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Pinecrest's Sarah McNally is a determined young woman
who has overcome serious medical problems to keep alive her dream of
playing college tennis for an Ivy League school and studying to become
a doctor.
Sarah McNally battled back against adversity.
The 17-year-old junior at Palmer-Trinity High School
already ranks as one of the top singles and doubles players in
Florida, seeded fourteenth in the state by the United States Tennis
Association. She recently made the first team all-county after leading
her high school team to a 12-3 season record and a second-place finish
in the district.
"We had a decent team," McNally said
modestly. "We had a lot of fun."
All of this follows on the heels of a bout with
Crohn's Disease two years ago, a very serious chronic intestinal
illness that hospitalized her for a month, caused her to undergo two
operations, left her 35 pounds lighter and rail thin, and kept her off
the tennis courts for almost six months.
"It never really hit me how sick I was," she
said. "Suddenly, one day I just felt that I was well and it was
time to get out of the hospital. I think the only time I cried was
when I came out to the tennis courts and I was just so sad because I
couldn't play tennis. It was horrible."
McNally went back to work, practicing a minimum of two
hours a day five and six days a week, and gradually built up her
strength. She was seeded fifth in last year's state championship
tournament. But, the day before she was to leave, tragedy struck again
when she fell and broke a bone in her wrist, knocking her out of the
tournament. The injury kept her off the courts for another four
months.
But, again she battled back and in January she beat
the number one seed in the Florida designated tennis tournament, then
went on to reach the quarterfinals before bowing out.
McNally, A Miami native, has been playing tennis since
she was five years old and has had the same coach -- Elizabeth
Levinson since she was eight.
"I was horrible in the beginning," McNally
recalled. "I was the worst tennis player in the world until I was
about 12 years old and then all of a sudden I got really good."
Very good, indeed, for as an eighth grader, she was
the youngest person in the county to ever win the district singles and
doubles tennis titles. When she was 14, she made it to the
quarter-finals in the national doubles clay court tournament.
Today, McNally is looking forward to more state
tournaments this summer and to beginning her senior high school year
in the fall. She then plans on attending Dartmouth College in 2001,
where she says she will study pre-med, with an eye toward becoming a
baby doctor or a sports medicine physician.
And, she says she intends to play tennis for the Ivy
League school, too.
"Yes," she said, "tennis is important
to me. It's always been there, it's something I can't imagine not
having."
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