Captain’s Corner: Jackie Marra

One reason why athletes are chosen to be captains is that they are good role models for their teammates to look up to.

girls tennis captain Jackie Marra takes it to another level though, as she also instructs youth in the Pleasantville area when it comes to tennis. Marra is currently in the middle of running a tennis clinic for fifth and sixth-grade girls for her Gold Award project for girl scouts.

“I've been in touch with these younger girls and we will have various clinics on the weekends where they will learn tennis in a fun way with various stations and so forth,” the senior said.

The fact that Marra has been on the Pleasantville varsity squad since her freshman year definitely had an influence on her idea for this clinic. She does all she can to encourage younger girls to get involved with the Pleasantville tennis squad.

“This is so because a few years ago we only had about seven players,” Marra said. “Since then the team has grown to about 26 girls and I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.”

Marra also hopes that she is a good a role model to the younger girls in Pleasantville as her older sister Jessica, who played four years of varsity tennis herself, was to her.

“Jessica is the one that actually got me interested in tennis,” Jackie said. “She made me want to join the team in the first place. She is a role model for me in general and looking at her play and how much fun she had, it made me want to join in.”

Jackie played doubles with her during her freshman year when Jessica was a senior.

“I loved it,” Jackie said. “I thought it was really fun. We worked really well together and are pretty close, so it wasn’t a problem to have a relationship on the court.”

A lot of people may love their sister but wouldn’t be able to play with them because of sibling rivalry. That wasn’t the case though with the Marra sisters.

“It’s just how we are off the court, we get along very well,” Marra said. “The year we played together the two of us were actually undefeated as a doubles team. We had communication on the court as well as off the court.”

Jackie said that the two were successful because they felt so comfortable with each other to the point that they could yell at one another to work harder when need be.

The last two years as captain Jackie has taken the lessons she learned from her sister and passed them on to her teammates. The responsibility of being a team captain is one she takes very seriously.

“I try my best to fulfill all the commitments that a captain has,” Jackie said. “I encourage the girls during practice, I encourage them during the matches. Basically, I try to be a role model for them.”

Part of being that role model is working side by side with Panthers’ Coach Bob Slotoroff.

“I’m in constant contact with my coach, coach Slotoroff,” Marra said. “I have to stay on top of everyone being at every match, make sure everyone is at school and not sick. Basically, the coach and I work together. I am also in charge of ordering the team’s own apparel and uniforms.”

As for the future, Marra said that she is undecided about whether or not she will want to play the sport in college.

“It is definitely something I want to play for the rest of my life,” Marra said. “I am not sure that I would necessarily play it in college because that is very time consuming and I would like to devote my time to other things.”