Aly Inglish had dreams of making it back to the state tennis tournament. The Park City High School junior and partner Mayme Hansen were coming off a 4-3 season where they made it to the state quarterfinals of the second doubles bracket before losing in three sets.
It was Feb. 13, and she and her family were driving to Arizona to visit relatives, and Inglish couldn’t stay awake. She slept for practically the entire trip and then fainted the next morning.
“Sometimes teenagers pass out, but Aly had never fainted in her life, so we knew something was wrong,” said Alexis Smith, Inglish’s mother. “She would just be sitting and her heart rate would be through the roof. And she didn’t feel well, she was sleeping for most of the day, she could barely function. And we’re like, ‘Something’s not right.'”
They met with different doctors trying to figure out what was wrong. Some said it was post-concussion syndrome from hitting her head when she fainted, but that didn’t feel like the right answer because of how long the symptoms were lasting. They flew to Houston to do some tests, and also met a doctor at the University of Utah. Between those two stops, they finally found an answer after three months of searching.
Inglish was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a nervous system disorder that can cause severe fatigue, nausea, brain fog and other debilitating symptoms.
“It’s like mono times a thousand in terms of how tired they are, and she just couldn’t sleep enough,” said Bradley Smith, who is Inglish’s father and an assistant coach for Park City’s girls tennis team. “She had a constant headache, and any time she got up from the couch — with POTS, your heart rate spikes to unreasonable levels. Like, if all you’re doing is walking to the kitchen, her heart rate would go to like 130, 140, 150.
“She’d be sitting in class, and her heart rate would just be racing. She’d be getting dizzy. … With POTS, these kids feel like they’re just in a fog all the time. They can’t remember anything. They just put down their computer and walked to the other room and forgot where they put their computer.”
Just being a normal teenager was out of the question at that point for Inglish. Even hanging out with friends was difficult because she would be in bed by 7 or 8 p.m. every night. The prospect of returning to the tennis court seemed distant.
“Just thinking that I couldn’t play tennis, too, it’s been my goal since the very beginning to go to state, it was just really hard because I didn’t think I was going to make it there,” Inglish said. “I had to step back from hanging out with friends, so I felt really lonely, but I’m really lucky that I have my family to support me and keep me out of the dumps.”
Inglish and her family started working with a physical therapist at the University of Utah. Between a strict physical therapy program and a diet featuring high amounts of salt, few carbs and lots of water, Inglish started to feel better, but still not to the point where it seemed like playing tennis this season was possible.
“We thought that she could basically be the manager,” Bradley Smith said. “We thought that she could help carry a clipboard and help out with the team her junior year because there was just no way. She hadn’t done more than 20 minutes of exercise and cardio, couldn’t lift weights, couldn’t really do anything.”
Finally, Inglish hit her breaking point. It was the week before tryouts, and she was still having issues with dizziness and fatigue. Despite the odds, she was still trying to be back in time to make the team, though it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.
“I thought I wasn’t going to be able to try out, I wasn’t going to be able to play on the team, I was going to miss out,” she said. “I couldn’t even stand for five minutes.”
“She just kind of fell apart because she wanted it so bad, but physically she just felt like she wasn’t there,” Alexis Smith said. “Working so hard to try to get to that point and then not feeling like she had gotten there was really tough.”
But Inglish dedicated herself to her exercises again, and she started feeling better. As she ramped up the intensity, Inglish was capable of doing more and eventually worked her way back on to the court.
“It got better really fast really recently, I feel like,” Inglish said. “There was a little bit where I wasn’t doing my exercises to the intensity they were supposed to be at, but once I pushed myself to get there, it was really hard, but it made a huge difference. And it helped me to be able to run around and be able to stand, to endure that kind of activity.”
She’s still not 100%, but she’s no longer a shell of her former self. Alexis Smith said that she’s in the maintenance phase now.
“It took a lot of discipline, and it was really, really hard for me, but it was so worth it because now playing tennis, I feel like mentally I’m in such a better place,” Inglish said. “It just makes me a lot happier being able to be out there and to function on almost a normal level.”
Which brought her back to her dream of returning to state. Inglish and Hansen teamed up again as Park City’s second doubles team and ripped through the regular season undefeated. It wasn’t always pretty, as the duo gained a reputation on the team for frequently needing a third set to come out on top, but they went to last week’s Region 6 tournament as the top seed.
“Going undefeated in region was cool, but being able to walk and not pass out and go to school and study and function like a normal human, that’s even better,” Bradley Smith said. “I really believe it was tennis that helped her to mentally get over her POTS illness stuff because she just cares so much about the other girls on the team and the sports, and she just wanted to compete.”
A bye in the first round of the tournament meant that Inglish and Hansen only needed one win to secure a spot in the state tournament. On an overcast, blustery afternoon after almost all of the matches for the day had already ended, Inglish and Hansen were still at it, fighting in yet another third set.
Even though just playing tennis was already a victory itself, making it back to the state tournament would be the cherry on top for Inglish. It would make all of the days where she would eat “some weird keto food” while her friends were enjoying a hot slice of pizza, have to go home to sleep when her friends wanted to hang out or having to go to the bathroom all the time because of how much water she had to drink feel even more worth it.
While the rest of her teammates sat outside the court at Brighton High School and watched the match bundled up in jackets and blankets, Inglish and Hansen finally won on match point to clinch a spot at this week’s state tournament, which begins Thursday.
“It makes me really excited, and I’m giving it my all just to get there,” Inglish said. “I’m really lucky for the opportu
nity.”