It’s the middle of March and it is beginning to snow. The tennis Rocks run through drills with a steadied focus. In between, you can hear players laugh and share techniques near the water cooler. Trinity sophomore Brandon Chou quietly sips on his water, looking at the other courts, observing the players.

Chou keeps his answers brief when conversing with teammates during these indoor drills, run at Springhurst Tennis Club. Occasionally, he’ll let out a smile or a laugh, but he maintains a quiet intensity throughout practice. He has the calm aura of a player who has known the game from a young age, understanding that to keep improving, attention must be paid.  

Three-year tennis moderator/coach Mr. Shayne Hull said the game has changed since he began playing: “When I was playing, the only tennis that existed was at high school and some park programs. Nowadays the whole game’s changed a lot more. Probably a third of our team has their own coach and trainer that they work with. They take private lessons. They play four to five times a week. I’d guess a lot of these players have been playing since they were five or six.”

Chou fits Hull’s description of a modern tennis player. Chou has been playing tennis since he was nine years old, and “got competitive” around 10 or 11 when he started to play tournaments. He plays year round, practicing about two hours a day outside of the school season. At one point he was ranked number one in the state for his age group.

“The opportunities are greater now, and because of that (the players) know where they stand because they get to see so many players on so many levels,” Hull said.

Chou’s father (a 1982 graduate) and his uncle (1984) played tennis at Trinity. Chou considers them to be his biggest tennis influences.

He said, “They’ve taught me everything that I really know. They were the first ones to introduce me (to the sport) and pushed me to be the best that I can be, off the court or on the court.”

Chou’s younger brother, Michael, and his cousins play tennis as well. Brandon likes the family aspect. “I’d say it’s more enjoyable than just playing to win,” he said. “Some tournaments I’ve actually played doubles with my brother, even though he gets mad at me or I get mad at him for missing a shot. When we were younger, we used to fight a lot. Through tennis we became closer.”

Michael said, “It gets really competitive, but I do enjoy playing with him. I feel like Brandon as a teammate is more of the person who just gets it done, kind of quiet. When he’s put into that team atmosphere, he feeds off the energy way more. At home, he’s usually reserved, more energetic by himself.”

Teammate Sam Rueff said Michael’s approach to the game works.

“(Michael) is calm,” Rueff said. “He jokes with everybody. It’s hard to keep up that same level of intensity. The more laid-back you play, the better you play.”

Rueff, a senior, has a backstory similar to the Chou family. His parents own Louisville Indoor Racquet Club. His grandmother is in the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame, and his father and uncles played college tennis.

Rueff plans on playing college tennis at Bellarmine University next year. He started playing “out of the womb” and has been practicing every day since middle school.

Rueff said, “I feel similar to (Brandon) because he comes from a very tennis-oriented background. His dad and uncle both played in high school at a very high level, just like my dad and two uncles. My dad actually played on the same team as them.”

At first, playing the sport felt like a mixture of something Brandon enjoyed and something his parents made him do. Over the years, the love for the sport became the main impetus for his involvement instead of parental expectations. He realized it was the sport for him around sixth grade when he started to travel and go to larger tournaments.

As time went on, Brandon’s father gave him more independence when it came to the sport.

Brandon said, “He wants us to make our own decisions, find our own hitting partner, try to make decisions because (my dad) is not always going to be there for me.”

Brandon said he began to love the sport the first time he won a tournament.  “That feeling of winning, knowing that hard work pays off. You can be good, but to be the best at something, you’ve got to work for it. I started enjoying practice more because I actually wanted to improve my game. It’s a break from my studies.”

The best moments for Brandon are when he finally breaks a losing streak against a player. He said, “The one time you beat them, that probably feels the best. You know you’ve done what you can and gotten better. Maybe they haven’t trained as hard as you.”

Rueff said, “He’s a fighter. He loves to compete. He loves to play out there. He loves to win.”

Hull said that practice, conditioning and having access to training is what makes a top tennis player. He said, “It’s a very demanding sport physically if you have a long match. It’s pretty mentally demanding, too. You’re out there by yourself. You win or lose; your team doesn’t. You have to think through problems; you have to think through strategy.”

Achieving excellence requires long-term dedication, Rueff said.  “The biggest difficulty for me is just the long haul of it, all the hours. One of the hardest things about it is the sacrifices you have to make.”

One of those sacrifices, according to Rueff, is having to limit the amount of time spent with friends in order to focus on improving his game.

Because he achieved excellence at a young age, Brandon sometimes feels tension around older players. Rueff said despite the competition between teammates, Brandon has earned respect.

Rueff said, “In tennis, it’s not really about grade level. It’s about your ability. If someone smaller beats a person that’s a few grades ahead of them, then it creates tension between them. The older players respect (Brandon). On the tennis team, you gain respect by wins and just being a better player. Brandon has proven himself to be a better player than most of the others and brings home tons of wins. There’s not much resentment.”

Brandon said finding a balance between school and tennis can be tough at times, “trying to balance everything, you know, time management.

Rueff experienced similar frustration years ago. He said, “Towards the middle of my career (around sixth grade), I kind of burned out a little bit. I didn’t think that it was the sport for me. With the help of my parents, I powered through. I learned to love the sport again.”

Rueff said his love for tennis was rekindled by the excitement of entering high school. “I was able to excel at a high school sport.”

Brandon feels pressure to perform well, “especially when playing a rival. There’s a lot at stake. It really depends on the situation. If you’re down by a lot, then it is kind of hard to come back unless you start playing really well.”

Brandon sometimes struggles with the pressure. “I usually try to keep positive,” he said, “but sometimes I have to let out a couple bursts of anger. Usually, I just try and stay in the zone and not worry about the crowd.”

Maintaining success requires constant work. Rueff said, “You’ve got to keep outworking everybody, out-thinking everybody, outplaying everybody to remain on top of the rankings. You’ve got to keep adapting.”

The sport is a continual learning process, according to Michael. “Tennis is point by point,” he said. “Get an opportunity to look at the last point, and then see what I did wrong and improve it. Now I will get mad, of course. But you’ve just got to learn from it.”

Another source of pressure — and motivation — for Rueff and the Chou brothers is continuing the legacy their families have established.

“Sometimes other people will compare you to your parents or your uncles, and that can be hard,” Rueff said. “That’s motivated me; I know it’s motivated (Brandon).”

Michael said, “There’s (family) expectations — there’s not a clear defining barrier. They’re pretty high, I’d say.”

The toughest moments for Brandon are when he loses in a team tournament. “The score is tied and everyone’s watching your one match,” he said. “Then you lose that one, and they’re all like ‘Don’t worry about it; it was tough.’ But you know that if you had won….”

Playing with his friends is what keeps Brandon motivated. Staying enthusiastic about the sport has gotten easier since he entered high school because the number of people cheering him on has increased. When practicing and playing alone, Brandon said, “You have to motivate yourself.  Hopefully, I’ll continue playing for the rest of my life. It’s a lifelong sport.”

Rueff sees a bright future for Brandon: “If he keeps working as hard as he’s working right now and stays focused, I see him being a very solid Division I athlete — or at a very prestigious college. He’s a very smart kid.”

For Brandon, Michael and Sam, passion for the game keeps them going.

Hull said, “If these guys weren’t playing for the team and after school they had free time, they’d go out on the court on their own. I think it’s just love of the sport — and being good at it.”