Class of 2026 tennis star Amelia Smith, shifting from playing the game to teaching it with summer sessions at Chesterton High School tennis courts

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Three seasons, three different doubles partners, three outstanding records.
As a sophomore, Amelia Smith earned all-district honors with Ava Komp as her partner. As a junior, Smith and senior Aleksa Sorgic earned second-team all-state honors after making it to state in the individual doubles tournament. This past season, Smith and junior Genevieve Driscoll went 16-2 for a Chesterton tennis team that won its third DAC title in four seasons and claimed its sixth consecutive sectional title. Smith’s career ended May 27 with the team’s 4-1 loss to South Bend St. Joseph in a regional final at LaPorte.
Smith graduated and is bound for Indiana University in Bloomington, where she will study in the prestigious Kelly School of Business.
But just because her CHS playing career is behind her, that doesn’t mean she is done helping her alma mater’s tennis program.
Smith already has started a business “NWI Summer Tennis,” which she promotes as “fun summer tennis training for kids in Northwest Indiana focused on improving skills, making friends, staying active and having FUN.”
Three different four-day instructional sessions led by Smith, all at the Chesterton High School tennis courts, are available: June 15-18; June 22-25; July 13-16. The players are broken into four categories: Elite Boys (entering grades 6 through 9); Elite Girls (entering grades 6 through 9); Junior Boys (ages 7-10), Junior Girls (ages 7-10).
For pricing and other information, visit NWItennis.com.
Chesterton boys and girls head tennis coach Tom Bour’s response, when asked late in this past season what made Smith such a good doubles player left no doubts as to her qualifications to teach the game.
“Her experience, No. 1,” Bour said. “She also knows the basic strategies and positionings for doubles. She knows where to move, how to move. She knows when to be aggressive, when not to be, and you know those things are hard to learn.”
Before learning how to do things the right way, Smith had to unlearn how to do things the wrong way, one of her motivating factors in shifting into a tennis teaching role.
“I wanted younger kids to have the chance to learn the correct fundamentals from the start while still having fun and making friends,” Smith said. “When I was younger, I developed bad habits from not always getting enough instruction in group settings, and it took a long time to fix later on. Kids should be able to be in an environment where they can have fun, make friends, and not sacrifice correct fundamentals.”
Smith elaborated on what she hopes to accomplish with NWI Summer Tennis.
“Making it to state has been an amazing experience for me, and it showed me how far hard work and passion can take you,” she said. “I want younger players to know that if they start now and stay consistent, they can reach that level too. More than anything, I want to inspire kids in Northwest Indiana, especially within the school district, to play more tennis so our programs and teams can continue to grow and improve in the future.”