Greenwood tennis teaches local youth following historic season

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The dead period for Kentucky high school sports is just under a week away, but before then, a team that collected a ton of hardware this spring held a youth camp to grow the skills of the younger athletes in the area.

The Gators and Lady Gators out at Greenwood High School swept 4th Region action in 2025 and made some pretty impressive runs in Lexington at the state tournament.

This week, the team has been hard at work developing the talent of those who will join the Greenwood roster in the years to come.

Some current and even former Gators returned to the courts to teach the youngsters, and the team explained some of those aspects they are homing in on and why camps like this are essential for the future.

“ We’re just developing an all-court game. I think in tennis the main thing that’s taught is just groundstrokes, groundstrokes, groundstrokes,” said 2025 Miss Kentucky Tennis Arden Dethridge. “I think we really try to focus on going to the net and volleying and taking the ball out of the air and really just developing your game to move forward into the court.”

“Everybody likes to play the sport and they think, you know, you win the championships during the season, but this is when the championships are won,” said 2025 Girls’ Kentucky Tennis Coach of the Year Tim Dethridge. “It’s just a matter of actually waiting until the season gets here to show, you know, the work that you’ve put in and the improvement you’ve made.”

A couple weeks back Arden Dethridge and doubles partner Aisha Merchant got the job done, taking down Corbin in two 6-2 sets.

The state title win marked the first for girls’ tennis not only at Greenwood but also the first throughout the 4th Region.

It also was the first state championship for Greenwood tennis since Beck Pennington won the boys’ singles in 2011, and like that year where Pennington won Mr. Kentucky Tennis, this spring saw Arden Dethridge take home Miss Kentucky Tennis, another program first.

Her father and coach, Tim, brought home Kentucky Girls’ Coach of the Year.

Thursday morning, they both discussed the special spring season.

“ I grew up playing basketball and football and if you told me 30 years ago that I’d have two kids that compete for state titles and two Mr. and Miss Kentucky Tennis [winners], I would’ve thought you were crazy because that wasn’t the sport I grew up playing, so I’m pretty blessed,” said Tim Dethridge.

“It’s nice to know that really all the hard work that we did paid off because I’ve been playing tennis since the sixth grade and I’ve been out here countless hours with the program and on these courts, I mean, those courts are my second home,” said Arden Dethridge. “It’s nice to come out here and see that all that did pay off and you know, to leave my name up on the fence, it’s nice.”