Earlier this week UIL hosted it’s state tennis tournament in Austin and College Station.
This time I didn’t shoot for 1st Photo Texas for UIL, rather I took on a few editorial assignments.
On Monday morning I was in Austin at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center at UT for the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. New Braunfels High School had a few athletes competing, so I stuck around for the quarterfinals.
Tuesday morning I made the two hour drive to College Station to cover the 3A boys singles final for the Dallas Morning News. The match was at the Mitchell Tennis Center at Texas A&M University.
Dallas Madison’s Bradley Loftis played Abilene Wylie’s Rayce Roberson. Loftis, a 15-year-old eighth grader, had made it to the finals, which is further than anyone from his district has gone since at least 1983. That’s as far back as the UIL online records go. If he would have won the match, it would have been the first time since 1929 that anyone from Dallas ISD had won the state title.
Loftis ended up losing 6-0, 6-1 to Roberson, but it was fun to watch Loftis play. He was clearly emotionally invested and had an athletic quality to his game. He jumped high and moved quickly around the court. It was a fun match to shoot, even if it ended with frustration rather than celebration.
Here are some of my favorites:
It’s almost always nicer when I get to shoot an athlete (especially a kid) winning, but I hope Loftis knows he had nothing to be ashamed of, and that he’ll have another chance next year.
As far as gear goes, I used two Nikon D700s, one with an 80-200mm f2.8 and one with a 200-400mm f2.8. At both locations I shot from the official stand at the net on the court, from either side of the back of the court (where players enter/exit), and from the raised seating area that overlooks the court. Both locations offered great access.
Click here to read more about the New Braunfels HS tennis team.
Click here to read more about Dallas Madison’s Bradley Loftis.
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