Tribe’s tennis camp helps produce state champs

This article appeared in the September 2014 edition of the Chickasaw Times

ADA, Okla. – Two shiny state championship trophies will be on display this year at Ada High School thanks to a tennis camp offered by the Chickasaw Nation.

The talents of two Chickasaws, Taylor Wood and Natalie Keel, are responsible for the 4A honors. Both honed their skills as youngsters at the Chickasaw Nation Tennis Camp.

Right before school ended for summer break, Taylor and Natalie won state championships, Taylor in singles action and Natalie in doubles. Natalie’s partner, Karsen Sheffield, rolled to victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Byng High School’s Kaitlyn Atkeson and Lanie McGaha.

Taylor captured the singles title winning the hard way. With a decisive 6-1 win in the first set, she found herself losing the second 6-0. It motivated her to knuckle down and take a 6-3 decision in the third set for the championship. She defeated Weatherford’s Jonna Vanderslice-Malone to take the title.

Taylor graduated this spring, but Natalie will be returning to AHS as a senior and is hoping for a repeat next May when state titles are on the line.

“It was very satisfying and we were thrilled,” Natalie said. “Karsen and I have worked very hard to be the best we can be and it paid off for us. We believed we were ready and we were, but it was a good match and Byng had a strong doubles team.”

The difference may have been Natalie and her partner played a far more difficult schedule than Byng played, she said, thus preparing them for state title hopes.

Ada’s tennis competition last spring resembled a school in 5A or 6A. Teams such as Edmond North, Duncan, Heritage Hall and Cascia Hall were among the squads on the schedule.

“By playing better teams, we believed we could win,” Natalie said. “From the very start, we worked well together,” she said of her partner. “We both like playing the net and we both like falling back to set up the attack for the other.”

Natalie and Karsen will team up again in 2015-16. Natalie will be a senior and Karsen a sophomore.
Natalie also excelled in Tennis during the Jim Thorpe games in June.

She and Taylor teamed up to win first-place medals in doubles, and Natalie won first in singles and finished second in mixed doubles. The Thorpe games are comprised to Native Americans who compete in a wide range of sports. This year’s action took place in Shawnee.

All in The Family

It wasn’t that long ago there was an all-Keel blitz for Ada High School in doubles competition. When Natalie was a freshman and her sister, Allison, was a senior they were state runners-up in doubles competition.

“Even though we didn’t win it all, it was a special time for me. Competing with my sister was awesome and something I’ll never forget. We came close. We were disappointed but fortunate we had an opportunity to compete on the state championship level together,” Natalie said of the experience.
It was the Chickasaw Nation that nurtured them.

Carolyn Nimmo, a skilled instructor who remains a mentor to many young Chickasaws, took Taylor and the Keels under her watchful eye and turned them into state-caliber tennis competitors.

“I started going to the Chickasaw Nation Tennis Camp in fourth grade,” Natalie said. She recalls the dedication of Mrs. Nimmo and remembers improving steadily. “I must have hit a million tennis balls in those camps,” Natalie said.

Overall, Ada has seven state championship tennis trophies in the Lady Cougars’ display case on campus.

While another year of high school is just about to begin, Natalie is looking ahead to college. She may obtain a scholarship and she may compete on a college level. Deciding whether or not to compete is the difficult question now.

“If I don’t play, I would like to attend the University of Oklahoma,” she said. She will pursue an education degree and teach at an elementary school.

While it will be several months before tennis lovers will get to see her compete on the court, she will be a regular on the sidelines at all the home sporting events in Ada. She’s on the Ada High cheerleading squad.

“I love doing it (cheerleading) but it does make me a little nervous,” Natalie said.

Cheering is a sport all its own, particularly as teams begin experimenting and practicing what is termed “stunting.” Stunting is where girls tumble, flip, are thrown, build pyramids and perform cheers that could injure them.

More elaborate stunts are rehearsed by colleges, but overall a recent Time magazine article pointed out the sport has a dubious distinction: it has the fastest growing injury rate of any other sport with injuries up 700 percent over the last five years.