The Fountain Hills High School Tennis team has another small roster this year but that fact is not deterring new head coach Jim Merritt or his athletes.

Merritt is a professional tennis instructor and, with this being his first year as high school coach, he is focused on helping all of his players improve.

“Really, I am just in a teaching mode,” Merritt said. “Every time we are on the court I expect them to be working as hard as they can. It is like we are in the lab.”

Currently the boys tennis team has seven players and the girls team has five. While this makes competing difficult, Merritt said that his team knew what to expect when they signed up.

“It is also exciting that we got some new players this year,” Merritt said. “We had a couple of seniors who have never played tennis before but decided that they wanted to give it a shot.”

The mix of novice and experienced tennis players means that Merritt needs to make some adjustments when coaching, but his goal for each athlete is the same.

“My main goal for everyone by the end of the season is to improve at tennis and have a lot of fun,” Merritt said.

High school sports are currently suspended in Arizona until March 28.