Spring Stars: Tanque Verde's Amanda Robinson on the front lines during pandemic shutdown

The Star is profiling Southern Arizona high school athletes whose seasons were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Each high school was asked to nominate an exceptional spring sport athlete who exemplifies greatness on and off the field, court or track.

While most high school seniors were finishing up their classes online and finding ways to stay busy during the coronavirus pandemic, 17-year-old Amanda Robinson was on the front lines.

“I’ve been working a lot,” said Robinson, who serves as a caregiver assistant at Brookdale Senior Living. “They don’t have any visitors coming in right now, so I’ve kind of had to act like their family when their family can’t visit.”

Robinson, a star on Tanque Verde’s tennis team, has been working about 20 hours a week at Brookdale, wearing a mask the entire time and maintaining a critical 6-foot distance from residents and staffers.

“It’s been rewarding,” she said. “My mom, when she was around my age, started doing something like this. And then Brookdale posted something at our school saying they were looking for people to take this role.

Robinson said she knew she’d enjoy it, after hearing all of her mom’s stories.

She’s been too busy to play much tennis. Not that she’s complaining.

“Amanda has fantastic skills and consistency as a tennis player which make her very good,” said her coach, Meredith Taylor. “What makes her great is her cooperation, attitude and support of her teammates. While she has very strong skills, she is also very humble.”

052920-spt-spring stars amanda-02.JPG — Tanque Verde High School senior Amanda Robinson has been working 20 hours a week at Brookdale Senior Living during the past few months. “It’s been rewarding,” she said. “My mom, when she was around my age, started doing something like this.”
Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star

A true team player, Robinson checked with her coach when she was offered the job at Brookdale. She wanted to make sure the new job wouldn’t conflict with tennis.

Robinson plans to pursue a career in the medical profession. In the fall, Robinson will begin training to become a diagnostic medical sonographer at Pima Medical Institute in Phoenix. She learned about the program though a family friend, and said she “thought it would be a pretty interesting and helpful job.”

Robinson wants to continue playing tennis in some capacity while she’s enrolled in the two-year program, but only time will tell. She’s also hoping to catch up with her Palo Verde teammates one last time before she leaves town.

“The thing I missed most in all this is definitely all the relationships that I built with my teammates,” Robinson said. “They became such great friends of mine and I miss getting to see them and practice with them and doing what I expected to do that got cut short, which is really hard.”

Robinson said she cherishes the opportunities provided to her at Tanque Verde, including her time as vice president of the SkillsUSA club, three years of photography classes and the friendships she made on and off the tennis team.

And while she misses hanging out with those friends, she’s been spending extra time with her family and doing her best to stay in shape during quarantine.

“I try to exercise as much as I can,” Robinson said. “I’ve been running a lot and doing early-morning hikes.”

Pre-coronavirus, Robinson’s favorite workout buddies were her dogs at Pima Animal Care Center, where she serves as a volunteer.

But between her schedule at Brookdale and PACC’s move to a split schedule and suspension of many volunteer activities, Robinson has also been sidelined a bit there.

“I always enjoyed just doing off-site adoptions and dog walking, but I wasn’t really able to do any of that during this time,” she said. “So I’m really excited to go back.”

And with all the time Robinson will be spending helping others in the upcoming months, she’s determined to have the best summer ever in Tucson before she departs for the Valley of the Sun.

“I just want to try to experience all the usual teenage stuff before I move on to college,” Robinson said. “Really just getting out there and exploring.”

Now that the state is starting to reopen, she may just get her wish.