By Gail Wood
Clearly, he’s not the best tennis player in the state.
His 6-7 season record makes that obvious.
But it’s possible Jack Swanson, a 16-year-old senior at Capital, just might be the smartest.
What other high school tennis player took classes at Harvard over the summer, squeezing in a year’s worth of college calculus material into an intense seven-week course?
Swanson’s cumulative grade point average is 3.99. From grade school to high school, he’s never received a “C” in a class. His only “B” in high school came in a per-calculus class.
“Grades have always been important to me,” Swanson said. “My parents never had to tell me to do my homework.”
Just turning 16 in July, he’ll be the youngest to graduate in his class. Swanson skipped eighth grade.
“I got frustrated with the pace of middle school,” Swanson said.
But Swanson isn’t all books and brain. There’s a social side, a balance of academia and athletics. He’s not the shy book nerd.
“He’s a very nice kid,” said Tom Alongi, Capital’s tennis coach. “He’s very approachable.”
Swanson, Capital’s number one singles player, made the varsity team as a freshman when he was just 13. Alongi remembers him as this little pudgy kid with a huge, blasting forehand. But Swanson, who is now lean and lanky, had to learn that smashing every shot wasn’t always the solution to winning the point.
Swanson has also learned that effort plus practice equals improvement.
“To be honest with you, he was a little lazy,” Alongi said with a chuckle. “It had to be a choice of his. When he sets his mind to it, he sees good results.”
At first, tennis was merely Swanson’s chance to hang out with friends and whack a tennis ball around. Swimming, and of course academics, were more his focus. He qualified for state last year in two relays..
But early in the season, after getting humbled 6-0 in the first set by a talented player from South Kitsap, Swanson had an epiphany. He realized he could be good. In the second set, Swanson was a break point from going up 5-4 but missed the shot and ended up losing in two sets.
“He just started believing he could beat him,” Alongi said. “Jack made the guy more tentative because he was making him work harder. That helped him see he could play good tennis.”
Swanson admitted that match was a turning point for him. Last week in a crosstown rival match against Olympia, Swanson won 6-0, 6-0. On Oct. 21-22, Swanson and his teammates will compete in the 3A Narrows League tournament at Bally’s in Lacey. Swanson is hoping to advance to state for the first time. The kid with the perpetual “A’s” in the classroom is hoping to bring his “A” game to league championship.
“Once he sets his mind to it, he can do really well,” Alongi said.
In between serves during a match, it’s rumored that Swanson solves math equations just to stay focused. Actually, Swanson has always proved he’s willing to push himself come game time.
“I try hard in matches,” Swanson said.
While most kids he plays tennis against were at tennis camps last summer, Swanson was at Harvard, studying math and astro biology, a study of whether other planets can support life.
“It was enjoyable, but it was also a shock because I’ve never been in a college setting before,” Swanson said. “And the course work was a lot different than high school.”
Over the weekend, Swanson, who helped the Capital boys tennis team win the 3A state academic championship the last two years, interviewed for admittance to Harvey Mudd College, a private school in southern California that focuses on math, science and engineering. It would seem likely that Swanson has the grades and SAT score (1,990) to get in.
Wherever he goes to college, Swanson will be one of the youngest students there. This spring Swanson wanted to turn out for track, but he’ll have to take a driver’s ed class.
“I want to be able to get my driver’s license,” he said.
Oh, the the challenges of being a young achiever. But Swanson, who has no siblings, doesn’t find it awkward being the youngest kid in his class.
“It’s never really mattered to me,” Swanson said. “I made friends going into high school with guys who were two years older than me. I think I’ll make friends in college. Age hasn’t ever really effected me.”
That’s because he’s the young kid with the knack for school and sports.
