HS final ends with bullying claim?

By foxsports
Published

A teen walked off the court after the first set, forfeiting the New Hampshire state girls tennis final Tuesday because of what her family said was abusive fan behavior.

Briana Leonard, a senior at Bishop Guertin High School, walked to her parents' car after dropping the first set in the best-of-three New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association singles championship in Manchester and headed home.

Sunday Swett, of Bow High was declared the champion.

“This is a hostile environment,” Tim Leonard, the player's father, told the Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph. “They are cheering for people to lose rather than win. I don’t want to take anything away from Sunday. She deserves it. She’s an amazing tennis player. This is nothing against her. It’s about the environment created here and hopefully they learn from it."

Leonard said his daughter was subjected to abuse by spectators because the family resides just across the state line. The Leonards live in Westford, Mass., approximately 12 miles south of Bishop Guertin in Nashua.

“We had an unfortunate experience,” NHIAA Executive Director R. Patrick Corbin  told the newspaper. “I’ve never seen something like this at a tennis match.”

Corbin was surprised that spectators may have taken issue with Leonard's residency.

“I’ve never heard that before,” her said. “Most of the kids that go to (Bishop Guertin) are probably from Massachusetts. It makes no difference."

The championship match was already eventful before the abrupt ending. Leonard was penalized a point and loss of serve for being one minute late for the scheduled start of the final. She also was attended to briefly by her coach after bruising her knees in a fall during the first set.

“This is an 18-year-old girl who fell and got hurt and people are cheering," said Kristen Leonard, the player's mother. " They were bullying her. This has been going on for two years. They’ve wanted her out for two years because she’s not a New Hampshire girl. Because we live in Massachusetts.”

Brianna Leonard held a 4-0 career record vs. Swett in high school and USTA events before the forfeit, the paper reported.

“We really didn’t talk during the match,” Swett told the paper. “At one point we were switching sides. I was up 4-3, and as we were passing each other she said, ‘Shut your crowd up.’ At that point I was thinking I have to do it for the fans.”