This year, the De Soto High School girls’ tennis team has 37 players.  As the team was in desperate need of a third coach due to the amount of players, head coach Justin Hoffman reached out to a former DHS player and student, Emily Parr. She agreed to help out the team this year.  Parr is a 2017 De Soto High School graduate and is now in her first year teaching at Starside Elementary School as a first grade teacher.

Parr’s main goal is to give the girls a good coaching experience, much like her own when she went to DHS. Parr played tennis all four years of  high school. Parr had been hoping that a tennis coach position would come up in her area and when Hoffman told her about the position she took it immediately.

“… [Coach] Hoffman called me up and said he’s adding a third coach, I didn’t have to think about it for a second,” Parr said.

Parr’s favorite part about coaching is seeing other people enjoy the sport as much as she does.

“I love it [tennis], and I’m excited to see people enjoy it like I do,” Parr said.

Parr’s main goal for coaching this year is to gain everyone’s trust by giving them the attention they need to be successful.

“[My goal is to] give them feedback, but also have positivity with it, but read what the students need from me. If they need more critique in a direct way I would give them that, but if they are more passive like me, then I would be a lot more delicate with my feedback,” Parr said.