Be sure to check out this PDF for important info for participants on the upcoming season:

general info

RDT poses in front of their National Champion trophy while wearing their jackets.

This past weekend in Orlando, Florida the Raven Dance team competed in the NDA competition. They competed Nationwide from schools all around the country and even some schools internationally. The girls entered the competition with a lot of pressure on their backs knowing that it was very important to defend their National Title that they earned last year. With the loss of a handful of senior leaders the girls knew they had a lot to live up to. But no surprise, the girls danced like they never have before and won the National title in team performance for the second consecutive year. The girls also competed in the jazz category and placed third Nationally. Sunday night they competed against international schools such as a school from Japan and are currently ranked fifth place Internationally. Without all of the morning practices, after school practices, and the coaching and choreogrpahy of head coach, Shannon Judge the girls wouldn’t be able to call themselves National Champions.”It was a sigh of relief and accomplishment because we worked so hard and were rewarded with another national champion title,” sophomore member Adrianna Morse says.The girls brought back a a life size trophy, a National Champion banner to display next to the one they won last year, and they all received National Champion jackets to wear. As RDT returns back to school, make sure if you see any of the team members you congratulate them on their National Title.

The lady’s raven Tennis Team ended their season with placing 4^th at sunflower league. As a team and also everybody individually they won 2 quad tournaments. The number one doubles team consisted of Kylie Procter and Tessa Ziu, their record was 14 and 8 and the number one singles player was Haley Egan, her record was 8 and 6.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Haley Egan serves it up!

On September 5th the varsity girl’s tennis team went head to head with St. Thomas Aquinas. While STA generally has a reputation for athletic dominance, they didn’t seem to have the upper hand in doubles. Haley Egan and Katherine Anderson showed a lot of teamwork and strategy in their match. They played smart, and Haley Egan showed great control as she volleyed and backhanded the opponents’ shots.  During the match Egan was mumbling to us not to watch because she wasn’t at her best. Obviously she was underestimating herself because the girls won 8-4.

“They all went in for once!” was Katherine Anderson’s reaction to her serving performance. She also mentioned that her main goal for the season was to make Varsity, and since she has accomplished that she now plans on having fun with the game and winning more matches.

The rest of the team did well, even though STA is a tough competitor. Coach Oberhelman looked pleased and proud after the events were over, and the team had an overall positive attitude about their performance.

Tim has been teaching tennis for 22 years, and been coaching high school tennis for 17 years. He has been a USPTA developmental coach since 1995. Tim played tennis at JCCC then walked on at KSU for one season. He still plays in tournaments and USTA leagues as well as Ten-cap tennis. He has coached 6 Sunflower league champions, 5 Regional champions and 3 State Champions. Two of his high school players went on to win national championships at JCCC. Tim has help place over 40 students in college tennis scholarships, three in D-1, 32 in D-2. He teaches AP Environmental Science and Horticulture at Olathe South High and is the head tennis coach for boys and girls at Olathe Northwest High. He loves working with quick start tennis, Futures and Elite tennis kids as well as helping adults improve their game.

Haley Egan hopes to follow in Nodoka Hayashi’s footsteps and become a state qualifier for Varsity Girl’s Tennis. As a senior, there is a lot of pressure on her to lead the team to multiple victories this season. She has been playing since she was little, and really has a love for the game. Egan is currently 3-2, and according to Coach Oberhelman, she is expected to be the top singles player for ONW. Hopefully Egan reaches her goals and keeps up her winning record throughout the year.

Last Thursday the Ravens won 9 out of 12 matches, winning the quad against Olathe North, Shawnee Mission South, and Shawnee Mission Northwest. With the girls showing off their skills such a strong serves, tough backhands, and good strategy, this season is sure to be great!

Lauren has been teaching the life skills program at  Olathe Northwest for 7 years and this is her 4^th year coaching the JV tennis team.  She grew up in the Chicago area and was an all-conference tennis player. She loves coaching the JV girls team and helping the girls improve their tennis skills but also their confidence in the game.   She attended the University of Nebraska for her undergraduate in Special Education and is working on her second Master’s degree through Emporia State currently, in School Counseling.  She has a 9 year old son who is in the 3^rd grade who keeps her very busy. She  loves to play tennis recreationally, run and stay as active as possible.

On March 27, 2012, the Olathe Northwest junior varsity boys’ tennis team traveled to Washburn Rural to compete in the annual Varsity  tournament. Although the ONW JV boys thought they would be outmatched against the other schools’ varsity teams going into the tournament, they dug their feet in, and managed to medal two singles players, and a doubles team.

With this early  success in the season, the future looks bright for the JV boys in future tournaments. The JV boys hope to attend, and succeed, at two or three more all-day tournaments, including JV league, where the boys placed fourth last year. On the team this year there is already a new abundance of talent visible from the new   Luke Hartman, a junior who has been playing tennis for Olathe Northwest since he was but a mere freshman and looks to have much more success.

“We have a whole lot of tennis stars out there on the courts this year, I know that it will go swimmingly,” said Hartman.

The boys have a busy schedule ahead of them, and missing so much school in just one week can pile up. The boys however are determined to balance all of their time consuming activities the best they can. Richard Lee is a sophomore on the tennis team who knows how tough it can be to balance tough classes with tennis.

“Sure it’s tough, but I’m pretty sure that I have things figured out when it comes to balancing my schedule,” said Lee.

Home court