LYNNFIELD — Our senior surprise.
That’s how Lynnfield girls tennis coach Craig Stone described Brazilian foreign exchange student Bela Ferreira as the Pioneers’ 2018 season wound to a close last week with a 5-0 loss to Manchester-Essex in the finals of the Division 3 North tournament.
Ferreira, a resident of Goiânia, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás, enrolled at Lynnfield High shortly after arriving in the United States in August of 2017 as a part of the Educatius Group study abroad program.
It didn’t take any time before Stone discovered Ferreira was a player.
“She showed up at the meeting and it was only then that I learned she played,” said Stone. “She is an outstanding baseline player, plays great defense and can also force play. She has good foot speed and is a human backboard and really knows to set up points and win matches. A team player, she is personable on and off the court as well. After just the first day of practice I moved her to the varsity practice, and she has been there ever since.”
Ferreira quickly made her way up the challenge ladder eventually landing the starter’s position at third singles.
“We got off to a late start, and I knew that some of the girls had told Coach Stone that I played, but honestly I was just so happy to make varsity,” she said. “In Brazil, we don’t have sports or extracurricular activities, so it was my first experience being on any team. I had taken lessons and played since I was eight, but it was nothing like this. It was so much fun and I definitely feel that my game got so much better because I was practicing and playing every day. I would say the highlight of my time here has been being a part of a team with so many nice girls and such a great coach. It’s just been awesome and I know I will miss it.”
Ferreira was a key contributor for the Pioneers this season in their drive to a fifth straight appearance in the North championship match, despite having graduated six of seven senior starters from last year’s team. She finished the season with an overall dual meet record of 12-6. Ferreira also split two matches in doubles late in the regular season after being moved there to help contain further damage from a flare up of a nagging hip-pointer.
Ferreira will forever be linked with Stone as she secured match point in the Pioneers’ tournament match against Swampscott to hand Stone his 600th career tennis win.
The strength of her game is mental toughness, Ferreira said.
“I think I am very patient and am confident when I play,” she said. “I don’t give up on any point, I just take them one point at a time. I definitely feel that I am a better singles player than doubles because net play is weak, I don’t really volley well.”
An honor roll student, Ferreira played guitar in the school band, which traveled to New Orleans in March.
“It was so much fun to be a part of the band. I have been singing since I was two and playing guitar for 10 years,” she said. “New Orleans was just a great city and there was music everywhere you turned, so we had a great time.”
Ferreira’s host family welcomed her with open arms.
“The Weavers (Bruce, Denise, Maggie and Abbie) have been so wonderful, they were just an awesome host family and made me feel like one of their own,” she said. “I was their fourth student, but the first girl, so I think that was fun for them. There is always so much going on in that family all the time and Maggie really helped me meet so many people. It was a lot of fun going to her basketball games and other sports events at the school, so it is going to be both good to go home and sad to go home because I will miss my second family.”
When Ferreira returns to Brazil next Tuesday, there is one thing she will more than anything else — peanut butter and bagels.
“We don’t really have bagels in Brazil, so yes, I will miss those the most.”
