The Fighter's Circle

Aaron Malmoe/ The Easterner

By Al Stover
sports editor

Chelsea Patton clears her mind as she stands across the court from her opponent. She glances back and smiles at the man dressed in a Boise State jacket.

Patton, a junior majoring in marketing, is a member of the Eastern women’s tennis team. The man in the Boise State jacket is her father Greg, who is the head coach of the Broncos men’s tennis team. Chelsea has been involved with tennis her entire life.

Although her father has been coaching since 1976, Chelsea never felt pressured by her father to enter the sport. The day her parents brought Chelsea home from the hospital, Greg, who was the coach of the University of California, Irvine tennis team at the time, was interviewed by the local newspaper.

“They asked him, ‘What if she doesn’t grow up to be a tennis player?’” Chelsea said. “He said, ‘That’s fine with me. I’ll support her in whatever she does.’”

Greg, whose mother Rita was a tennis player and coach, wanted to introduce Chelsea and her brother Garrett, a freshman at Boise State, into tennis in a more casual way.

“My mission was to make it fun,” Greg said. “The most important thing was I wanted something that would always bind us together. It’s worked out better than I could have ever dreamed.”

Tennis would eventually find its way to Chelsea. She received her first tennis racket when she was a year old and began playing tennis when she started walking.

Chelsea played in her first tournament at age five and would go on to play in tournaments for the next several years, competing against older kids and getting beaten.

“It was all about the experience,” Chelsea said. “My dad implemented that in my life. It was all about that want to play, which installed that passion for tennis in me first before the competitiveness.”

According to Greg, one way Chelsea was able to progress was playing in tournaments.

Greg’s rule for Chelsea and her brother Garrett was to make friends.

“I knew if they made friends, they would want to practice,” Greg said. “They would want to play and go meet their friends. Everyone thinks tennis is a selfish sport, but there’s a sense of affiliation.”
“[Chelsea and Garrett] would go to nationals and meet kids from across the country. When they got home, if they wanted to go back to nationals, they would have to earn it.”

Someone Chelsea is competitive with is her brother who, according to Chelsea, helped her put her main focus on tennis.

“When I was about 13 and he was 12, he started beating me,” Chelsea said. “That competitiveness with my brother made me realize, ‘I’m a tennis player. I have to practice and stay in shape.’”

One of the memories Greg has is back when Chelsea was nine years old and Garrett was seven. Greg was doing a training camp in Yakima, Wash. and had done the camp for three days. Even though their dad was exhausted, Chelsea and Garrett wanted to play. For three hours, Greg hit balls with his daughter and son.

“It was one of the most incredible moments of my life,” Greg said.

Although tennis has been a large part of her life, Chelsea took time in high school to explore and do other things. While Greg embraced the idea of his daughter doing other things, they both knew playing college tennis was the goal.

Even though her father is the coach at Boise State, Chelsea decided to venture out on her own to mature herself and have the experience of playing under different coaches.

For Chelsea, the biggest transition to playing on a college level is playing with an actual team versus the individuality of playing junior tennis.

“As many friends you make in tournaments, it’s all about your end result,” Chelsea said. “Being on a team, we’re more put together. We support each other in every aspect. We rely on each other if we’re having a bad day.”

Kelsey Knight is a teammate of Chelsea’s who has recently had her meniscus repaired. Being on-and-off double partners with Chelsea, Knight has felt Chelsea’s passion on the court.

“You can’t help but feel infected [by it],” Knight said. “When I play with her, I want to stay pumped up because that’s what she expects of herself.”

Coach Mykala Hedberg has noticed Chelsea’s work ethic and her devotion for the sport.

“You can tell its something she loves,” Hedberg said. “She wants to come out here everyday [to practice] and be a part of the team. She’s a good girl to have out here.”

For Greg, watching Chelsea play is like watching art.

“It’s a beautiful song and dance for me,” Greg said.

This summer, Chelsea will be looking to study in France and participate in some tournaments in Europe.

There is one lesson she has learned from her father, that she will carry for the rest of her life.

“Life is about meeting people,” Chelsea said. “To interact with different people and get feedback from different people, to mentor other people and to be mentored by other people.”

EWU career record
2010
Singles 10-11 Doubles 8-13
2011
Singles 8-13 Doubles 7-13
Big Sky All-Academic team for 2010-11

Boise High School Graduate 2009
Four-year letter winner
Played on the 18s National Fed Cup team in 2008
Received the Homer Osborne Memorial Sports Award
Third in Girls Singles and mixed doubles at the 2007 Idaho State championships

Chelsea Patton reflects on a Christmas memory where she broke the strings on her tennis racket.