- Ruby Brown made Menasha history when she became the first girl to advance to sectionals in 25 years for tennis.
- Her coach says Ruby is an incredible role model and an inspiration to her teammates and her community.
- Ruby says she is grateful for the support she has gotten in reaching this accomplishment, and that she will be watching and supporting her team even after her graduation.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Here in Menasha… high school senior Ruby Brown made history, and proved that one person's triumphs are the triumphs of her community too. I'm your Menasha neighborhood reporter Darby McCarthy, and when I met Ruby, she was happy to share her personal accomplishments.
"Last year I got most competitive," Ruby laughed.
Ruby Brown plays number one tennis singles, and at this year's Bay Conference tournament, she broke a record older than she is.
"For the first time in 25 years, we had a sectional qualifier from Menasha High School."
Menasha High School Tennis Head Coach Darin Schoening says Ruby Brown is a remarkable student both on and off the tennis courts.
"I mean, you can't say enough. There's just a litany."
Off the field, Ruby is also a National Honor Society class officer, she volunteers for the police explorers, and she volunteers as a teacher's aide, to name just a few.
"She's just so involved and so outstanding of an individual that it's easy to look up to [her] and see why she has that kind of success on the court as well."
Coach Schoening says that what Ruby accomplished wasn't just making history; it was inspiring hope.
“When you haven't had that much success for a long period of time, sometimes it becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy and some of the younger players don't think it's possible. But then you have somebody like Ruby that comes in, gets that win, makes it to that step, and now the younger players that are underneath actually feel like, ‘I believe I can do this too.’”
And her biggest focus was on celebrating her team.
"There's a lot of younger girls on the team, which is really exciting to kind of be a role model for them. And I'm so excited to see, you know, how they do in these next coming seasons as well."
Coach Schoening says that when he started his first season nine years ago, there were only three girls on the team. Now, they are up to 21… with eight varsity girls returning.
