Nutley's Newest Tennis Player

High school is a great time for students to try different clubs and sports to see what they like and may be interested in. Typically, students take their first two years to try new things, but for senior Louis Conca, he decided that he was going to take on tennis for his final spring sport season in high school.

For Conca, this is a whole new environment and sports setting. He has played football throughout all four years of high school and has done track for the past two years. This year though, he decided to ditch the running and pick up a racket to join his footbal coach, Jeff Martin, on the tennis court. “Coach Martin convinced me to play and said I would be good so I decided to give it a shot. I loved being with him during football season so I wanted to be with him in the spring,” Conca said.

As much as Conca enjoyed being with Coach Martin, Martin was just as happy to bring Louis onto the team with his football mentality.  “Louis Conca came to us with a tough winning mentality. His football background has given him a grittiness that he brought to our tennis team,” says Coach Martin. Together, Coach Martin and Conca have a mutually liking for one another which helps the chemistry and success of the team.

It was not just the coach that got Conca interested in tennis, it was the fact that track no longer appealed to him. Conca said, “Track just wasn’t fun anymore. It was too long and boring.”

In his first year, to everyone’s surprise, Conca has proven to be a talented tennis player and it even looks like he has played for a couple years, despite being a novice. His best attribute is being up close at the net and being a pest to get the ball by him. Because he is very tall and has a wide wingspan, it makes hard for opponents to get the ball over or around him.

To Conca’s surprise, he is enjoying it much more than he expected. “I wish I played all four years instead of doing track. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I am,” says Conca. While having fun, he is pretty successful so far. He and his partner, Mehul Manian, have a current record of 4-4 going into the county tournament. Even though Conca has .500 record, the team stands at 2-6.

Going into the tournament, Louis believes that he and his partner will do well. He is confident that they can turn some heads and pull some serious upsets and hopefully bring home a trophy.

Best of luck goes out to Louis and the rest of the Nutley tennis team going into the end of the year. Hopefully Louis can finish out his senior campaign successful and make everyone proud.