Teachers Cocco and Cardozo head up girls’ tennis; team touts positive vibes

The ARHS girls’ varsity tennis team has experienced exponential growth and increased popularity during the past few years. Having only five members in 2021 meant they could only have three singles players and one doubles team. This year, there were close to 30 members on the 2025 team.

“Each year we’ve had different coaches, so it’s been difficult to really connect deeply with each coach, but we’ve always had coaches that are fairly supportive of our team,” said senior Daniella Sherman. “Everyone wants to [work hard] to improve their skills.”

“My freshman year [spring 2023], we had Coach Quinn and Coach Joe. They were both great,” said junior player Emma Learned-Miller, noting that they got to know all the players and kept lines of communication open.

“But when [ARHS ninth and 10th grade social studies teacher Claire] Cocco [became] our head coach, it was [even] less stressful, and we had a lot more fun,” said freshman player Mahima Ganesan. Cocco has been teaching in the district for 17 years and started her coaching journey last year as the assistant coach in 2024.

“I think [before her], it [felt] more competitive. There was a ranking. It felt like, ‘Oh, I’m on the bottom. I need to get better.” This was partly due to a ladder ranking previously displayed publicly to the team, which made players feel pressured “to climb the ladder.”  

“I noticed with a lot of the new members, especially younger members last year, they were really struggling and they constantly were like, ‘well I just suck in comparison [to others], because look at where I am in the ranking’…and it was terrible to hear,” said Maiya Salacuse. She joined the team in her sophomore year, having never picked up a racket before that day, but stuck with the sport.

Learned-Miller added that while the team worked together, the pressure to excel sometimes “felt like [the pressure you see] in Dance Moms. The pyramid gives the false sense of a hierarchy.”

Once Coach Cocco stepped into the role of head coach, the team noticed a shift. “Coach Cocco was trying to really make an effort to bring more of a positive attitude towards the team,” said Ganesan, “which was really good.”

“One of my main goals is for everyone to just learn to love the game if they don’t already love it, and to continue loving it if they still do,” said Cocco. “Just to enjoy themselves.”

Cocco has been playing tennis since she was young and also played through high school. “I just have always really loved tennis,” she said. “I never thought I could be a coach, but when I learned that there might not be a coach at all, and [the tennis team] might not be able to run. I was like, you’ve gotta do this.”

Cocco had such a good time last year that she decided to coach this spring as well. “I thought that the team members were just extraordinary people together,” she said.

Cocco shared an interest in having extra support with an assistant coach in early March, and ARHS science teacher Michael Cardozo stepped into the role.

Tennis has been something to look forward to every year and remains a source of joy for many players on the team. “I feel like there are so many little memories…it adds up to create the experience of tennis,” said Salacuse.

One of these memories shared by multiple players on the team was their win against Minnechaug High School last year on May 9, 2024. After the previous head coach left abruptly before the bus departure to Minnechaug, the team stuck together in their moments of uncertainty, and won the match 3-2.

“When we beat Minnechaug. I had my video, and everyone screamed when the doubles won the point. Even though I lost my [individual match], it was so fun to be part of the team,” said player Sofia DaSilva-Askew. 

“I think the most important part of a team environment is how individuals take their opportunity,” said Victoria Dawson, Athletic Director at ARHS. “So, if I am on the tennis team, I need to know my why and why I play tennis. If people don’t know their why and why they play, I don’t know if they really should be playing it. I think people need to find it because when they don’t know why, they worry about the wrong things.”

This year’s team captain, Sherman, entered the spring season with excitement. “I think that we have a very good range of players, and I think each year we get more people and more engagement from teammates and just a better team in general,” she said. “When I first started, there was one senior on the team, and since then, we’ve had lots of seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, even some middle schoolers on the team.”

Some of the new players, sophomores Zia Salomon-Fernandez and Sophia Sarage, liked how the team didn’t prioritize players who would definitely play in matches more than other players. Instead, there was a goal of giving everyone more playing time.

The connection between the players kept the team feeling strong. “When I joined, I didn’t know many people, and I loved it because I felt like I could talk to anyone on the team, and I want everyone else to feel like that too,” said player Learned-Miller.

Junior Cynthia Tian said in the future she wants to “continue to build that sense of community in years to come.” She hopes to do more team hangouts outside of just practice, noting that “the bus rides [to and from away matches] were a really valuable time for us to get to know each other” and more bonding like that helps the team “grow closer.”

The team was gearing up for the state championship on Tuesday, May 27, hoping for a strong showing.