When Elijah Mauricio-Orme visited his sister in Colorado over summer break in 2020, he played a lot of tennis as a way to spend time with her and his family. “The first game I played with my sister was the most memorable because it showed me that tennis was actually interesting and fun after I previously thought it was boring,” he said.

But it’s taken a little while for him to pick up the sport as a team player. “This is my first year participating in tennis for Armijo,” he said. “I’ve never played organized tennis before.”

That is not to say that he hadn’t played on an Armijo team before. “I played basketball freshman and sophomore year, then marching band the first semester of senior year,” he said. But this may be the only time he does play tennis for school. Instead, he thinks that, rather than playing at Solano or the university he might transfer to, he will probably only play club tennis or recreational. His plan educationally is to “study biology or environmental science to help conserve our environment as a possible career path,” he said.

For others considering trying out for a sport in high school, he offered some good advice. “Don’t care or give serious thought to what others think and only focus on yourself and improving,” he said.

He continues to enjoy playing tennis as well as basketball, and spends some of his free time playing video games.

Mauricio-Orme is the youngest of four children. He has two older brothers and an older sister, ages 32, 30, and 26. “My role model would be my dad who has shown me how to be an overall good person,” he said.