Abigail Ellison of East Providence wins points on the boys tennis team

On By Vaseline

EAST GREENWICH — She’s a girl who plays on a boys’ tennis team, but Abigail Ellison isn’t trying to prove a point. She tries to win them.

Girls playing boys’ tennis is not something new for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. Girls playing at the top of the ladder and having success in a team competing for the title.

Ellison tried not to send a message when she decided she wanted to play for the East Providence boys tennis team. She could have chased accolades by playing for the girls – like a championship or All-State honors – because that wasn’t what she was interested in.

What did Ellison want? Exactly what every athlete should do when practicing a sport.

“I wanted that challenge for myself,” Ellison said after losing a tough three-set match to East Greenwich’s Ben Neimark, a 6-foot-4 senior with long groundstrokes and a huge serve who is one of the best players in D -II is. . “I didn’t want to get here easily. I wanted to play with the boys because it’s more competitive and I wanted to get better.”

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Without COVID, Ellison might never have picked up a racket.

Ellison’s parents were not tennis people and swimming was Ellison’s favorite sport. COVID ended the option of indoor sports, but tennis was something she could try. It didn’t start out great, but athleticism soon won out and it wasn’t long before she started taking private lessons.

While 11 seems like a normal age to start a sport, Ellison was years behind her peers, but she caught up and her obsession with the sport grew.

Every now and then, after classes as an eighth-grader, Ellison would come from the Center Court Tennis Club in Riverside to the East Providence boys’ team practice. Even though the Townies didn’t have a roster full of All-Staters, the way the boys played was still significantly different than the one they played.

Ellison had decided on her tennis future before her freshman year. She didn’t think playing for the girls’ team, which competed in Division III, would provide the kind of competition she wanted.

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She talked to then-athletic director Gregg Amore about playing tennis for the boys team. RIIL’s rules in this regard are simple. Girls can play boys’ sports, but cannot play the same sport in the same academic year – meaning girls cannot play tennis in either the fall or spring.

Amore went through the proper channels to ensure Ellison was cleared to play when she decided to try a new sport, suiting up for the East Providence girls soccer team.

When spring arrived, Ellison went on trial. The players had not seen her action, but had heard stories about her talents. During the ladder tournament – ​​which is how teams determine the order in singles – Ellison showed everyone that she wasn’t there just to be part of the team.

“When I found out a freshman was coming to take my place, I thought it would be a guy and then she showed up,” EP No. 1 James McShane. “Then it was like ‘oh my god.’

“There were a lot of nerves in the challenge match that year, but it was great to have.”

“She wanted to be part of that specific team and with those guys it was a special year that season,” EP coach Slade Sharma said. “Her drive, the way she chases things, the way she challenges herself, to see it as a coach is a rare presence.

“I’ve never seen it like that before – to be a 14-year-old girl against 17-, 18-year-old boys about to go to school, it’s as impressive as it gets.”

The first year was not easy for Ellison. There were plenty of looks, chuckles and stares from the opposition as they found out who East Providence’s No. 2 singles player was.

Sharma and Ellison have been preparing for those moments all season. Sharma told Ellison that any opponent she would play against would think she was a fraud and all she could do was ignore the noise and let her game do the talking.

“Your job is to keep proving people wrong and keep showing that it doesn’t matter what gender I am,” Sharma told Ellison. “I’m a tennis player and I’m a great tennis payer and I’m going to show you that.”

Ellison’s season was no different than any other freshman playing singles for the first time. There were good matches, bad matches and everything in between, and everyone provided an education.

“The boys play differently than the girls,” Ellison said. ‘There are more slices. Guys tend to hit with more spin, so I had to adapt.

The second year brought some new challenges. In the fall, Ellison was a member of East Providence’s junior varsity girls volleyball team and in the winter he joined the Townies swim team.

When tennis season arrived, the super sophomore surprised no one. She was no longer a girl who played tennis. She was a Townie, just like the rest of her teammates.

“She pushes me hard every day and makes sure I don’t slack off at all,” McShane said. “With her technique she knows everything and she sits on my (butt) 24/7.

“… It’s a blessing to have her and get to play with her every day.”

Ellison doesn’t surprise opponents either. Most of Division II is well aware of her talents, so those looks and grins during lineup intros are a thing of the past.

“I’ve noticed a lot of guys are very respectful, and that’s nice,” Ellison said. “Last year was a little bit harder because I was a freshman just starting out.”

This season has gone well. Ellison’s individual record hovers around .500 and East Providence is in the thick of the Division II race. Eight of the Townies’ 10 starters are seniors, so winning a title would be a perfect way out.

It would also be the perfect send-off for Ellison.

After back-to-back second-place finishes in Division III, the East Providence girls team will advance to Division II in the fall. That means better competition and for Ellison it is a perfect time to challenge himself again.

She will be one of the best players – if not the best – in Division II and will have the opportunity to prove, both during the regular season and at the girls state tournament, that she is one of the best in the state, while she tries to lead EP to a championship.

‘It’s quite funny. In D-III, we went to back-to-back championship games and that was without her,” Sharma said. “If that’s the case and she plays for the girls in the fall, she’ll make us an instant contender, even in D-II.”

It makes this season a bit emotional. While she still has two years of high school left — and plans to help the boys team as a team manager next spring — it sounds like most of her teammates would be talking about their senior season for the Townies.

“Honestly, my friends are seniors, so I feel like I’m graduating, but I’m not going anywhere,” Ellison said. “I got to see them go away and grow up and live.”

“It was a little awkward at times,” McShane said. “But now she’s my sister.”

For the rest of the season, Ellison will continue to work himself into the ground, playing with the passion and fight that any team would want. It was never about her being a girl on a boys’ team or about her wanting to make a broader social point about female athletics.

It’s about trying to be the best you can be – and that’s exactly what this group of Townies has tried to do, giving Ellison a high school sports experience she’ll never forget.

“I love this team,” Ellison said. “These guys are great.”