Frankie Eszes, a senior at St. Joseph, is finally raking in the benefits of not having a life during high school: She was offered a “big” scholarship, for both academia and tennis, to attend Northwestern College in Iowa.
Eszes began playing tennis at age 4, when her mom went to work in the summer and dropped her off along with her sister
and brother at a tennis camp at the Santa Maria Country Club. Although she’s played off and on ever since, she didn’t start
playing seriously until she was 14.
The tennis season recently ended, finishing Eszes’ high school tennis tenure, which included four years of qualifying for CIF as an individual, plus her team qualified for all four years.
Eszes also spends a lot of her time dancing with the Allan Hancock Youth Company and the dance team at St. Joe’s.
“I was busy,” Eszes said. “I would wake up, go to school, dance at school, go home, then dance at Youth Company, and do homework.”
Despite her full plate, she thinks the hard work was worth it.
Once Eszes goes away to college, she plans to continue with dancing—but not like she did with Youth Company.
“I want to enjoy college,” she said.
As of now, Eszes hasn’t signed a letter of intent to Northwestern College. She’s waiting for her mom to be present when she inks her name.
“You know how moms are,” she joked.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 3, 2011.