Sister act

In this day and age, every student athlete wants to continue their sport at the next level, which is college. It’s rare for one member of a family to achieve that opportunity. It’s even rarer for two people to achieve it. Rachel and Rebecca Ho are two Golden Valley High School graduates who have done just
that. Stars on the tennis court and in
the classroom, their success on the hard court earned them both scholarships to
the collegiate level. Rachel attends the
University of California, Santa Barbra and Rebecca is a student at Washington
University in St. Louis Missouri.

(Rebecca Ho in action)

Both were stars at Golden Valley in
Santa Clarita for head coach Josh Stimac, “Rachel was a fierce competitor which
earned her a great deal of respect around the league,” said Stimac.“ She was
also well liked around the league on and off the court because of her easy
going and friendly demeanor.”

Stimac thought younger sister
Rebecca on the other hand “was relentless on the court. Earning first team
all-league for three years, two of which she was the foothill league individual
singles champion.” 

Rebecca finished with a record of 160-13, engraving her name
as the winningest  girl’s tennis player
at Golden Valley High school. “Rebecca is one of the most successful female
athletes that ever attended Golden Valley,” Stimac added.

As the sisters had to learn on the
fly and transition to playing at the next level, they both mentioned that they
continue to use their same style of play from high school. “There hasn’t been
any change in my stroke or play style,” said Rebecca.

Although the Ho sisters bring their
same savvy play style from high school, they still had to adjust to the higher
level of competition. In some occasions, you could get an early preview of what
collegiate sports could be like. 

“The competition in college is definitely much
more challenging, although there were a few exceptional players from the other
high schools that presented me with difficult challenges,” Rachel mentioned.
That competition in high school allowed Rachel important preparation for
success at the next level.

The high level of competition
wasn’t the only the struggle the two young ladies faced. Juggling their
academics with tennis was the most enormous task they’re currently facing. “My
biggest challenge is managing my time with school and also keeping up with
other athletes who have trained just as hard, if not harder than I have” said
Rachel.  

Both sisters mutually agree how
difficult the task can be. “It’s very tough to balance the two effectively,” Rebecca
mentioned. Of course balancing the two can be very challenging, but it is even
tougher when you attend Washington University which is one of the top fifteen universities
in the country. The well-known UCSB isn’t exactly the easiest schools to attend
either.

The two sisters aren’t just
achieving their goal of being a student athlete at the college level, but they
are going above and beyond by earning an education at two of the toughest and
competitive schools in the nation.

—-Nash Soliman