Two-Team Tennis Ace Feels 'Like One Of The Guys'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - To read this story, there's one small but critical piece of information you need to know.
The high school girls tennis season is in the fall, and the boys tennis season is in the spring.
Once you know that, the possibilities are endless.
It is May. And Laura Sonday is at high school tennis practice. That can only mean one thing.
"They accepted me a lot faster and a lot more easily than I thought they would," said Sonday, who is South St. Paul's No. 1 singles tennis player.
On the boys team.
"The real difference is the skirt," she said. "Other than that, I play with them, I hang out with them, do everything. So I really do feel like one of the guys on the team."
On the girls team, she went undefeated and won the conference her sophomore and junior years, so Sonday was thinking big thoughts about her upcoming senior season.
Then she tore her ACL during track and field last May.
"There would be no way that I was going to be able to play for the girls tennis season," she said.
With a six to eight month recovery ahead of her, Sonday figured she was finished with high school tennis until a conversation with a friend.
"He said, 'You know, have you ever thought about playing boys?'" Sonday said. "And I was like, 'I would never have thought of that. That is brilliant.'"
Since the boys season didn't start until the following spring, it fit the timetable.
"I was excited, because I knew how good of a player she was," South St. Paul boys tennis coach Dan Erickson said. "Definitely my best player."
The Minnesota State High School League allows girls to play boys sports, so long as they haven't participated in any girls team activities that season.
"Tennis has a lot to do with level rather than gender," Sonday said. "So as long as I could hit with them, there was nothing to dispute."
And she can hit with them. At No. 1 singles, Sonday goes up against the opponent's best player every match. She has managed a 9-9 record.
Put it this way: She's been asked what it's like to be a girl on the boys team a lot more often than she's lost.
"The big difference, they don't have any filter," she said with a big laugh. "I was expecting maybe they'd have a little bit of it, but I'm glad that they don't. Because it really makes me feel like I'm a part of a team that they don't censor themselves at all. It's definitely interesting to say the least."
Not everyone has been quite so welcoming. There have been a few boys who have complained about having to play against Sonday. Perhaps not surprisingly, all of those complaints have come from boys she beat.
"I've had players who have asked their coaches if they have to finish the match, halfway through," Sonday said. "A few moms were very angry. When I lose, nobody seems to have a problem with it."
But Sonday, who will play women's college tennis for St. Mary's in Winona this fall, said it's all been worth it.
"It's been difficult at times," she said. "Sometimes the way people react to me and stuff like that is hard to deal with. But overall, I'm really glad I did it. It's made me a lot better."