Kayla Hoy
Reporter
The lifelong sport of tennis comes to a collegiate close for two of PLU’s senior tennis players, Taylor Stokes and Hampus Eliasson.
While taking advantage of the PLUS Year to complete her double major in Biology and Business with a minor in Chemistry, Stokes is also finishing up her nineteenth year playing tennis.
Stokes started playing at 4 years old with the encouragement of her father, who understood the importance of being a part of a team and surrounding oneself with the right people.
In addition to her father, Stokes mentioned her grandmother as an inspiration on and off the court. She described her as “a compassionate and selfless person, who puts other people before her own needs. The type of person I want to be.”
In my short time getting to know Taylor, her sweet demeanor shined and showed she’s doing just that.
Stokes would describe tennis as a “lifelong sport” that helps clear her mind, keeping her happy and healthy. This is an important aspect to consider for a student athlete, juggling the stressors of life. As the season continues and the mask mandate is lifted, Stokes hopes for more team bonding experiences and for the whole team to excel on and off the court. Having traveled to Asia and Europe in the past, a personal goal for Stokes this year is to continue exploring the world.
Hampus Eliasson grew up in Alingsås, Sweden, a small town with a little over thirty-seven thousand inhabitants. As a kid, he traveled all over Europe with his father, competing in motocross, until the expenses became overbearing. When he was thirteen, a good friend of Eliasson handed him a racket and took him out to the courts, jump starting his love for tennis. “I always enjoyed the simplicity of the sport,” explained Eliasson. He attended a high school that had a specific focus on athletics. There, he watched as his older teammates made their way to America striving to compete in the NCAA — what’s known as the world-wide gold standard for post high school competition — and decided to follow suit . He had an offer to play in Staten Island, New York, but plans changed due to a disease called osgood-schlatter, a common cause of knee pain in adolescence as a result of inflammation in the muscles and tendons of the knee. This meant about eight months to a year of rehabilitation work. In the meantime, Eliasson was recommended to Seattle Central University through close contacts. After finishing his associates degree in business at Seattle Central, he transferred to PLU. Similar to Stokes, Eliasson finds the courts as a place he can step away from the daily stressors of life – the constant to-do lists and expectations, while working towards a successful future. Head Coach Paul Koessler, PLU hall-of-famer and alumni, emphasizes the importance of mental health in a way that really stands out to Elliason. It’s good to know our athletes have the right kind of guidance that builds healthy and strong individuals on and off the court as they wrap up their collegiate careers.
