Notre Dame senior Maria Coulter was a state qualifier for the Irish last season, when she finished third in the Big 12 Conference tournament and fourth at sectional. She is a member of the National Honors Society and Tri-M music honors society.
Journal Star sports writer Johnny Campos served up five questions for Coulter:
1 Music, not tennis, seems to be the No. 1 thing in your life. Were you always into singing and playing the piano growing up?
My interest in singing began in 5th grade when I started participating in our grade school musicals. After that I started taking voice lessons and have been continually taking voice lessons since then. I have been playing piano since I was 7, but started taking a break from piano during my junior year, when I was focusing more on tennis.
2 How did music play a part in your deciding to switch sports in high school?
I was planning on playing volleyball during most of my 8th grade year. However, I would have to quit playing piano and taking voice lessons if I decided to do volleyball. So I decided to go out for tennis.
3 That’s turned out to be a good decision, hasn’t it?
I didn’t start playing tennis until the summer before my freshman year, when I was on JV. I didn’t touch a racquet until the summer before my sophomore year and began taking lessons from Mario Palmieri. My sophomore year I played No. 4 on the team and medaled for the first time in conference for third place. I decided after that I wanted to take tennis more seriously, and began working harder over the offseason.
4 How special was it to win the Girls 18 and Women’s Open titles at the Tri-County Tournament at the same time your coach was winning the Men’s 45 title this year?
That was a special moment because of how hard we both worked together to win those titles. I would see Mario about two to three times a week for weightlifting and tennis lessons. To see that all of our hard work paid off was a phenomenal feeling.
5 Did you set some goals for your senior season? And do you hope to continue playing in college?
My goal is to compete at state again and make great memories for my senior year with my teammates. I think the most important thing for me this year is to remember why I started playing tennis, because it teaches me a variety of life skills. I have not decided if I am going to try out for tennis in college, because my No. 1 thing I want to focus on is singing in choir in college. I want to thank God, my family, coaches Kathleen Temple, Greg Rashid and Terry Shortridge, and my tennis instructors for all of their support and increasing my knowledge of tennis and how to be a better person on the court.
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