Father, daughter bond on and off tennis courts

This year’s co-captain of Ramona High School’s girls tennis team, Halli Romero, has a lot of skills backing her. Over the years she’s played basketball, indoor and outdoor soccer and performed ballet in addition to playing singles and doubles tennis competitively.

But the ace up her sleeve on the tennis court is being coached by her father, Troy Romero.

Halli, a 17-year-old senior at Ramona High, said it’s sometimes challenging to differentiate her dad’s roles as Ramona High girls tennis coach and being her father, but it’s definitely given her advantages.

Halli said he’s helped her to accept mistakes, improved her consistency and given her a partner for extra practice. The guidance she most values, however, is in dealing with the mental aspects of the game.

The mental component dominates the sport and contributes to comeback wins in games full of lost points, she said.

“You can never predict who is going to win and who can outlast the other,” Halli Romero said. “My dad encourages me. He might sing songs or say something funny to distract me from the mental game so I don’t mess up more.”

She said that her dad sometimes motivates her to reach the next level of performance and helps her learn from her mistakes. She added that her teammates also feel comfortable learning from him and she doesn’t feel like she gets singled out or treated any differently by the others.

From Troy Romero’s perspective, coaching Halli on the tennis team from her sophomore through senior years comes naturally as he has been coaching youths in basketball from 1999 to 2015 and tennis at Ramona High School since 2016.

During that time he has coached all five of his children in basketball, mostly at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego, and also at Olive Peirce Middle School.

“Since 1999, I’ve always had at least one of my kids on the team I was coaching for basketball and I’ve coached Halli on the tennis team the last three years,” Troy Romero said. “It will be interesting next year because I won’t have any more kids at home.”

The Ramona High tennis players in the family are Brittany, 30, who played on the team from 2002-05; Taylor, 24, who played from 2007-11; and Lexi, 21, who played from 2014-2015. His son Zack, 26, chose to play soccer and basketball.

The Romeros distinguished themselves with Brittany and Taylor serving as team captains during their tenure and Lexi advancing to college-level tennis at Southern Virginia University.

Troy Romero said he values the one-on-one time he spends with his children on and off the court, whether it’s driving them to a game or getting a Slurpee afterward or sharing a funny moment with friends.

“When you coach a child you get an opportunity to see them in times of stress and difficulty and you can help and teach them,” Troy Romero said. “You also see moments of triumph and you’re the first person they see when they get off the court. Not every parent can say they spend 14 hours a week with their child. I feel I’m making a positive contribution in their lives and in the community.”

Troy and Halli acknowledge some of her tennis abilities were gained through lessons by Riviera Oaks and Racquet tennis pro Katrina Failla and Ramona High junior varsity tennis coach Kim Owens, who coached Halli in her freshman year.

Halli began developing her tennis skills at summer tennis camps she attended at Riviera Oaks starting when she was 8 years old.

“My dad and I used to play every evening as a fun way to get out of the house,” said Halli. “I never really liked tennis until my freshman year.”

Halli said she’s been a doubles player on the Bulldogs team the past three years and is giving singles a try for the first time this year. The transition was made because Halli lost her doubles partner, Hannah Nowakowski, who was a senior last year. Together they had 64 wins and 14 losses last season.

“I’ve been practicing all summer for it so I feel really good about it,” said Halli, who began drills, running and conditioning with the team a few weeks ago. “In doubles you have help and in singles you have to depend on yourself. It’s a different game.”

Practicing and paying particular attention to improving her serve paid off for Halli in competition against Orange Glen High on Aug. 23 as she won her first singles match that day 6-0.

Ramona High’s other tennis co-captain, 17-year-old senior Chelsea Boss, is an experienced tennis player who played on the junior varsity team as a freshman and on the varsity team all three years since.

Boss considers her strength to be a consistent player who can keep the ball in play, which makes up for being weak at returning the ball. She foresees San Pasqual High’s girls tennis team to be one of their tougher competitors to beat this season. She said Ramona High vied for the league championship title against San Pasqual last year but Ramona’s team lost in a tie-breaker match.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year,” Boss said. “A lot of the girls this year haven’t played varsity before so we’re working our way up. There’s just a lot of new girls.”

Boss had a shot at playing against Orange Glen’s top player, Britney Chau, but lost 2-6.

Even though Ramona girls tennis team lost the match against University City High School 8 sets to 10 sets on Aug. 21, Boss is optimistic about future games as the Ramona team has the advantage of playing more home than away games.

“We’re used to our courts and the weather, whereas other teams aren’t used to the heat,” she said. “It’s definitely to our advantage.”

Boss said she’s learned to take the game one point at a time rather than get overwhelmed with an entire game. As co-captain of the team she’s also accepted the responsibility of leading drills and stretches, and conducting prayer before games and cheers afterward.

“I like our coach a lot,” she said. “He definitely cares about how we do individually, not just whether we win.”