By Blake Chadwick
Wichita Collegiate head coach Simon Norman is a living legend in the state of Kansas whenever you mention high school tennis.
Norman has been coaching for 40 years which include high school for 25 of them with 22 being at Wichita Independent and the last three of them being at Wichita Collegiate where he took over for another living legend, Dave Hawley.
Norman is a tough coach who gets the best out of his athletes every day and has the resume to do so with over 40 individual state champions and 20-plus kids go division one from his programs.
“(We want to) work hard and strive to improve,” Norman said. “Get better as a player and a person every day. If you do that, the results will take care of themselves.”
Because of the standard he has, Norman once again has some of the best girls in the state again.
“We just hosted the Tournament of Champions this past Saturday,” Norman said. “(There were) 96 players including three strong Blue Valley teams as well as a team from Missouri. Laney Conrad and Julia Herrman. Won both the Collegiate Classic and the Tournament of Champions which would be two of the toughest high school tournaments of the season.”
Seniors Conrad and Herrman are the two-time defending class 3-2-1A state doubles champions.
With a stacked team this year with seniors Langley Overman and Tatum Downing competing for that top doubles spot after a top 10 finish a season ago and junior Amelia Blackman looking to improve on her singles finish of fifth place at state, Norman has very high expectations for this team.
“(Our) motto is no excuses,” Norman said. “Your attitude will determine your altitude.”
