James Gummel never has a lot of spare time on his hands.
The Ewing High School senior filled his final year with arts and athletics, capped by a historically successful boys tennis season as part of a solid group of veteran players.
“I was incredibly happy with how it went,” said Gummel. “This is the best season Ewing has pretty much ever had for tennis.”
He said it felt amazing to be part of the team’s journey and to help build toward its success over four years, noting that from his freshman to senior year, the team steadily improved, earned more wins, and continued to grow.
The year began with him directing Haunted Halls, an EHS event in October in which the drama club converts the school into a spooky set-up. This year’s theme was a rundown Southern town.
He’s always enjoyed the club’s acting opportunities. It was rewarding for the school’s International Thespian Society president to be a huge part of directing the Haunted Halls the last two years after no teacher could be found to lead it.
“It was a lot, but every second was worth it because it was something I loved doing and it never felt like a burden,” Gummel said. “And it was just always enjoyable getting to work with everyone and see their strengths in acting and help guide them to be the best they could be.”
Gummel also found a little time for some races in his fourth season of cross country. After a role as the narrator in “Into the Woods” in the winter – his first time doing the musical – Gummel capped his year with his last season on the tennis team in the spring. He’s also a talented artist and writes his own songs for guitar.
“There’s definitely an overlap at some points that causes a lot of stress when things collide with each other, but in the end, these are all just things that I love doing, and I can always find the time for them if it’s something I just love,” Gummel said.
“To have an enjoyable life and just keep living my life doing the things that I love, I don’t even get stressed out just because no matter which one I choose, if there is an overlap, I know I’m going to have fun either way doing it,” he said.
Gummel had a great time on the tennis courts. He played mostly third singles as the Blue Devils put together a 6-7 mark, just one win shy of having a record over .500. Gummel posted a 6-4 record at third singles and also went 2-2 at second singles while providing a senior voice to the younger players.
“I think a lot of the tennis guys do always a tremendous job of setting that lead-by-example type of mentality,” said Ewing coach Pat Burley. It’s not necessarily over the top, in your face every single moment type. It’s not that kind of leadership. It’s much more poised. It’s looking after some of the younger players, checking in on them, like even there were a couple of moments where some of the younger players I know were struggling with their homework and things like that. And I know that James and Christian Ciron checked in on them and tried to help them out with their work and make sure that their grades were OK.”
Ewing reached the postseason this year. They earned a berth in the first round of the Central Jersey Group 2 state tournament, where they lost to Point Pleasant Boro. Sidney Langevine picked up a win at second singles in that match.
The sophomore is one of the players that will return next year along with first singles Arav Barman, who took on the best that every team had to offer each match.
“Sidney played primarily at 2 this year, and I think as a sophomore that also helped,” Burley said. “I don’t think we’ve had in a long time a freshman play singles. It’s been a long, long time since that’s been the case, so him playing at third last year allowed him the opportunity to kind of get the experience without necessarily having to face the 100 percent elite of the county.”
The doubles tandems were solid as well. Ciron, the other main senior in the Ewing lineup, and Johan Ampongan were the regular first doubles and Amine Abtouche and Abraham Rosales were at second doubles.
“Christian and Johan Ampongan played together last year and they got a chance to play together this year and they’re cousins too so that kind of helped out a lot with building their teamwork together,” Burley said. “And Amine and Abe played together last year as doubles, alternates and so they were at the top of essentially the JV ladder. They played together a lot together and so that was a huge factor when they got a chance to play at second doubles this year.”
Together, the team created one of the most memorable seasons on record. Three seasons earlier, Gummel joined the tennis team as a freshman because a friend was going out for it. He ran cross country through middle school so continuing in high school was a smooth transition, but he had little formal tennis experience. The Blue Devils did not win a match in Gummel’s freshman year. They were nine games under .500 in his sophomore year and six games under .500 last year, but there was hope for this spring.
“I absolutely thought this was going to be the best season,” said Gummel. “Over the offseason, just considering what the lineup would be, I knew the varsity top seven was going to be great with whoever it was in whatever order just because we had so much talent, so many people that were so dedicated compared to the previous years and people who just wanted to play on varsity.”
Gummel had experience at the top of the lineup taking on every team’s best player at first singles in previous years. But his other commitments left less time for practicing tennis and hitting and he ended up at third singles this year.
“Playing at third singles was definitely different, but I loved it because I got to play people who weren’t like the best in their high school and people who were more on my skill level,” Gummel said. “And it was great. It was like pretty much every match I had, even against the best teams in Mercer County, it felt very competitive the whole time. And that’s one of the best parts of tennis is just playing a game that you know you can win the whole time.
“And my mindset definitely improved from the last years. I was doing so much better mentally during the games this year than I had been in the past. And I think that’s a big part of just growing in tennis, is getting past that barrier.”
Gummel is exiting on a high note having seen plenty of success through his high school involvements. He’ll study film and television at NYU, but he also is interested in continuing running and playing tennis at some level. He’s used to staying busy, and he’s ready for more.
“I hope there’s a lot of opportunities to do these other creative things that I love doing.”
James Gummel.,
