After the retirement of the girls tennis head coach Sandi Stein, the program has had trouble finding a coach for the 2025-26 season, leaving Athletic Director Blair Barksdale to take the position as certified staff member of the girls team, coach Tony Rosier as the girls coach and coach James Pressley as the boys coach, who will provide Rosier assistance.
“It’s been hard to find a coach because few of the teachers here have the time for another commitment,” junior co-captain Sydney Stafford said. “[Pressley and Rosier] will be great, but it is going to be more difficult to find time to practice with just the girls team. I think we will be practicing on different days, but that will limit our court time.”
The athletic directors have had difficulties finding a proper coaching staff that meet the specific criteria, due to the lack of available coaches.
“There are requirements set by the Georgia High School Association and Atlanta Public Schools that govern who can coach high school athletes,” Barksdale said. “We would love an excess of coaches, but it’s not the landscape of high school athletics at this time. [Pressley] will handle the coaching with no problems. The AD’s will be available for practice and to step in when needed”
Stafford, who has been on the team since her freshman year, said that with inconsistent coaching, the team has had difficulties with coordination.
“I think it’s made the team more unified because the team has to work together to coach each other,” Stafford said. “But I think it’s led to more disorganization across the whole team in terms of controlling and managing how the team works. “
Due to the demanding nature of the athletic director’s job, Stafford anticipates that having Rosier and Pressley as the coaches will be largely beneficial.
“I think that [Barksdale] is going to be able to help manage our team, but she will also have to focus on her other jobs,” Stafford said. “Thankfully, [Pressley] has been helpful with coordinating everything and a few of us students have been able to work well with coach Barksdale.”
With two teams to coach, players have voiced concerns for having enough coaching time. Sophomore Shilpa Warrier has noticed that in response to this, some of her fellow students have stepped up to help the team prepare for the season.
“With tryouts coming up, I feel like mainly Coach James, Sydney Stafford and Emily Eckmann are leading the team,” Warrier said. “Coach Barksdale has been helping a lot, but I’m glad they have been here.”
Even with the assistance of players and the boys coach, Warrier has found that miscommunications have become inevitable. This has led Stafford to face complications when attempting to relay vital information.
“I think a lack of coaches is affecting our captain’s [Stafford’s] ability to convey consistent information to us, as the information has often been changing,” Warrier said.
Because of limited space and lighting, the team holds many practices off-campus at Piedmont Park. With lack of transportation, attendance issues were a consistent problem during practices last year. Crisler said this had led to struggles for doubles teams that will most likely continue.
“Practicing off-campus leads to extremely low attendance and energy levels,” Crisler said. “Carpooling or traveling some other way to the courts after school discouraged people from going every day. With such low attendance levels, the doubles teams had a hard time working together.”
Despite their struggles, the team is confident in its skill, and players hope to place first in the region, as they have placed first for the past five years, aside from the 2024-25 season, in which they finished second.
“I really can’t wait to play,” Crisler said. “I can’t wait to finish my high school tennis career strong.”
