Senior aces athletics and academics

[Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a weeklong series recognizing noteworthy graduates from the Class of 2019. This year’s series highlights students who are finding ways to make a difference in their communities and the lives of others.]

Frampton is part of Whitefish Christian Academy’s inaugural graduating class

By KATIE BROWN

The Daily Inter Lake

At first, Maria Frampton played tennis because she got ice cream afterward.

She’s come a long way from playing tennis with her father, Sean, and brothers, Ryan and Luke, at Grouse Mountain Lodge.

In those early days, it was all about having fun, but as Frampton grew up, she began to take it a little more seriously.

“When I became a little bit older, I started making it more competitive on my own,” she said.

Now the 18-year-old Whitefish Christian Academy senior competes in United States Tennis Association (USTA) tournaments, played for Glacier High School’s tennis team and will start her collegiate career at Gonzaga University this fall.

Since her junior year, Frampton has attended classes at Whitefish Christian Academy in the morning and Glacier for afternoon classes and tennis practice. She also takes several online classes.

“It’s been a lot, driving back and forth,” Frampton said.

In addition to her academic schedule, Frampton still finds time to bike in the morning and train off the court. A hamstring issue during the tennis season forced her to scale back a little bit. She lost to eventual state champion Maicy McCarty of Bozeman in the semifinals but she rebounded to a third-place finish at the Class AA state tennis tournament for the second year in a row.

“She is a great player,” Glacier tennis coach Josh Munro said. “She’s got a heck of a backhand. It’s really a weapon. She has come a long way.”

All her hard work has paid off in a big way as her high school career comes to a close. Frampton attended a tennis camp at Gonzaga last summer and was offered a spot on the school’s women’s tennis team.

“I was pretty sure I wanted to play college tennis but I really wanted to make sure I was at a school I academically wanted to be at too,” Frampton said. “It just perfectly aligned like that.”

She hopes to study business and international relations, minor in a language and then go to law school.

The summer workouts have already begun. Gonzaga’s workout plan includes swimming, cycling, running and lifting.

“I’m excited to tackle that this summer,” Frampton said.

Frampton’s father, Sean, a former University of Montana tennis player, has coached her on and off through her career and has watched her grow on and off the tennis court.

“She’s like 18 going on about 30-something,” he said. “She’s very mature. I’ve told her her whole life, it’s how you play. Are you playing with all your heart and are you trying to win and are you doing everything possible to win? Some of it’s experience and some of it you can’t control.”

Frampton was 12 when she started participating in USTA events and even then was champing at the bit for success.

“For me, my dad didn’t place a strong emphasis on ranking because the wins would come, he said,” said Frampton. “It was still kind of low pressure, just go out there and play your hardest and see what happens. That mentality of just playing to make myself proud and that’s what keeps driving me.”

Montana is part of the Intermountain District, which includes Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. There aren’t many tournaments in Montana, so Frampton frequently travels to Denver, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City to compete.

The more tournaments a player competes in, the more points they earn and that allows them to advance to higher levels of competition.

“You go there because you have the intention and the ability to win,” Munro said. “And she does well. She’s very competitive but it’s a positive competitive. It doesn’t control her. She wants to win but she plays for the right reasons. For the love of the game.”

As far as peaking goes, Frampton hopes her best performances are ahead of her in college, just like her dad said. And she’ll take his wisdom with her as she prepares for the next step in her career.

“He’s been there from the beginning,” she said. “One of the biggest things for a coach is just their belief in the player and my dad has had the most amount of belief in me, even more than I believe in me.”

Whitefish Christian Academy will hold its inaugural high school graduation ceremony for two students at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Church of the Nazarene, 1125 E. Seventh St., Whitefish.