Spring sports senior profiles, an ongoing series

With the spring sports season in question, we here at the Coalfield Progress/Dickenson Star/Big Stone Gap Post hope to run a profile on each and every senior in the paper. Our intention is to give them and their families something to feel happy about in a time of such uncertainty. This will be an ongoing series with different students featured each week.

Ridgeview tennis’s Rachel Hillman

Eighteen-year-old Rachel Hillman is a member of the Lady Wolfpack tennis team as well as taking dance classes at Stepz. She has played tennis all of her life and is on a competitive dance team.

Hillman was offered a spot on the Emory and Henry tennis team, but has opted to forego sports in college. Instead, she will be focusing solely on her academic career. Hillman intends to attend East Tennessee State University and pursue a career in the medical field.

Hillman found it very hard coming to the realization that she will never walk the halls of Ridgeview High School as a student again. She was also slated to move to the top seed on the tennis team this year.

“I have worked extremely hard in all my years of school and it’s so sad it has to end like this. I was going to be the number one seed in tennis this year and I’ve been looking forward to it since school started,” Hillman said.

Hillman also stated she had been looking forward to playing doubles with the team’s other senior, Hannah Dotson.

Hillman was quick to praise head coach Adam Smith for all of his help.

“He has helped me improve tremendously and I can’t thank him enough,” Hillman said of Smith.

Hillman still holds on to hope that she will be able to participate in an abbreviated senior season on the courts. She leaves a message of living in the moment and giving your best effort to her teammates.

“Never take one second of practice or playing a match for granted,” Hillman said. “No matter how much you have to run, hit off the ball machine or serve until your arm feels like it could fall off, enjoy it. I’m just hoping I’ll get to experience it all one last time.”