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With school now in full swing, players struggle to balance their tennis routines with busy school workloads, clubs, and other activities. But despite the active schedules, many tennis players stepped up their game in the month of September - TennisRecruiting.net and Prince Sports feature some of the best athletes in the Prince Hot 100.

The Prince Hot 100 lists are published each month, and the October Hot 100 Lists feature the one hundred boys and girls who most improved their ranking during the month of September. You can find out more about the Prince Hot 100 - and how the lists are calculated - by reading here.

The very latest lists, published earlier today, are available here:

• Boys' Hot 100
• Girls' Hot 100

Let's check out a few of these players...

Roundup

Caitlin Bernard (Belchertown, Mass.)

For eighth grader Caitlin Bernard, routines and traditions are key factors in the success of her game. Before every match, she mentally prepares herself the same way.

"I hit balls with my dad, then I stretch," Bernard said. "Before I go on court, I close my eyes and visualize myself hitting every stroke."

Mental readiness may serve as the source of the improvement in Bernard's game last month. She started the month off right the first weekend of September, cinching the Glastonbury Championship. She went on to compete in three more tournaments during September, winning two of them and reaching the semifinals of the other.

One of her more impressive wins came against 3-Star freshman Katherine Denucci (South Glastonbury, Conn.) - a dramatic 10-7 tiebreak win in the quarterfinals in Rocky Hill.

In addition to being internally prepared, Bernard cites work with her coach as the reason for her success. She plays with coach Lex Carrington of the Carrington Tennis Academy in Amherst, Mass., who has trained world class players such as Vera Zonareva.

Bernard believes that her closeness to Carrington accounts for the progress of their work together.

"Lex Carrington has given me a great deal of confidence and has always been very supportive with tennis along with other things in my life."

Recently in practice, Bernard and Carrington have been perfecting her volleys, including working Bernard's favorite drill, the six ball drill.

"You get one forehand and one backhand, then you get a approach shot, you come in and take two volleys and finish with an overhead," Bernard said, describing the drill. "I like it because you get to come in and not just hit ground strokes."

Through the work with her coach and her recent success, Bernard has gained a lot of encouragement.

"My biggest motivation is wanting to be the best that I can be."