Tag: Women’s Sports

The Ennoble Care Philly Open at Penn gave Radnor High School tennis players a chance to experience professional tennis up close. For some, it was their first time.

Jannie Lau and her husband, Todd Longsworth, sponsored a day at the tournament. Lau went to law school with Ashley Lunkenheimer, one of the co-founders of the Philadelphia Sisters, the group that has advocated for bringing a WNBA team to Philadelphia and expanding professional women’s sports in the city.

Lau wanted to support that mission. Rather than use the sponsorship tickets, signage, and other branding opportunities for themselves, Lau and Longsworth donated them to Radnor’s tennis program so players and their families could attend the tournament.

Lau’s daughter, Ridley Longsworth, plays for Radnor, and both of her children have been involved with the tennis program. She saw the tournament as an opportunity for the players to watch some of the best women’s tennis players in the world while also seeing the broader impact of women excelling in professional sports.

“Obviously, these are the most talented female professional players in the world, but just the trickle-down effect of seeing women like that succeed at that level in pro sports and all the research that shows that girls who participate in organized sports, especially team sports, even if it’s just at the high school level, teaches them all these soft skills that are so important for them no matter what career or industry they eventually go into,” Lau said.

For Lau, the lessons high school athletes learn from tennis go beyond the court. She said the discipline, leadership, and teamwork girls can develop through organized sports, and seeing successful female athletes, can help young players envision themselves in similar positions.

“I think all of that is the benefit of immersing our young women in this world where they feel comfortable, where they see themselves being represented,” she said. “I feel like that’s going to pay dividends for them, whether they play tennis in college or ever again.”

Kim Kent, who’s in her third year coaching Radnor’s tennis program, often tells her players, “Who you are on the court is who you are in life.”

“When you’re on the court, have really good sportsmanship, make the right calls,” she said. “The type of person you bring to your competition is who you are and what your reputation is.”

Radnor’s tennis program watched the single and doubles matches on Wednesday morning.

Luci L’Oiseau, a rising senior who started playing tennis right after the COVID-19 pandemic, enjoyed the crowd’s energy and seeing how players hold the racket during the serve.

“It’s one thing when you’re like behind a screen watching it on TV or your phone, but when you’re actually there it’s like you can feel every shot and every movement and it’s so interactive even as an audience member,” she said.

Julia Grabher, a professional player from Austria who is ranked No. 114 in singles, spoke with the Radnor team on Wednesday about her prematch routine, mentality on the court during a match and her experience as a professional player.

“It was definitely cool being able to talk face-to-face with her and get an inside view on what it’s like to be a pro player,” rising sophomore Emily Takefman said. “It seems like a really hard life but I think it’s cool to see she clearly loves what she’s doing.”

Grabher defeated Ashlyn Krueger, who advanced to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon last month, to advance to the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The tournament also gave Radnor’s doubles partners and rising juniors Siena Gurk and Emma Jean an opportunity to watch and learn the strategies used at the professional level.

“I especially liked watching the doubles and seeing how the partners after every point, win or lose, they would shake hands and tell each other ‘we got this.’ Just like keeping that motivation up and being there for each other,” Jean said. “It’s really easy to get frustrated when you’re losing and at such a high level it would be really easy for them to take it out on each other, but like they stick together.”

Kent emphasizes to her players that tennis really is a mental sport, so Gurk focused on watching how players handled their emotions during matches.

“For me the biggest takeaway was really their mentalities,” Gurk said. “There would be games that we would watch, especially the first singles match where a player would be down like a couple games and a couple points, and after every point they really just reset and got back on the court and come back with the same amount of energy every single time. That was really inspiring because — especially when we’re really younger and haven’t had as much professional coaching — obviously it can be difficult when you’re down to figure out what to do in that situation and to keep yourself positive.”

This is the first time professional women’s tennis has returned to the Philadelphia area in more than two decades. For L’Oiseau, it was important to see Philadelphia welcome women’s sports.

“In any sort of activity, whether it’s sports or other extracurriculars, it’s super important to have representation,” she said. “I can speak to that definitely as a woman and especially as a woman of color. You don’t always see people that look like you when you’re playing, but I think it’s really nice to know that other women are paving the path for me to be able to follow in their footsteps one day. So that definitely brings me comfort and confidence and it’s always good for girls to support girls.”

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Ava Smith crossed the finish line in Bulgaria as a proud member of an elite eight-person boat representing the U.S. Under-19 national women’s rowing team.

“Crossing the finish line, it was a feeling of accomplishment,” said Smith, who took up the sport only four years earlier at Mount St. Joseph Academy in Flourtown, Montgomery County. “A sort of relief, in a way, just knowing it’s done. We put it all out there.”

Smith picked up an oar for the first time as a freshman at Mount St. Joseph, but rowing runs in her blood. Her father, Don Smith, competed for the U.S. at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics; her older brother, Luke Smith, rows at Stanford and made the Under-19 national men’s team; and her sister, Addy Smith, now rows at Texas. Even the youngest Smith, Arden, plans to row as she starts her freshman year at Mount St. Joseph.

This summer, that legacy came full circle. After years of sibling-fueled rivalry, Ava earned a spot in the women’s eight as the seven seat and traveled to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to compete at the World Rowing Under-19 Championships, a spot secured after a whirlwind six weeks that took her from a selection camp in California to the start line across the world. And all of it just days before she leaves for her own next chapter: Rowing at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It was surreal, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, is this even happening?’” Smith said of being selected. “Honestly, before this year, I didn’t think I was ever going to get invited to even try out.”

Humility aside, Smith had an impressive high school career, which included helping Mount St. Joseph women’s varsity eight reach the “A” final twice at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Fla. She said that solidified her confidence heading into tryouts and college. But for Smith, the journey has always been about the team that helped her, especially in the beginning.

“All the other girls that join the team, they don’t know anything about it either, and you’re all learning together,” she said. “I really enjoyed that, and I feel like me being good at rowing also gave me motivation to see how far I can go, and how much I can improve.”

Though Don Smith never pushed any of his children into rowing, the sport has become a shared family love.

“It’s really nice to all do the same thing, get to talk about it,” Ava Smith said. “And with my dad, too, he can give me a lot of advice, especially because he really got to such a high level.”

Don Smith cheered on his daughter in Bulgaria with a few other parents, joking that he still remembers the nerves of a big race. He said he feels them again watching his kids compete.

“At the big ones, I’ll tend to go and I’ll start feeling like I’m out there, and I have to go watch by myself,” Don Smith said with a laugh, before sharing the advice he gives his kids in those moments. “Everybody else is feeling the same thing. … You’ve done all the work. Take this as an opportunity, not something that’s scary, or that you’re afraid of.”

Ava said she’s proud of the work she and her team, a collection of women from around the country, put in.

“Everyone was very nervous, including myself, but we were excited to see what we could do.” she said. “We really trusted one another in the boat, and I think we left with no regrets.”

Now, Smith is headed to Berkeley, shopping for dorm essentials and preparing to meet her roommate in person for the first time as she gets ready to move across the country just days after returning from Bulgaria.

“It’s going to be a little different for me to be toward the bottom,” Ava said. “But getting to compete and try on my way toward the top will be really fun, and I think definitely challenging. But I’m excited for that.”