opponent back. He can get to the ball, so that makes you play a lot of shots, and that can be tough to play against.”
Whiting played tennis in college and played tennis professionally after that. He now helps Coley get to his full potential at practice.
Along with being a good tennis player, Coley is also a good friend on and off the tennis courts.
Coley’s teammate, junior Kiara Glaspey said, “He’s a very nice and funny person. He’s always making me laugh.”
But Liam isn’t the only Coley on the team, his younger sister Emma is also on the team.
“I think it's fun to be able to be on a team with him, we get to go to away matches and that’s really cool,” Emma said.
In the three years he’s been on the team he’s created records and has become the standard.
“He has won almost every match since his freshman year. I think he’s only lost one match in the three years he’s been on the team,” said Kerr. “In our league, he’s been the PVL champion the last three years, and he got third place in sections. So it’s been very nice to have him on the team.”
