This Doral Academy star is No. 3 in nation and has already reached the mountain top
This was in Breckenridge, Colorado, at the base of the majestic Rocky Mountains.
Doral Academy sophomore tennis star Valeria Ray was on vacation with family and friends, including teammates Cata and Lauren Kettlewell and their older brother, Ethan.
The plan, as Cata remembers it, was to take a leisurely hike up and along the McCullough Gulch Trail.
But Ray had another idea.
“I said, ‘Whoever is the first one to the top is the best one’,” Ray said. “I try to turn everything into a competition.”
Less than two hours later and to the astonishment of no one, Ray had won the race, navigating a treacherous 6.2 miles — there were no hand rails or even an actual trail once you got past the start — at an elevation of 1,578 feet.
Similarly, a month after that vacation, Ray reached the figurative top of the mountain of junior tennis. Even though she was unseeded, Ray won the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl tournament Dec. 12, beating a pair of top-five players among her six consecutive victories.
“It was overwhelming,” Ray said after winning the title she had long dreamed of in her sixth attempt. “I didn’t accept the fact that I had won until about two weeks later. It’s unreal.”
Known for her hard forehand, darting kick serve and heavy baseline game, Ray is ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 3 in the nation among girls 16-and-under. She has also led Doral Academy to two straight Class 3A state titles and a national championship in 2019.
ORIGIN STORY
Ray’s ascension in the tennis world is shocking, especially considering her background.
Her parents, Maria and Elias, are Venezuelan-born with roots in Syria. They met — and immediately fell in love — at the funeral for his father, but, as it relates to Valeria, they had no history in tennis.
Valeria Ray, born in Miami, probably would not be a tennis champ if not for the fact that she suffered from asthma as a three-year-old. Her doctors, aside from medicine and inhalers, prescribed sports as a way to improve her breathing.
“The doctor said she needed to do two sports,” said Maria, in Spanish. “The first was swimming, and the second one was our choice, which was tennis.”
In swimming, Ray was a natural, learning every stroke with ease. At age four, she was beating eight-year-olds in races.
But when Ray tried tennis, she fell in love with the sport. By age six, she told her parents she wanted to focus only on tennis.
TURNING POINT
Ray, from the age of four, learned tennis at Doral Park Country Club. She had been there six months when her precocious ability caught the keen eyes of coach Manny Garcia, a former national tennis champion in his native Dominican Republic.
Garcia had played college tennis at Farleigh Dickinson. After a back injury, he came to FIU to finish his business degree, and he was just 22 and a new coach when he met Ray.
After watching her hit, he asked the coach of her beginner class if he could take Ray to his more advanced group, and the rest became a winning history.
“When we started working together, not a lot of people believed what I believed in her,” Garcia said in Spanish. “People said I was crazy, but I dedicated myself to her career.
“The first thing I noticed was her discipline. She paid attention. Anything I told her, she believed, and I didn’t have to repeat myself often.
“Physically, she was strong and fast, but I had to teach her coordination with an emphasis on making her a total athlete.”
Ray said Garcia has become like a big brother.
“I admire his fighting spirit and work ethic,” she said. “He’s taught me to be a better person. Achievements can get to a person’s head, but he taught me to be humble.”
By the time Ray was in the fifth grade, Doral Academy coach Justin Puppo — a New York native who grew up playing baseball and tennis — had become aware of her talent.
Puppo, who arrived at Doral in 2010 as an assistant baseball coach, took over the tennis program in 2013. His primary focus was to get the skilled players in the area interested in playing high school tennis in addition to competing in individual tournaments such as the Orange Bowl.
“I talked to Valeria and her parents, and my mindset was to convince them I know what I’m talking about,” Puppo said. “I told them this could be something special.”
Ray, whose dream school is UCLA and will likely play for the Bruins by 2024, said she wants to continue to play for Doral Academy through her senior year.
“The love and support Doral Academy has given me is insane,” said Ray, a 5-5, 133-pounder who wants to study sports journalism. “The four months of the high school season are the four months I enjoy the most.”