Eshaan Kaipa: Varsity-Level Tennis Player
-Sophomore at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, California
-Player on Evergreen Valley’s Varsity Boys Tennis Team
How do you manage tennis, school, friends, family, etc.?
“So the way I manage it is I always keep my school as priority number one and so if there are any tests or homework I need to do and if I know that I’m not going to be able to fit in tennis or spending time with friends, I’d always keep my school work as number one. If I do have time, I’ll go for any of those other fun things but it's usually schoolwork and then tennis and if there is any time left, I will relax.”
How do you deal with burnout?
“Honestly, what I like to do when I feel burned out is keep school and tennis as 2 equally balanced things so if I am feeling burned out when it comes to school work, I’ll spend more time focusing on tennis and spend more time on the court. But, if I’m feeling tired and want to take a break from tennis, I’ll focus more on my school work. So I feel like having a balance between those two things really helps deal with burnout because when you are feeling burned out in one area, you can focus more of your time and energy on another area until you feel a little bit better.”
How do you deal with stress on competition day?
“When I was younger and started competitions, I felt a lot of stress because tennis is an individual sport and there’s no one to bail you out or tell you what to do. Everything comes down to you and so I felt a lot of pressure and stress when I first started but it gets better with experience. Also just knowing that the results don’t matter really boosts my confidence. What matters is you playing your best and trying your hardest and so I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to win before but now I tell myself that it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you improve week to week, month to month and if you improve, the results will follow.”
Is there any parental pressure? How do you deal with it?
“To be honest and frank, my parents put pressure on me when I first started and I felt a lot of stress on their end and so we had a lot of discussions and a lot of talks about what was going on because it was really bothering me especially during the matches. I wouldn’t be able to perform well but I told them to let me handle things on my own and to stop being as involved. Usually, it’s the opposite because you want your parents to be involved in your extra-curriculars but if you are feeling pressure, you can tell your parents that you will handle it and that you got this for now so they can step away and ever since then, it has become a lot better. Even now, I don’t have my parents watch my matches and I think that is something that helps a lot. They don’t watch my matches and don’t really tell me things on my match day but just telling them that I got this and that I can handle this on my own helps a lot.”
Is mental health talked about on your team? Would you like to see it talked about?
“I think mental health, especially in tennis, is definitely really important but to be honest, it is not talked about as much as I would like to see it talked about because coaches don’t really focus on your mental health but rather on how you are physically feeling and how you are improving your game but in order to improve at tennis, you need to be mentally strong. That is one of the biggest keys to improving and I feel like, in my experience, I haven’t really seen coaches do a great job of keeping up with that but definitely, mental health is extremely important especially in individual sports or any sport in general.”
What other external pressure affects tennis? (peer pressure, social media)
“There aren’t that many, to be honest. I have a big circle of friends and we are all at tournaments together and we are all friendly and trash-talking but that’s within ourselves and for fun. I personally don’t have any social media other than Facebook, which is for school. I don’t have Snapchat or Instagram or anything like that and I feel like that decision I made is very important because social media is a distraction in my opinion and I don’t want to be a part of that culture. Not having social media is something that I really like and pride myself on doing. I do have a little bit of internal pressure but I don’t really feel any external pressure that bogs me down.”
Has moving into higher-intensity and more competitive tennis taken a toll on your mental health? How is it different from 6-7 years ago?
“As you progress your game more and get into the upper leagues of tennis, it becomes more mentally draining and your matches take a long time because you’re on the court almost 15 hours a week. When I was younger, I used to play tournaments almost every week - pretty much at least 3 weeks a month - but nowadays I only play twice a week per month because once you commit to a tournament, it’s such a big commitment because your whole weekend is at the tournament to play tennis. It’s fun but once you get into the higher levels of tennis, it’s not just going there, having fun, and then coming back. You really need to apply yourself and that is mentally taxing. I try and balance it out - I don’t play too many tournaments as I used to - but I still play a lot but definitely, the biggest change has been not playing as many tournaments, focusing more on my practices and time outside my tournaments because when I do play in the tournament, I have to make sure to play as good as I can.”
Are you comfortable talking to teammates about mental health and pressure? What types of teammates help with your mental health/wellness?
“Tennis is such a great sport because not only is it solely self-reliant but it also has a great atmosphere and culture. I feel that with a lot of teams, especially high school teams, the culture and friendships you can build from tennis are really amazing. My friends and I would always talk about it and pump each other up and we always tell each other ‘good job’ because once you are part of a tennis team, it’s more than just a team. You guys become close and become friends and having those type of relationships on the team, even if it’s just a few guys you are comfortable talking to, can really help. Just knowing that they are helping you and supporting you helps you stay focused and mentally clean during the match.”
