198. That’s how many state championships Jenks High School has won, ranging from football to baseball to swimming, all the way to tennis. For context: Union, BA, and Bixby combined have 192. As Jenks keeps racking up championships through the years, it has set a pretty high standard for our athletes. It can feel like “ordinary” is never enough–even coming in second place is a loss. I’m diving deep and talking with Jenks Varsity tennis players, Krishna Bhadjiru (9), and Varsity football player Jace Hager (10), to talk about the pressures of Jenks standards and “state culture.”

The racket swings up as the ball is tossed in the air. The whip of his wrist creates power from his body as he makes contact with the ball and skids past the opponent. The crowd goes wild. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Krishna Bhadrirju, a 9th grader at Jenks High School. Bhadrirju has been playing tennis since he was 7 years old. This is an incredible accomplishment for Bhadrirju. The #1 and 2 on our JHS team are the top 3 in the state. Being right below them as a freshman is a big opportunity. This effort has paid off, Bhadrirju is already ranked 3rd on the team lineup. The work Bhadrirju puts in clearly is represented by his rank. But when he started, he wasn’t playing competitively, he was just having fun.