This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
05/04/2017 12:00 AMBilly Sgro hasn’t traveled the path that he expected to at North Haven High School, but he sure is pleased with the destination that he’s arrived at—a prominent role on a burgeoning boys’ tennis team.
Billy, who grew up playing football and basketball, had no intention of joining the tennis squad when he arrived at the high school. However, everything changed when Billy’s friend Mike Gagliardi decided to go out for the team and encouraged Billy to do the same in their sophomore years. Despite having no competitive tennis experience, Billy immediately took a liking to the sport, earned a spot in the doubles lineup, and is currently playing No. 3 singles as a captain in his senior season.
Billy, who’s now exclusively a tennis player, says that joining the team was “one of the best decisions I’ve made my whole life.”
“I’m definitely happy with my decision. It’s a sport that I picked up easily and I fell in love with it and am very passionate about,” says Billy. “Coming to the team, I knew nothing about tennis. I didn’t even know how the scoring works. But by the end of my journey, I’ve made lifelong friends who are like brothers to me, and I’ve also had the opportunity to learn one of the most fun sports there is.”
Even though he was new to the court as a sophomore, Billy was afforded the familiarity of playing alongside longtime best friend Gagliardi at the No. 3 doubles position. The tandem quickly meshed together and wound up netting 10 victories that year.
“I was very blessed to pick up the sport as easily as I did, and being partners with Mike boosted my confidence because Mike has been my best friend since preschool. Growing up, all we’ve done is constantly push each other to be better at sports,” Billy says. “We had a natural chemistry and just played so well together because of how well we knew each other and our ability to communicate.”
Billy’s early success motivated him to work on his game throughout the offseason with a goal of becoming a singles player in his junior year. Although Billy started off back at doubles, it didn’t take long for him to get bumped up to the solo circuit. One day, North Haven faced Guilford a little shorthanded, and so Head Coach Don Hurley had Billy play No. 4 singles. Entering the match as a big underdog, Billy took his formidable opponent down to the wire in a three-set defeat. The fight, focus, and fortitude that Billy displayed earned him a permanent promotion to the singles lineup.
“I thought it was pretty awesome because, going into the season, coach was telling me that the spot to grab on our team was No. 4 singles, and I was like, ‘What is he talking about? That’s my spot.’” says Billy. “But he told me that I needed to fight for it, and I ultimately won that spot, and I’m now I’m playing 3 and 2 singles, instead of 4 singles.”
Billy has three wins while primarily playing No. 3 singles this season and, with North Haven’s toughest matches already behind them, Coach Hurley forecasts several more victories as the campaign unfolds. Along with the endurance that he’s developed from being an athlete his whole life, Billy feels that one of his greatest assets on the court is his ability to keep a level head.
“I’ve been down a few games and been able to come back because I know the points that happened in the past are in the past and I can’t change them,” says Billy, who’s helped North Haven qualify for the Class L State Championship the last two seasons. “All I can do is win this point right now, and so I don’t worry about that point that just happened or the one after. It’s just one point at a time.”
Coach Hurley commends Billy for his ability to lock himself in a zone and block out everything else while competing, saying that Billy’s “concentration in matches is intense and his desire to win is amazing.” Hurley details a few other aspects of Billy’s game that make the senior an essential component of his squad.
“He listens very well when given instruction, he comes to all the practices, and he learns from every match. If Billy sees his opponent do something well, he practices it afterward,” says Hurley. “He has a very steady serve, and his forehand and backhand are almost of equal quality. He makes very few unforced errors. Billy is kind of a backboard that returns every shot across the court and can run and hit those shots back with accuracy. He’s very steady.”
Hurley adds that Billy sets a great example as a captain because the team’s other athletes see how he always gives 100 percent and then try to emulate that. Billy not only leads with his actions, but also his words, as he likes giving his teammates tips at practice and then rooting them on during their matches.
“Being a captain, it’s really important that I encourage my team to keep progressing. I hope I win my matches to help the team, and I also try to help my teammates as much as I can, if it takes hitting with them all day or cheering for them from the sidelines after my match; whatever it takes. I want our team to do well in my last season,” he says. “When I found out my teammates voted me captain, I thought that was a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but I also thought it was a relief because, if my teammates voted me in that position, they have as much confidence in me as I have in them, and that is special and very honorable.”
Billy not only appreciates that his teammates voted him a captain, but also the impact that his coaches have had on his progression as a player. One of those coaches was assistant coach Jerry Berg, who passed away in February. Billy says the Indians are dedicating the 2017 season to a man who helped everyone on the team realize their potential on the tennis court.
“I just want everyone to know that this season is dedicated to Coach Berg in his honor. The players who knew him, and even the players who didn’t have the opportunity to meet him, have all been affected by him, and he improved everyone’s game,” says Billy. “He improved my game a lot. Without him, I would not know how to hit a backhand at all. It’s not just that he was a great coach, but also a great person, and a great soul to be around.”