Cain Mashego

After many years of playing and teaching tennis, Cain Mashego is helping others experience the sport.

“I want to help grow and develop the game of tennis,” says Cain, who has been playing for over 30 years and teaching since 1988.

“It’s a great game and I enjoy playing it,” says this resident of Alabaster, Ala. “It’s my duty to impart my knowledge of the game to other students of the game. Young players can use the game as a stepping stone for college scholarships, or for starting a successful career in tennis.

“I enjoy stepping on the court with a student and being presented the challenge of ‘fixing’ or developing a stroke (groundstroke, volley, serve or overhead), and at the end of the session the student is excited about the lesson and looking forward to using pointers learned in the lesson,” Cain says. “My greatest strength is improving technical fundamentals/court movement of a student.”

This USPTA pro says his future goal is to be involved in a tennis program that promotes the game among all levels of players. On the grassroots level, he aims to “actively introduce new students to the game.” He also plans to “set up programs that will keep intermediate players interested with chances of moving up to higher brackets.” And finally, he plans to “have programs for advanced players (juniors, adults and seniors) that will keep them actively involved.”

Cain has worked at James Lewis Tennis Center in Birmingham, Ala., and Chancellors Racquet and Fitness Club (now Chancellors Family Center) in Houston.

He also worked as a computer programmer for ten years. “As far as using the computer for any administration-related activity in my tennis career, it’s always so much easier,” he says.

Cain earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Texas Southern University in Houston, where he played tennis. He also played junior tennis in South Africa.

Cain is married and has three tennis playing children, an 14-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son, and a 2-year-old son who has just started taking up a racquet. Cain also has a brother who plays tennis in Houston. His father, brothers, sisters and other relatives still live in Johannesburg, South Africa.