Feel Good Friday: Serving Up Inspiration

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - It is graduation season, and families across the region are sending their kids off to tackle life beyond high school.

For this edition of Feel Good Friday, we spotlight two young ladies who turned heads on the tennis court as they rounded out their senior years.

Brie Sensenstein and Kat Lach are now proud graduates of Central Catholic High School. Both have played various sports over their school careers, and that led to both garnering attention for doing something that many families do not know is an option.

Both ladies played a varsity girl’s sport in the fall, which made them eligible to play on the varsity men’s tennis team in the spring. While they were excited to get out on the courts, they were also apprehensive.

“I was mostly expecting a bunch of high school dudes, like, ‘Oh, a girl on the team? She’s gotta be so bad!’ I felt that way, but over time, it’s changed. They see me more as an equal and even better than some of them,” said Sensenstein.

Lach agreed. “The fact that they didn’t treat us any different, make comments, or look at us any different also just made that transition really easy.”

Both ladies came away from the experience feeling fulfilled, and hoping to encourage younger female athletes to have the confidence to play outside of the usual expectations.

“I feel like if you put the work in, and you’re gonna show up just as much as the other person who shows up, then you have just as much entitlement to play them and win,” Sensenstein said with a laugh.

Kat agreed, saying she’s learned a valuable life lesson along the way. “I need to remember to take advantage of every opportunity given to me, and trust in those around me.”

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