I quite literally grew up with a racket in my hand. At the age of four, while my family resided in Bangkok, I was fortunate to have a former national champion of Thailand as my first coach. At eight, I was introduced to the more Western approach to tennis (predominantly topspin as opposed to flat and slice) when my father was relocated to Akron, Ohio. I spent three years honing my game there before my father moved the family to Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1988.
In addition to being a very active junior tournament player in Iowa, at the age of 15 I began teaching summer programs for the National Junior Tennis League (NJTL). In 1997, at the age of 19, I took over as program director of the local chapter, in charge of over 150 participants at multiple locations and 8 staff members. By going into local elementary schools and giving demonstrations during gym classes the following spring, I left the program with well over 300 participants and 12 staff members one year later!
In 1998 I spent a summer as a teaching assistant at an active tennis club in Northeast Ohio before graduating with highest honors from the University of Northern Iowa. After taking off 2000-2002 to focus on my Masters degree (University of Georgia), I returned to Northeast Ohio and once again starting teaching tennis at a Recreation Center. After spending one year there, I became a tennis pro at River Oaks Racket Club in 2003 was there until May 2009.
River Oaks is currently one of largest clubs in Ohio with over 50 USTA teams and 1500 members. River Oaks is a unique club, since they encourage and seek out individuals who are entrepreneurial self starters. In addition to the usual tennis professional duties of teaching lessons and clinics, each pro has a commissioned incentive to design and implement their own programs. I created and/or ran socials, ladders, leagues, interclubs, tournaments etc. To give just one example of this environment; I set up a 4.0+ Men’s drill that has over 15 attend every week. I was able to get this level of participation by contacting the head coach of one of the local college teams and convincing him to have the school pay for the team to come practice with some of the club members every week.
Just within the last month, I accepted a Head Tennis Professional position at Providence Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Providence is an extremely active member owned club. I directly assist the Tennis Director in all aspects of running a successful tennis program, both on the court and off the court.
You will find me an enthusiastic tennis advocate happily teaching and interacting with all ages and abilities. I come from a family of tennis players, and my mother, who is 67, is still rated a 4.0 and plays national tournaments. Others would describe my on court personality as enthusiastic, professional, and fun loving. As far as my off court club personality, others would describe me as amiable, focused, and organized.
I can sum it up by saying that I have over 27 years of playing and 16 years of coaching experience along with demonstrated business sense both inside and outside of tennis, and I would greatly look forth to the challenges of working with you to build a successful tennis program. I am also an extremely active player and my enjoyment of the game shows through regular participation in 4.5 and 5.0 leagues and tournaments in the area. Beyond playing competitively at a high level, it is also not unusual to find me filling in as a fourth for doubles with club members or joining in one of the club socials to promote the game.
I would love to talk to your further and I can be reached on my cell phone at 440-376-1629.
References:
Todd Ashdown: Tennis Director: River Oaks Athletic Club 440-409-8980
Shaun Keenan: Head Pro: River Oaks Athletic Club 330-310-1714
