It was the wish of her grandmother that inspired Ponca City High School sophomore Rheagan Bohon to give tennis a try.

“My grandma played tennis when she was in high school, and she always wanted me to play. I didn’t have any tennis experience at all but the summer before my freshman year I took some lessons with the goal of making varsity by my sophomore year. I took some more lessons last summer and worked hard to improve my game,” said Rheagan who is also in student council and the Student Athlete Advisory Council at Po High.

Her tennis coach Larry Williams wasn’t quite sure when Rheagan came out last year.

“I could see some she had some natural ability and that she was taking some lessons, so we worked with her as time allowed last year,” said Williams. “This year she came out and surprised us with some wins in our round robin qualifying that we do in January to establish team standing. As a result, she made the varsity team and plays number two doubles for us.”

Rheagan’s real passion lies away from the tennis courts as a member of the Po-High Steppers Drill and Dance team coached by her mother.

“Since my mom is the coach, I’ve always been around the team and knew I wanted to be a Po-High Stepper. I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember and got into competitive dance at an early age.”

In March, the Po-High Steppers went to the American Drill and Dance competition in Texas and came away with not only the national championship in performance but also the Academic Championship as well.

Back to tennis, Rheagan says she enjoys playing doubles more than singles in competition.

“I like having another person there with me on the court and this year I’m getting to play with my best friend Alli Edwards so that makes it even better.”

The year has started off nicely for Rheagan and Alli as they won a consolation championship match earlier this spring in a super tiebreaker. And her goal for the rest of the season?

“I really want to qualify for state this year,” she said enthusiastically.

Diving into an unknown world on the dream of a relative is a reason that Rheagan Bohon shows that character counts.