Avid player takes over as Hun girls head coach
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Ten years after Cheryl Beal was inducted into The Hun School’s Athletic Hall of Fame, she has her first head coaching job at her alma mater.
It’s not in any of the three sports that earned her induction, but rather in a sport that she picked up following graduation from Amherst College. Beal is the new head of the girls tennis team after taking over for Joan Nuse, who is moving over to be the head coach of the boys tennis team this spring after serving as girls head coach since 1987. In the midst of her tenure, the Raiders won seven straight Mercer County Tournament titles.
”It definitely helps having been through it a number of years with Joan Nuse,” said Beal, who was Nuse’s assistant coach for three years. “I know some of the kids. I’ve taught some of the kids too. They’re just a great bunch of kids and they seem pretty excited too.”
Beal is thrilled with her first head coaching opportunity. An English teacher in the Upper School at Hun, she has been an assistant coach in field hockey, basketball and softball. She played all three of those sports at Hun before going on to play field hockey at Amherst. Tennis came later.
”I started playing just sort of pick-up tennis,” Beal said. “I played with my husband. I’ve been married for 21 years. He and I play all the time. I took some time off when we had kids. My son started playing when he was 8, so I picked it back up doing the league back over at Mercer.”
Now Beal can’t get enough of the sport that keeps her active outside of her school and family life.
”Tennis is what I do mostly,” she said. “I started playing tennis as an adult in my 20s. I’ve been playing tennis for a while. It’s much easier to play tennis than the other sports I played. I play competitively and do clinics and go to clinics. I feel very current with the sport. A lot of the stuff I do translates well with the girls. Since I compete, I offer that to the girls and try to help make them mentally tough. I got three of them to come out to the Cryan tournament, which was cool.”
Beal remains a student of the game. She continues to work at her own development as she tries to remain competitive.
”I play on four USTA teams,” Beal said. “I haven’t done any tournaments outside of the area. I did the Cryan. Two of my teams made it to districts and they both made second place.
”I’d say tennis is mostly what I do outside of school. I play five or six times a week. I just love it. Of course, I have the U.S. Open on (television).”
It’s a great time to be a tennis fan, and Beal is looking forward to watching the Raiders grow in her first year at the helm.
”I feel very fortunate,” she said. “Having been here for some years, I think we have a lot of talent this year. Most of them having played last year, and I think it’s going to be to our advantage for sure. It’s still a young team. We only have two seniors and lots of sophomores.”
Beal inherits a team that did not have a senior last year, yet won six of their 13 matches and placed fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League tournament. That experience is something the Raiders are counting on to help them this year.
”We have most of the girls that were with us last year are back,” Beal said. “We have some newcomers that look pretty promising. We lost Rachel (Heller) and we have a new girl from Maryland, and some of the people from JV look promising. It looks like a pretty good squad.”
Beal still has the team working through challenge matches as they work out the lineup.
”That’s the fun part,” Beal said. “I was doing that (Wednesday). I was figuring out who to put up against who. I can see it unfolding, but we have to have a couple more challenge matches. We don’t have as many preseason practices.”
With six players back from last year’s top seven, Beal has a good idea what those players are capable of, but then she has the team additions to factor into the equation.
”We have to figure out where the new kids figure in,” Beal said. “It’s hard.”
Beal tries to use her own playing skills to help develop those of her team.
”I hit with them every day on some level,” Beal said. “I have the benefit of having Todd Loffredo with me. He and I work together with the boys. He and I hit together with the girls. We play together in doubles and that helps to show how you’re actually supposed to move in doubles.
”He’s really good. He’s a very good player. He can hit with the high level players. He has the good topspin shots that he developed as a kid. It’s really, really helping them.”
Once the singles lineup is set, Beal will explore the top combinations with the remaining players for doubles. All players play doubles in the MAPL matches, but in the non-conference matches, the Raiders need two strong teams outside of their singles players.
”I’m trying different combinations,” Beal said. “The combinations I tried (Wednesday) were working well. I know from playing doubles it’s so important to have the right chemistry. Skill level is very important, but if you don’t work well together, you can’t win. I’m looking for the right combination of chemistry and getting the girls thinking that the doubles is really worthwhile and important.
”I think the girls singles level is good,” she added. “I think we’re pretty deep this year.”
The Raiders are hoping that they have the depth top to bottom to contend with a mix of opponents. The schedule is always filled with teams with top talent and this year is no different.
”We have the usual MAPL league teams Lawrenceville, Blair, Peddie, Mercersburg, Hill,” Beal said. “Then the usual cast of characters with PDS, who is usually strong, Pennington, and we play Stuart and George. These are all outside of our league. We also have South Brunswick and Notre Dame is back on our schedule and Rutgers Prep.”
The Raiders team is on board with similar expectations for this year. They would like to improve on what they were able to do last year.
”I had all of them sit down and write out goals for their individual and team,” Beal said. “I collected them, and I’ll be meeting with them individually. A lot of them for team goals put, beat Peddie and Blair, have a winning record this season, beat Peddie and have fun.
”Last year, we were just shy of having a winning season in MAPL league. I think that’s a huge goal. We have the talent and with the experience of last year and especially with gelling at doubles this year, I think we have a good chance.”
Beal enjoyed her time as an athlete at Hun, and after serving as an assistant for a number of sports, she would like nothing more than to help guide her alma mater to success in her first head coaching position. It comes on the tennis courts for a girls program that has been to the top before.
”It’s great,” Beal said. “There are a lot of good girls. I can’t complain.”