Eastview's Star Tennis Players Find Their Best Coaches At Home

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They're two tennis players from Eastview who are two of the best in the state, and they're from the same family -- and that family has a lot to do with their success.

The fact that their last name is Young couldn't be more fitting.

Gavin Young made the state tournament last season as a 7th-grader. Then in the fall, so did his little sister Karin -- Gavin in singles, Karin in doubles.

"It was really fun," Karin said. "It was really different from other tournaments, there was a lot more people watching."

They're both among the best high school tennis players in the state, and they aren't even in high school yet.

"Yeah, we're pretty competitive," Gavin said.

How'd they get so good, so young? Well, there might be good reason for that.

"I think we have good coaches," Karin said with a laugh

"Yeah, we're around good coaches," Gavin agreed.

Those coaches are also known as mom and dad. Geoff Young is dad -- the head coach of the Gopher's men's tennis team. Mom is Dana Young -- the head pro at the Baseline Tennis Center. You might not find two parents better at doing one thing.

"It's different. But, I like it a lot," Gavin said.

"I'm just proud to see them have fun at something and connect to their passion," Geoff said. "Try to keep that separate from the results."

"I think we always hoped that they would enjoy tennis, because it's something that we both did. And that's how we met," Dana said. "To see them enjoy it as much as they do, it's been really fun, yeah.

But both attest that what makes their kids so good is something you can't teach.

"They have really good control of their emotions," Dana said. "We're not really sure where they got that from. I do think so, because both of us -- that wasn't really our strength growing up."

Still, those two young stars still have a lot of growing up to do.