A Division II State Tennis champion. MSL Girls Tennis Player of the Year. First Team Honors for the MSL division. Named Athlete of the Week by the Columbus Dispatch. Honored by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners and the Ohio State Senate.

And she’s only 15! A freshman!

Amiya Bowles only fairly recently got serious about tennis when COVID shut down her other sports. She also loves to run track, swim and play basketball. She started playing tennis at age 4, she says, “hitting a ball against my garage wall. Eventually that progressed into me practicing on a tennis court then as time went on, my parents started to enter me in tennis tournaments.”

Now, her father coaches her, they train six days of the week and she participates in national and international tournaments. What Amiya loves about tennis is “how disciplined the game makes you as well as the excitement it brings. No style is cookie cutter, you can be yourself and express yourself in different ways. Something tennis has taught me is the way of life. How things will become difficult and you have to work hard to overcome the adversity.”

“One of my favorite moments during the season,” Amiya recalls, “was when I was playing my states matches and everyone was out supporting and cheering for me. Everyone's support really helped me get through matches throughout the whole season.”

Amiya went on to win those states matches – the first time Bexley had won the girls states singles title since 1982.

Now, she has her sights set on winning another individual state title, and she would like to help lead the team to a state title.

“I want to thank my family for always believing in my ability and for helping me through hard times,” Amiya says. “I also wanted to thank my teammates and coaches for helping me feel loved and feel like everyone had my back. Then finally I would want to thank my school and the whole city of Bexley for their support and love throughout the whole season.”