Athlete Spotlight: Miah Reyes
Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications
Salem, Mass. -- On Tuesday, August 22, it was announced that women's tennis player Miah Reyes a junior from Rayton, Missouri was named a 2023 The Team Engaged Athlete Fellow. The team is a nonpartisan organization that creates award-winning programming focused on integrating civic engagement into college athletics. They offer a pathway for every athlete, coach, and administrator to become more engaged citizens. They're mission is to develop teammates, inspire leaders, and empower citizens.
Reyes does a lot of service work in the Vikings' community. She is a political science major, president of Greek council, vice president of pre–Law Society, and a program assistant for the Berry Institute of Politics.
Reyes started playing tennis her sophomore year of high school and she was surprised by this achievement. "I was very surprised and honestly had no clue that I was going to be chosen to be a part of this amazing cohort. Being chosen to be a part of a national movement like this means so much to me and reflects largely on all of the hard work I have put into all aspects of my life."
The Missouri native received overwhelming encouragement from her family and teammates. "My family has always been my biggest supporters. My mom especially, she always pushes me to try as many different things as possible and I credit my ability to succeed in life solely to her." She adds, "being as far away from family as I am, my friends are always the ones on the sideline watching and cheering me on. All of my friends are functioning members of society and are always willing to follow me into any problem we might face, and we always come out successful. My teammates are proud of what I do off and on the court and I am thankful for their support as well."
Reyes talked about her expectations for the upcoming year. "The expectation is definitely higher this year. My achievements throughout the season can be featured at a national level now. There is a lot more pressure this season than I have ever felt before," When I ask her if she believes there is too much pressure on her she adds "I put a lot of pressure on myself to be great in all aspects of my life and this is no different. I think any student-athlete can relate when I say I sometimes struggle with imposter syndrome. I wonder what I did to make it to where I am today. But it is achievements like this that help me see all of the hard work I put in day after day. It makes me thankful for every hardship I have faced as they have made me stronger in the end."
In this, her third season playing women's tennis, she has one goal in mind for this upcoming season. "My goal is to not lose sight of why I love my sport. Putting lots of pressure on oneself can cause you to lose the passion. I want to keep a focus on my passion for tennis and to always play with the love I have for the sport."
Reyes also mentioned the pro's and con's of being a student-athlete "In my opinion the pros outweigh the cons. The biggest pro for me is the fact that I get to continue playing the sport I love, and the biggest con is that I sometimes have to sacrifice things, like spending time with my friends, sleep, and going home on long weekends because of matches. But if I were to go back to senior year of high school I would commit to play tennis every single time. I think my love of the game and the respect I have for being an athlete helps me manage the pros and cons. I feel like at the end of every season my body has been through seven rounds with Mike Tyson and every August I am up on the tennis court ready to do it all over again. I would not trade being an athlete for anything."
We talked about her routine and how it differs on practice and game days. "I think the main thing that differs between practice and match days are the energy beforehand. There is a lot of nervous energy going around between all of my teammates and on practice days we are all joking and full of energy. I have a match day playlist that I listen to, it is full of upbeat and happy songs then towards the end it has more aggressive victory type songs. I think it helps the progression of getting into that mindset before you are getting ready to play."
The first team practice was on August 22nd the same day she earned the fellowship, and we talked about how the practice went. "I was very nervous, but I have to say the first practice is one of my favorite practices of the season. I like to push myself really hard in that practice to show the progress I have made over the summer and bond with people I have not seen since the spring. During our first practice there was a lot of really good energy and I hope that we can continue that throughout the season,"
Reyes and the Vikings are ready for a breakout season as the Salem State women's tennis team will begin the 2023 campaign on September 2nd when they welcome Eastern Nazarene for a non-conference game at noon.