This year, Lyndon Prewitt and Spanish teacher Lourdes Ocasio took home the first place in the First Annual Teacher/Student Tennis Tournament.

They had to face multiple teams on Thursday, May 19, and Friday, May 20 to get to the top spot, and Ocasio did not take this tournament lightly. She was practicing as soon as she found out she was playing. Wednesday, May 18 she was already out on the courts, racquet in hand, ready to try something different. Prewitt wasn’t too excited, though. His first thought was about how much money he won, but he said he would do it all again.

Chelsea Wilson came up with the idea for the tournament for her Genius Week project. Each tennis student chose the teacher they wanted as a partner, and they faced other teams to win a prize. This year, the top prize on the line was Subway gift cards, with varying amounts of money on them for each placement. The tournament began and ended with each team fighting to win.

The highlight of the tournament was watching the inexperienced teachers being coached by the tennis team members. Watching the teachers learn and improve, but also grow their relationships with the student who chose them, and the team they were facing held everyone’s attention, not just the game.