Every year, Seymour tennis tries to get out into the community and do two projects throughout the year.

To close out 2021, members of the boys and girls teams gathered at Sertoma Christmas Miracle Headquarters to help wrap presents that will be sent out on Christmas Eve morning starting at 7 a.m.

“We feel like that is part of being a team, how we can help each other like we do during the season and when we’re on the court, but then how can we find a way to extend that sportsmanship and good feeling, how can we serve the community that we live in and help others,” girls head coach Sharon Wood said.

Wood has been involved with Sertoma Christmas Miracle for a couple of years.

Ever since COVID-19 last year, it has been more difficult to get out for community service. The Owls like to do things with nursing homes, but restrictions have limited that.

They’ve done Christmas caroling before, and last year, they made appreciation baskets for different employees at the high school, such as custodians, trainers, athletic directors and secretaries.

But this past Monday, it was nice for the team to get out to help Sertoma Christmas Miracle.

“We had a great turnout,” Wood said. “We went to Pizza Palace before to have some team bonding and hang out.”

Sertoma Christmas Miracle has angels hanging on trees around town, and families around the community can sponsor a child. On the angel, it will say what they want for Christmas, and people will drop presents off at the headquarters and then different groups volunteer to wrap.

That was the Seymour boys and girls tennis team on Monday night, and as athletes, they became competitive on who can wrap presents the fastest or make them look the best.

“That was the fun of it,” Wood said. “Some of them started out real slow. Then by the end of it, they were just cranking it out. Some would have holes they would have to tape.”

One group had to wrap a huge stuffed animal, which became a challenging task.

“They were cracking me up listening to them trying to solve this,” Wood said. “It was fun to watch how they instantly teamed up and paired up. It was good. I enjoyed it a lot.”

The tennis team wasn’t the only team around Jackson County that went out and volunteered this time of year.

A lot of teams got out to help the community, creating a strong bond between Jackson County athletes and the area they compete for four years in.

“It really helps the kids reflect upon how grateful they are for what they have,” Wood said. “It was really nice how much pride they took that they were going to do a project that they could help others.”