By Amy White
The Texas Catholic

Tennison loves to dance, sing, and, most especially, play tennis. Sometimes, she feels anxious—but she knows the tools she can use to help herself feel calm. Tennison is an athlete with Down syndrome. She’s also a character in a book, a creation of John Paul II High School graduating senior Nataly Montemayor.

Montemayor, 17, created “Tennison Gets Her Tennis On” as a resource for athletes with Down syndrome who experience anxiety. The book is one of multiple resources the recent graduate produced during high school for the benefit of Down syndrome athletes.

Like Tennison, Montemayor has a passion for tennis. She began playing when she was nine years old. After graduating from St. Mark Catholic School in Plano in 2020, she spent her four years at John Paul II High School on the school’s varsity tennis team.

During her high school career, Montemayor has seen considerable success on the court. As a freshman she placed second at district and third in state for doubles. She played singles her sophomore and junior years, qualifying for state each time; and as a senior, she placed first at district for doubles and, after a long third set tiebreaker match, placed second in state.

“She’s gone to state all four years, which is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Sally Frame, head tennis coach at JPII. “Our girls team at John Paul came in third place at the state tournament [this year], and a lot of that was due to the fact that Nataly and her partner did so well on the doubles.”  

As a result of her tennis success, Montemayor earned the designation of both team captain and, in her senior year, co-MVP with her best friend and teammate Valeria Gonzalez.

“She’s very focused; she’s very driven; she’s very persistent,” Frame said, “and those are all excellent qualities in a tennis player.”

That drive has also served her well academically; Montemayor graduated as one of the top ten students in her class, a very sought-after accomplishment at JPII.

Reflecting on Montemayor and her academic accomplishments, Eugenia Jameson, an AP government teacher at the school, described the graduate as “bright, articulate, intellectually curious, definitely willing to put in the extra time and effort for excellence.”

Jameson added, “She’s involved in so many different activities here at school. It’s just absolutely astounding.” Among these activities are choir, lacrosse, and volunteer work in the Buddy Up Tennis program.

Buddy Up Tennis is a program of Buddy Up for Life that pairs a volunteer and athlete with Down syndrome for fitness and tennis classes. Montemayor began volunteering in the program her freshman year. Soon, she became involved with Buddy Up Connection, a summer program.

While volunteering with Buddy Up, Montemayor noticed that the athlete she was assisting was struggling with anxiety.

“She stopped showing up to our session, because she was scared to leave her house,” she said. “It really broke my heart that she couldn’t enjoy the things she was doing because of her anxiety.”

Inspired by the athlete’s plight, Montemayor dedicated her Girl Scouts Gold Award project to the development of resources for Down syndrome athletes with anxiety. In the summer of 2023, she began researching the tools and practices that could help athletes cope with anxiety. Once her project received approval from the Girl Scouts advisers, she started creating resources.

“Part of it was writing a book, a children’s book,” Montemayor said, referencing “Tennison Gets Her Tennis On.” “It was a light way to introduce the idea of anxiety and then a few ways you can help cope with this anxiety.”

Next, she created a curriculum and a coping skills toolbox.

“It had different sensory tools: bubbles, playdough; and I made these flashcards as well that had different things you could do to calm yourself down, and those were part of the toolbox,” Montemayor said. She made her materials available on her website in both English and Spanish.

“That’s something that’s super close to me, because I come from a Mexican family,” Montemayor said. “So, I really wanted to be able to reach out to a larger group of people.”

Montemayor graduated from John Paul II High School on May 26. She plans to study biology at Notre Dame University in pursuit of a career in dermatology. Already, the student has set herself apart by being selected as a member of Notre Dame’s Latino Studies Scholars Program.

“I think she’ll continue to achieve at such a high level,” Jameson said of Montemayor. “She’ll add to whatever field she goes into. She’ll enrich it. She’ll bring it to a higher level. She’ll contribute to it.” The teacher added with a laugh, “I always tell [students], ‘I can’t wait to see what you’re doing in 10 years,’ and I think it will just take her five.”