Amongst the abundance of athletes at Perry, there are the players who live, breathe, and thrive off their sport of choice; and then there are the players who play just for fun.  Senior Matthew Patterson, known as Matt to many, plays on the boy’s tennis team here on campus.

Patterson started playing tennis just this year for the sole reason that it would be a fun distraction from the day to day stress of homework and other activities.

“I had a couple friends that were playing, and I just figured that I would try something new this year,” Patterson explained.

To his teammates, Patterson is notorious as the funny guy who is the comic relief on the team and an all-around friendly guy. Nick Copic, a four-year team veteran, explained that Patterson “is the guy who, if you are having a bad day, will make you laugh and make your day go better.”

As a player, however, Patterson is just there to have fun. To him, its not much about winning as it is to having fun. Although he is there for fun, he is knowledgeable about the team and the players on it. He describes that the team has “a lot of young players, and a lot of solid freshmen and sophomores.”

While Patterson plays basketball and baseball, he explained that none of the experiences he had with those sports helped him in the transition to tennis. “It was a struggle at first,” Patterson stated. “But, I mean, it was always fun.”

Some other activities that Patterson enjoys is hanging out with his friends and family. But he enjoys any athletic activity above all.

Patterson plans on going to college for the next school year after he graduates. However, he has not decided which university to attend out of all the ones he has been accepted to.

The boy’s and girl’s tennis teams have currently completed all their seasonal matches, but both teams are striving to play in the annual state tournament. However, the upcoming seasons are looking to be big ones for the boy’s team considering all the young talent the team currently has.