The Optimist

Madi Welton

Staff Writer

14 years old, number one on Bloomington South’s Varsity tennis team, and sixth in the nation isn’t an easy job. Freshman Ronnie Schneider handles this pressure like it’s a piece of cake. In fact he can do it with his left hand, literally. A recent injury has left Schneider with a broken thumb causing him to have to play with his nondominate hand. However, he still has earned himself a spot on varsity. Its pretty obvious being this talented can’t come easy. So how does Schneider do it? Here’s a little taste on what this young tennis all star goes through each day.

It’s 6:30 am when the alarm rings, and it’s time for Ronnie Schneider to begin his day. He eats his breakfast and heads to school at about 7:30. Sounds like a typical kid, right? Not so much.

Schneider’s days must be tightly planned out in order to fit everything in. In fact he doesn’t even have time to fit in his entire school schedule. On a day when Schneider has practice he leaves school after fourth period to hit balls with his dad. He does this until his school practice begins at 3:45. He then has practice until 5:30. Schneider does his homework and then eats dinner at around 7:00 pm. Then he watches the U.S. open matches until about 10:30 and then heads to bed.

Schneider’s schedule varies on days when he has matches. “I get to stay in school all day. It’s nice because I have a study hall fifth period and I can get some of my homework done,” Schneider said. While most kids would love to leave school early, Schneider is grateful when he gets to stay.

Recently, Schneider’s typical day has taken a turn. During an intense football game during gym class, someone threw Ronnie the ball, and it landed smack on his thumb. Schneider describes it as a “freak accident.” When he found out that his right thumb was broken, some confusion stirred as to what was going to happen to South’s number one varsity player.

Ronnie has been playing tennis since he was five, and he practices every day, twice a day. So he was not about to take a break with his broken hand. Instead, he decided to play left handed. Ronnie still earned a spot on varsity and has only lost two of his seven matches, luckily none of them were conference matches.

Schneider will get his brace off in less than a week, but he plans to wear it a little longer when he plays so it doesn’t become a chronic injury.

Having a freshman on a varsity tennis team who is currently undefeated is something that is rare. But being a freshman on an undefeated varsity team playing with one’s nondominate hand is something unheard of. Schneider’s words of wisdom are “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”