By:Nina Peci-

Senior Emily Iverson has been playing tennis since the sixth grade. She joined the Knights her sophomore year and rose up through the ranks from reserve, to JV, and this year varsity.

“I wanted to be part of team and I knew that a big school, like this, has such a different dynamic than a small town school,” said Iverson.

She moved here from a small school in South Dakota and knew that Southeast was a more competitive and athletics based school.

“It’s a very mental sport,” said Iverson. “You can get inside your head and totally mess it up.”

Tennis requires you to constantly be mentally ready to make the next move. Having a bad day can throw off even the best players on the team, but that’s what Iverson loves about it. Iverson keeps in mind that the best games happen when you stay relaxed.

“You have to fix yourself, [your coach] won’t always be there for you so you learn how to be independent, which is important for college.”

Iverson has learned a lot of lessons from tennis that she uses day to day; self correcting and moving on being two of the most important. Tennis helped her learn how to let go and move forward when something doesn’t go as planned. She also learned how important it is to be in your head space and knows that sometimes you just need to take a break and pull yourself together again.

Southeast Girls Tennis hopes to take state again this year on Thursday and Friday at the Koch Tennis Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Iverson said, “[When you win a match] it’s a pretty proud moment. Tennis is a super mental sport, so if you have a bad day that could really throw your game.”