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South Jordan Journal

Bingham senior captain Kaitlyn Oniki helped her school on, off the tennis court in 2021

Jan 27, 2022 11:59AM ● By Brian Shaw

Though Kaitlyn Oniki’s dream of a state title fell short, her success off the tennis court was significant. (Photo courtesy Mark Smith)

By Brian Shaw | [email protected]

For Bingham senior Kaitlyn Oniki, her dream of winning a state tennis title with doubles partner senior Jacey Robins fell just a bit short this year. On the flip side, Oniki did exactly what she set out to do in August, and that was to help her team win a region title. 

“She played her best tennis of the year with her partner Jacey Robins in the year end tournaments,” said Bingham head coach Mark Smith.  “They were the No. 3 seed going in to the region tournament having lost once to Riverton and twice to Mountain Ridge finishing 7-3 in region play and 10-3 overall. They quickly disposed of both of those teams in the region tournament to take the region championship in first doubles.”

Oniki and her doubles partner won their first match at the 6A state tournament in convincing fashion over a team from Hunter, 6-2, 6-0. 

In the second round, however, a formidable team from Lone Peak gave Oniki and Robins all they could handle at Liberty Park, and the Miner duo lost their first set, 7-5. In the second set of this win-or-go-home match, the partnership dropped that set as well, losing 7-5, 6-3. 

Having qualified as the No. 1 first doubles team out of Region 3, it just wasn’t to be for the captain Oniki or the Miners who also placed Avery Pack and Olivia Dabo—their first and second singles players—as 1-seeds going into the state tournament.  Neither Peck nor Dabo nor Allyson Tanner were able to make it out of the second round, unfortunately, in singles play. 

But in life, as in tennis, it’s those sacrifices you make that ultimately determine your outcome, as pastor Marty Duren once said about being a doubles tennis player. 

“Each member brings strengths to the game. These strengths should be understood in the context of what it takes to win,” said Duren. “When marriage partners act as if the partnership is simply two individuals sharing the same last name, neither will realize the ultimate joy of partnership.”

Oniki never thought once about herself, said Smith. Which is probably the reason she won the respect and admiration of her teammates and held close relationships with all of them, all while staying competitive on the tennis court and leading Bingham to that elusive region title. 

But being a leader on the tennis court is far from the only thing Oniki has done to help her fellow students. The friendships she made with people whose lives she touched outside the tennis court were just as monumental. 

Civics

On top of being the varsity girls tennis captain for the Miners, Oniki has held what many at the school might consider to be an even more important job. 

On a typical school day at lunchtime, Oniki will walk through Bingham’s halls first, then she will saunter into the lunchroom. Her mission: looking for kids who are eating alone that she can befriend. 

“It’s just a really simple way, but a really impactful way, to show and spread kindness all throughout our school because everybody just needs somebody to be a friend to them, even if you don’t know them,” said Oniki in a TV interview on KUTV "Talkin Sports." 

Oniki and others in the student body are upholding a Bingham tradition that has stood since the mid-2010s, when a hall monitor by the name of “Momma Jo” Jolynne Ward noticed that some students were hiding in various parts of the school from plain view. 

Thus began the Golden Gate Club, a group of students that Ward founded that provides social support to new and disenfranchised classmates, of which the senior Oniki is now a member. Its motto is to “be the person who smiles and the reason others smile! We will make others day every day.” 

The club continues to build on the vision that Ward had of a unified student body when she presented the idea to school administrators five years ago. Club members like Oniki will sit down with these kids and after getting to know them for a few minutes, invite them to connect with other kids at designated tables in the lunchroom. 

Academics 

From the lunchroom, where Oniki often shuffles between tables talking to kids from all walks of life, it’s just a short walk down the hallway to her classroom, where in her final year she strives to get one blemish off her academic record. 

“Academics are also important to Kaitlyn as she carries a 3.997 cumulative grade point [going into] her [fourth] year of high school,” Smith said. 

Oniki is so driven in her pursuit of absolute and total excellence, said her head coach, that she is “a bit frustrated by the one A-minus she received last year,” one that snuffed out her quest for a perfect 4.0 grade point average. 

What an amazing accomplishment nevertheless, added Smith, who anticipates the National Honor Society recipient Oniki will also earn the Academic All-State award at the end of her 2021 season. 

Athletics 

In September, Oniki was the recipient of the America First Athlete of the Week award, for which she was honored at half-time of the Bingham-Weber football game. 

Oniki told Adam Mukulich on KUTV "Talkin Sports" on Sunday, Aug. 15 that as captain of the Bingham girls tennis team, her athletic objective in her final year of high school was clear. “My goal is to help my team win region this year,” Oniki said. 

Oniki accomplished that mission, capping a successful four years at Bingham. Though she was never the most talented naturally, the drive and determination she showed was something that Smith will always remember most. 

“She has worked so hard over the last three years and improved so much, pushing herself to be one of the top players on the team,” said Smith.

Takeaways

Sometimes in life, as in tennis, you don’t reach all the goals you set. Case in point: Oniki and Robins did not reach the state semifinals this year and achieve the ultimate goal that the team laid out before the season, a 6A state team championship. 

As for the other goals the team set out to accomplish, all of those boxes were checked. “Our team goal is always to have fun and work hard,” Smith said. “I just want the girls to play to their potential, learn to work hard, feel the rewards of doing so and to enjoy the experience of being on a team together with their peers.” 

And now that they will all head off to colleges following their high school graduation ceremony in May, Smith added that he is constantly amazed by how tight-knit they are, on and off the court, epitomizing the qualities that made them Region 3 champions for the first time in several years. Oniki will head off to Brigham Young University while her other teammates will go their separate ways. 

“I will remember the competitiveness of these 10 graduating girls and how they cheered for each other’s success. They have so many talents,” said Smith. “They work hard and know the importance of their education. Kaitlyn was one of eight seniors that were awarded Academic All-Region and All-State honors. I will remember all that but I will mostly remember how fun they were to be around and just what good people they all are.”