The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body of college tennis and a coaches association, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. The ITA is committed to serving college tennis and returning the leaders of tomorrow while promoting both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, founded in 1956, is comprised of more than 2,000 men’s and women’s varsity tennis teams representing more than 1,250 institutions, while administering numerous regional and national championships, and the ITA/Tennis Point College Tennis Rankings for 20,000 college varsity student-athletes across five levels of play. The ITA also bolsters an industry leading awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership, and sportsmanship. Keep up with all of the excitement around college tennis by visiting WeAreCollegeTennis.com and following the ITA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Pam Rende has led both the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Division III Arcadia for the past 5 seasons. However, Pam has been coaching for over 20 years in the Philadelphia area and has worked with players of all levels from beginner to grand slam participants. She serves on the board of the USTA Philadelphia Area Tennis District and is working towards her PTR Master of Tennis certification.
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
This is a special release of the ITA College Tennis Coaches Podcast!
Dr. Jim Loehr is a world renowned performance psychologist and author of 16 books. Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement. He is well known in the tennis industry for his work with Grand Slam champions Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. He is the co-founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute which delivers a science-based energy management training solution to a wide array of industry leaders including 25 of the Fortune 100 companies, Olympic Gold Medalists and the Special Forces.
Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:
01:45 - What stories should the coaches be telling their student-athletes in this time of uncertainty?
08:58 - How could college coaches be leaders not only for their teams, but for their athletic departments and communities?
15:45 - How can coaches build resilience in themselves?
19:45 - How should coaches find their purpose and why?
22:28 - How do you encourage coaches to be less concerned about wins/losses and more about their athlete's development?
29:19 - What does the shift in career look like as a coach? How did they shift their attention and focus back to the development of the student-athletes?
35:07 - How would you encourage coaches to increase their skillset in player development?
40:33 - Do you have a story about a student-athlete/player that you worked with that went through personal development?
49:13 - How would you encourage coaches to have players adopt their leadership style and team culture?
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Matt Hill is the head men’s coach at Arizona State University. He began his coaching career as a volunteer at Alabama, moved to the assistant coaching role at Mississippi State before taking over the program at the University of South Florida. There he inherited a team with a losing record, and 4 years later found themselves in the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. After his success at USF he was named the head coach of the newly reinstated men’s program at Arizona State in 2016, and helped his team to an NCAA berth in just their first year of competition.Matt is one of those rare coaches who appear to excel in all areas of running a college tennis program. He not only has a clear vision for his program at ASU but also a vision for college tennis. Matt’s insights and execution of marketing and fundraising are second to none, and I believe every college coach in the country can learn something from this conversation.
Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:
01:45 - What are some of the steps that you took in the first 3 months of your positions that set you up for success?
04:35 - What are some of the qualities that you look for in an assistant coach?
06:10 - How do you think you are able to convince accomplished players to believe in a losing/new program?
10:01 - What lessons did you learn along the way to set you up to have success along the way?
13:09 - How do you believe you're juggling priorities to build a successful program?
17:06 - What are some of the things that you implement to engage the community & bring fans out?
22:04 - Do you believe that coaches in general have lost sight of the bigger picture?
25:01 - Do you believe that charging admission for college tennis matches is possible?
29:37 - How can coaches get ahead of the discussion of budget cuts?
36:09 - How did you identify and build relationships with potential donors?
38:04 - Are there easier asks from donors - are there traditional items that are easier to ask for?
40:53 - What message do you have for coaches about mindset surrounding the build of your program?
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:
01:44 - What attracted you to Tyler Junior College?
04:02 - At what point did you figure out that you might want to be a college tennis coach?
05:41 - What qualities did coaches see in you to make you an offer as a coach?
07:01 - What profound lessons did you learn early on from your coaches?
10:57 - Did you feel a lot of pressure to emulate your coaches success?
12:35 - How do you personally manage the pressure to succeed?
14:25 - What were some of the unexpected surprises that you faced when transitioning through your coaching career?
16:47 - How did you put your own personality & philosophy on your team? How did you make your program, your own?
20:07 - What myths do you think exist in the realm of college coaching ranks about Junior College tennis?
22:15 - What are the similarities between Junior College tennis and other divisions?
24:02 - What are the pros & cons of recruiting Junior College tennis student-athletes? Why should other coaches consider recruiting Junior College tennis student-athletes?
26:01 - What are some of the challenges that you face?
28:42 - Why do you think up and coming coaches should consider coaching at the Junior College level?
31:22 - How would you advise Junior College coaches and coaches at any other levels to maximize their potential?
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Marisa Arce is in her 5th year as a head women’s tennis coach and has nearly completed her first year as the head coach at Depaul University. She started her college coaching career as a volunteer assistant at the University of Oklahoma in 2012 shortly after graduating from the University of Illinois.
In this episode we discuss her decision to start her career as a volunteer, if it was worth it and how she has transitioned from volunteer to assistant coach and on to becoming a head coach. We discuss the challenges of combining college coaching and parenting and how she is navigating her new job, her new-born baby and all the other obligations she is facing at this point in her young coaching career.
Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:
2:14 - When did it dawn on you that your career would be as a college tennis coach?
4:20 - What was the feedback you were getting from the programs that you were applying to?
8:35 - What was different about moving into a full-time assistant role?
17:05 - "Better Allies" by Karen Catlin - 37% of Women's Tennis coaches are women.
18:20 - Do you think that a male athletic director would have hired you knowing that you were nine-months pregnant at the time?
23:23 - How do you deal with the struggle of having a family and being a coach? What adjustments did you have to make?
29:05 - Are there any lessons that you apply today that you learned from any of your coaches along the way that you're applying to your team today?
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Silviu Tanasoiu is the head men's coach at Cornell. He is setting records at Cornell with his team currently ranked #16 in the ITA Rankings. Prior to coming to Cornell he was the assistant men’s coach at the University of Oklahoma.
We discuss Silviu's journey from Romania to the U.S.A., his time on the WTA tour, his approach to learning and networking, why he turned down his dream job and what lessons he is learned to date in his young head coaching career.
This is a must listen episode for all college coaches but especially for young international coaches hoping to make a career as a college tennis coach.
Thursday Feb 20, 2020
Thursday Feb 20, 2020
Brian Boland has over 600 victories while serving as the head coach of Indiana State, Virginia and Baylor. He won four national championships in a five year span while at Virginia. He has coached 13 teams who have gone undefeated in conference play and one perfect season at Virginia, going 30-0 in 2013. He has already made his mark at Baylor winning the Big 12 Tournament Title in 2019.
In this conversation we discuss Brian’s early days as a coach at Indiana State, his development as a college coach and his ability to focus. Despite Brian’s obvious passion for college coaching and a never ending resume of incredible accolades, he still has his struggles, doubts and frustrations, just like the rest of us.
Thursday Feb 06, 2020
Thursday Feb 06, 2020
Amy Bryant is the first female in NCAA history to win the national team championship as both a coach and a player. She has been the head coach of the Emory Women's Tennis team since 2000 and has garnered a number of impressive achievements along the way. However, what many of you probably don't know about Amy is that she has spearheaded an Integrity Initiative which has permeated throughout the Emory athletic department.
She is joined on the podcast by Audrey Hester, Assistant AD for Student-Athlete Success & Compliance, to explain how and why they started this program, how it has developed over the last few years, and provide suggestions as to how college tennis coaches can work to infuse their own teams and athletic departments with a culture of integrity.
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Kevin’s head coaching career began at Fresno State in 2000. He then moved out east to William & Mary and after five highly successful seasons he decided to take a break from college tennis to coach on the WTA tour and open a bakery in Colorado! He made his return to the college game in 2012 when he was named the head women’s coach at the University of South Carolina. Under his guidance the team’s results have improved every year and have broken numerous program records along the way. He was named the ITA NCAA Division 1 Women’s Head Coach of the Year in 2019.
In this podcast we discuss some of the lessons he learned from Billie Jean King and several of the top female tennis players of all time, plus how the college tennis game has evolved and his approach to learning and coaching.
Thursday Jan 09, 2020
Thursday Jan 09, 2020
Sheila McInerney kicks off her 36th season as the head women’s tennis coach at Arizona State University. In that time her teams have made 32 consecutive NCAA tournaments & 18 Round of 16 appearances. She was a 4 time All-American at USC & competed in Wimbledon, the French Open & the US Open. In this conversation Sheila reflects upon her time as a coach, how she stays connected with her players & the ever changing recruiting landscape.