Karissa Guzman

Teaching as a PE teacher during the day and coaching tennis girls by noon, Coach Paulette Ojinaga’s hard working spirit helps lead her students to victory through either good grades or winning games.

Educating by day, serving by noon, Head Coach of the Ayala’s Girls Varsity Tennis Team Paulette Ojinaga takes charge from the gym to the courts to lead her team to victory. She educates the youth, the 9th graders, through physical education (PE) during the day, and trains the females of tennis.

In Ojinaga’s high school years, she started playing tennis and loved it. It was something that she really enjoyed even in her spare time, later playing in adult leagues as she got older while going through college. Once entering Ayala, some PE teachers could choose a sport to coach.

“I coached badminton a little bit when I first started here, and then once I was done with badminton, I really [wanted] to go coach tennis because that’s what I really like doing and I think I could be good at it,” Coach Paulette Ojinaga said.

Juggling between being a Physical Education (PE) 9 teacher and Head Coach for the Girls’ Varsity Tennis team at Ayala keeps her occupied. Some PE teachers double as coaches, leading their own teams in the school. Each coach selects their preferred sports, aiming to specialize and stay committed.

“Tennis is the fun part for me because I still love it, so I love training the girls and seeing how they feel about an upcoming match or post-match about a game that we’ve just played,” Ojinaga said.

Now that Ojinaga is at the tail end of her career, she hopes to retire next year, but is uncertain about how it will go. She doesn’t know for sure, but that is her plan. Hopefully, she will be able to follow through with that by next year and then see what life has to offer after that.

Her impact on the Girls Varsity Tennis Team is evident. She gives them a lot of advice and provides numerous pep talks. It’s very motivating, especially when one of them is having a hard day. She tries to find ways to improve all of their skills as a team, both in terms of their playing and their social dynamics.

“I knew her before playing for her because my sister played for her seven years ago,” Tennis Captain Katelyn Chang (12) said. “I thought she was really cool and a really great coach. I was really looking forward to playing for her and having her as my coach.”

Same story with PE. Many of her students feel like her directions are clear and easy to follow, and that she’s willing to help whenever the students don’t understand something or is struggling.

“[When I joined her class], she was really nice. I feel like it’s very easy for a PE teacher to be intimidating, but with her, she was authoritative, but in a welcoming way,” Abril Aguilar (12) said.

Students describe her as determined, generous, essential, creative, funny, authoritative, welcoming, hard working, and friendly. Doubling as a coach and teacher leads to stress; however, her impact on the Girls Varsity Tennis Team is clear through advice, pep talks, and skill improvement efforts. In PE, students appreciate her clear instructions, readiness to assist, and aim to enhance their understanding and abilities.