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Then again, when one's parents own an athletic facility with hardcourts, chances are pretty good that a youngster might want to step up and start hitting a few balls.
"It used to be all tennis courts here," the 15-year-old said of Universal Athletic Club, the Manheim Township business owned by her parents, Mary and Rick. "So I used to go out and play on the courts. I knew that I really enjoyed it — a lot — so I just kept playing more and more as I got older."
And though the courts are now all gone at the former Olde Hickory Racquet Club, as it was known when the family bought it in 1994, Julia Casselbury's tennis game is thriving.
In recent weeks, she's brought home Class AA singles championships from the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District Three. On top of that, she's the county's highest-ranked USTA Junior-level tennis player — in the Middle States region, she's listed as No. 3 in the Girls 16s rankings (No. 41 nationally) and No.6 in the Girls 18s rankings (No. 195 nationally). She's primed to start playing tournaments on the international level.
But this weekend, her focus will be a bit closer to home.
Starting at 9 a.m. Friday, Casselbury will open play in the PIAA Class AA girls singles tournament at the Hershey Racquet Club. Her opponent in the first-round match will be Muncy senior Breanne Phillips, the second seed out of District Four. Should she advance to the quarterfinal round, at 3 p.m. she'll face the winner of a match between District 10 top seed Maggie McLaughlin of Mercyhurst Prep and District Seven second seed Antill Logan of Sewickley Academy. Semifinals and finals begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
"I don't really recognize (Phillips)," Casselbury said. "But I do recognize other people in the field who I'll be playing if I continue to win and they continue to win. A lot of the tournaments I play in the Middle States area, they play at too."
Casselbury won't be the only county player involved in the weekend's festivities. League and District Three Class AAA singles champ Leah Rutt, a Lancaster Christian senior who plays under a co-op agreement with McCaskey, opens state play at noon Friday. Rutt — ranked 14th on the USTA's Middle States Girls 18s list — will take on Wissahickon freshman Michelle Satterfield, the fourth seed out of District One.
And in Class AAA doubles, league and district champs Lauren Stauffer and Caroline Berry of Manheim Township will play Pennsbury's Tara Krauss and Katie Reilly — the fourth seeds from District One — at 1:30 p.m. Also at that time, county and district runners-up Chelsie Yacks and Mackenzie Smith of Hempfield will face District 11 top seeds Rachel Hoffman and Catherine Noack of Bethlehem Liberty.
This will be Casselbury's first peek at the PIAAs. Of course, this has been a year of firsts for her. A 2008 wrist injury meant she did not play for coach Jim Phipps' Country Day squad her freshman year. So this season was the first time she played on a team, the first time she competed at the L-L championships, the first time she competed at districts.
Talk about your growth experiences. But Casselbury has relished the process, and said she's become a better player by taking part in a team atmosphere.
"I definitely think I can learn a lot from the people around me," Casselbury said. "I think watching other people play and seeing what they do … I think I can take something away from everyone. It's definitely been different for me, playing in a team environment, because I'm so used to going to tournaments by myself. But I've had such a great time playing on a team, and I think it's really helped my game."
Phipps is just one of three coaches prominent in Casselbury's training. Locally, she works with Jack Bippus, and she also travels to Pittsburgh to work with Rashid Hassan. The three coaches together have become a big boost for her already tough game.
Casselbury said she definitely wants to play for a Division I college program. Ultimately, the A-student would like to become a physician. But if professional tennis becomes a possibility, she would explore that option.
