McKenna Stephenson, the new tennis coach for Marshfield High School girls team, has been playing tennis since middle school and has played through high school and college. This season Stephenson is looking forward to coaching and is excited to be with a girls team.

 “They’re ready to go and show a lot of commitment so I’m excited for that,” said Stephenson. “The girls come out each day ready to play and have good attitudes.”

College heavily influenced her passion for coaching and so did her father who was always her coach growing up. Stephenson is motivated by her love for teaching kids. This is Stephenson’s first year coaching tennis, but before this she has always done lots of youth volunteer coaching. She has also served as a youth basketball coach in Coquille, where she lives and teaches third grade.

In general, Stephenson enjoys the intensity of tennis as a sport. In college she played doubles with her partner mostly, but also played singles.  During Stephenson’s senior year of high school she and her partner were runners-up at the state competition and placed every year except her freshman year. 

The girls tennis team played in their first match against Junction City on March 17, where they showed off their strong skills. Many girls won their matches, and all of the players displayed the skills they have learned in just the first month of practicing with coach Stephenson.

Morgan Picatti, a sophomore tennis player at MHS, says her experience with McKenna has been excellent so far.  

“Amazing,” said Picatti. “She’s great, 10/10 would recommend.” 

This is Picatti’s second year playing tennis, and is having a great time meeting lots of new people who joined this year. Picatti believes that she has improved so far this year, based on Stephenson’s coaching and experience. 

“McKenna has lots of good fundamentals and is good at explaining things,” said Picatti.  

Coaching and teaching takes most of Stephenson’s time, and her schedule revolves around school and sports. However, when she has time to herself she enjoys hiking, cooking, spending time with her family and pets.