Saratoga News

Sports

Cappello keeping tennis tradition alive

By Eli Segall

Carrying on a tradition often comes with pressure--pressure to not just carry the torch, but to carry it high.

Luckily for Saratoga resident Sarah Rose Cappello, her family tradition is to just have fun.

Sarah Rose, 16, is a fourth-generation tennis player and a member of the Blossom Hill Aces, a select Northern California tennis team. She is also a top-ranked varsity player at Lynbrook High School, where she is a junior.

However, unlike countless other youth athletes, her parents take a hands-off approach to their daughter's budding career.

"She plays for the love and the fun of the sport," said her mother, Amy Cappello. "We only want her to enjoy tennis, not get burned out, which unfortunately happens to some kids."

"The family is very supportive. They have a good perspective on tennis and life," said Chuck Fowler, who has coached Sarah Rose for the past five years at Saratoga Country Club. "They just want her to enjoy it."

Tennis has been in the Rose family for more than 80 years. In fact, it is the reason her family is who it is today.

In the early 1920s, her great-grandparents met on a tennis court in The Bronx, N.Y., where they lived. They raised Sarah Rose's grandfather, Hal Lax, in Queens, N.Y., and he too grew up an avid tennis player. The tradition continued after Lax moved with his wife Jane and, their daughter, Amy, to Saratoga for his dentistry career. Amy, Sarah Rose's mother, played tennis at Redwood Junior High School, Saratoga High School and Oregon State University.

Sarah Rose learned the sport as an 8-year old and has made great strides ever since. She helped lead the Blossom Hill Aces to two state championships in the last three years--even more impressive considering she joined the under-18 squad the summer between 8th grade and freshman year.

But it is Sarah Rose's attitude that stands above her victories.

"She exemplifies sportsmanship," Fowler said. "She always respects her opponent and has a true respect for the game."

Sarah Rose's entire family helps carry the tradition of playing the sport they love. Sarah Rose's father, Manny Cappello, picked up the sport after marrying his tennis-aficionado wife. Her younger brother Jonathan, a Lynbrook freshman, plans to try out for the school's tennis team this spring.

Cappello took his involvement one step further when, in 2003, he helped found the Saratoga Junior Open Tennis Tournament. The tournament, held every June at the Saratoga Country Club, draws more than 350 youth tennis players for singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches.

Some college recruiters have already come knocking for Sarah Rose, Amy Cappello said. But even if a sports career is not in the cards, she has the recipe for success.

"Her character is so good and it's so high," Fowler said. "Whatever career she pursues, even if it's not tennis, she'll do great."