Waylon Smith hopes to inspire the next generation of tennis players. The Ardmore High School sophomore helps lead youth tennis camps and runs the young athletes through drills.

“I help them with what they need to learn,” Smith said. “It’s important to me because it could help them in the future.”

Smith will play No. 1 or 2 singles for the Tigers this year. He inherited the sport from a young age.

“My mom played tennis when she was in high school, so tennis has always been in my life, but I picked up my first racket at 8, but I didn’t really start playing until I was 12,” Smith said. “My mom, she used to take me out to the courts with her and I would watch her or someone play with her and her friends, and when I found out Ardmore had a team, she would coach me so I could get ready for when I joined the Ardmore tennis team.”

His mother didn’t take it easy on him, though.

“Sometimes we would condition, but that wasn’t the hardest part. The mental game was the hardest to overcome,” Smith said.

But it’s a tough sport, and Smith knows that better than anybody. Momentum and “having a blank mind” are essential aspects of the sport.

“When you’re not confident in your shots, then you’ll start overthinking it and [that is] what leads most people to mess up in a point,” Smith said. “So you can’t think about the last point if you lose or win. Focus on the next point and what you could do to win.”

Learning that focus, Smith said, has been the most difficult challenge of his athletic career. He challenges himself further by playing people he considers better than him in practice.

“Every time I lost, I somehow got better,” Smith said. “You practice like you play.”

This year, expect Smith’s game to reach new heights.