Lake Wylie tennis player looking ahead to bright future

It’s hard for trained tennis eyes to look at Marco Ward without imagining the future. But the present isn’t bad, either.

Ward, 12, began playing tennis in and around River Hills before he was 3. Now he travels to regional tournaments and the occasional long-haul event. He plays up to 14-year-olds in North Carolina, 12-year-olds in South Carolina.

Ward recently signed on with Wilson Sporting Goods, the company that will deck him in their gear and help with travel costs. He plays events where sponsors and college coaches look for the next big star in the sport.

But that isn’t why.

“I like playing for fun,” Ward said. “It’s not about winning. It’s about having fun.”

The fun is as fundamental as his forehand or first serve. The family travels to Gastonia four times a week for practice or matches. Tournaments follow many weekends. Ward’s parents have a task ahead of them. They want him to be the best player he can be at 12, without being the best he ever will be.

“You have to watch burnout,” said dad Sherley. “We try to keep it where he enjoys it and he isn’t going all over the place to play.”

Many top-ranked players at 8 or 10 never play college or pro tennis, Sherley said. When the game isn’t fun anymore, or when too constant a schedule overshadows it, player development can grind to a halt.

“There’s no sense in taking a 12-year-old kid all the way across the country to California for a national championship,” Sherley said. “Because even if he wins, nobody cares at 12. Now at 16 or 18, that’s a different story.”

Ward enjoys basketball and other sports, but tennis rose to the front quickly.

“It’s one of the most competitive sports where you don’t get hurt,” he said. “You could fall on the court, but you don’t get hit.”

Tennis also came early.

“You could always tell with Marco that he was a natural athlete,” said Nathan Crick, one of several tennis coaches who worked with Ward in River Hills. “He was quick to pick up the game and always had that competitive drive to win.”

Ward is a sixth-grader at Oakridge Middle School and a member of the Catawba Indian Nation, where his mother’s lineage traces back generations. His dad was a ranked junior tennis player growing up in Indiana, and had the choice between a tennis scholarship at West Point and a walk-on role with with the Hoosier football team.

Sherley tries to let his son make his own choices, from the sponsors he turned down at age 10 to the recent one.

“He was like, ‘I don’t like the colors,’” Sherley said.

A choice Ward is pretty set on, is what comes next.

High school rules don’t allow participation until a student is a rising seventh-grader. Ward can start workouts in June, with tryouts the following February for a Clover High School season running through May.

Coach Philip Wingard heard of Ward and came out for a match or two, just as a spectator.

“He’s a kid who really wants to play tennis,” Wingard said. “We’re hopeful.”

Middle-schoolers playing high school tennis aren’t unprecedented, but it isn’t easy. The team plays almost 20 matches a year, plus tournaments. The team has been in the playoff in all but one of Wingard’s nine years. They have to keep up with academics, conditioning and a healthy diet.

“If a seventh-grader starts, I’m going to treat him like a senior,” Wingard said.

A couple of seniors, plus a junior who plays in the top spot, began as middle-schoolers for the team that was 4-0 in the region and 5-0 for the season following wins over Rock Hill and Northwestern. So if someone can play, the only age issue is how long they’ll have to keep developing.

“To be successful you have to grow players early,” Wingard said. “Now they’re the backbone of the team.”

Ward wants to play for the school, and wants to keep up with the game to see how far it takes him. As long as it stays fun. Those who watch him play will be interested to see how far he goes, too.

“I’m sure with dedication and hard work,” Crick said, “Marco will have a bright tennis future ahead of him.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie tennis player looking ahead to bright future."