Coach Kathy Twist
Head Coach - Women's Tennis

What did it mean for you to be named the Professional Tennis Registry’s Eastern Coach of the Year?
I was quite surprised by the honor because you are chosen by coaches and other pros in the Eastern section of the PTR, which is a very wide-ranging organization. The voters look over your teaching techniques and the results before sending in their selections. It was quite an honor to be named that by my peers over such a big section.

Another item that the voters look at is the academic success of your team. How do you emphasize that aspect of UB to your athletes?
Academics are a primary focus with my program. When recruiting athletes, I tell them that one of our primary goals is that our team’s grade-point average is above a 3.0. Right now, we are at a team G.P.A. of 3.328. In order to set up our athletes for success, I work very closely with Pat Wilson, the academic advisor for our team.

Can you go into a little more detail as to what the PTR does?
It was started by Dennis Van der Meer in Hilton Head, South Carolina. He does research on tennis skills and strategies, and how to develop the complete tennis player. The PTR is about the concept of developing the whole person, not just about developing an athlete to be on television at the US Open. It’s about developing junior players to be great people and tennis players.

How different is it for a player to play a singles event as opposed to doubles?
Our players play both singles and doubles – so they need to be versatile. The singles concept is almost entirely independent. So, singles players need to have strong character and a great work ethic. The doubles game is a little more strategically based – in singles you can get away with just hitting the ball hard, but in doubles you need to work with another person. Most of the doubles points come at the net, also. They are two totally different styles that require different mindsets.

Your squad finished up the 2002 fall season with an impressive 5-1 mark. How important is having success in the fall to having additional success in the spring?
We always sit down before the season is over and figure out what we need to do to improve. Last spring, the returning members of our team knew that it would take a lot of practice in the off-season. Along with that, we brought in some excellent recruits like Kristen Ortman. We were very fortunate to get her, and her presence alone has added a lot to our team. The success in the fall can certainly serve as a springboard for our upcoming spring schedule.

You mentioned the off-season work in the summer, but what goes on between the two seasons?
After the fall season ends, we play a lot of tennis at the start. Shortly after that however, our forte becomes strength and conditioning. Our strength and conditioning coach, Julia Kaufman, works with the team. When the athletes come back from winter break, we do some very light lifting and get back into more tennis. Now, the team works out six days per week, two hours per day. The strength and conditioning work is two days per week for one hour.

During the practices at this time of year, what goes on?
We begin with a warm-up and then maybe do some work on a specific stroke, like a volley. Then there is always some form of competitive play – just to keep that intense edge. We will also do some footwork drills throughout practice to improve our quickness and speed. I expect our team to be focused for the entire two hours.

How significant are the differences between playing indoors versus outdoors?
I think everyone prefers to play indoors, because you don’t have the effect of the weather, and the ball bounces and carries true. When you are outdoors you have the wind and sun, and sometimes the cold. What we try to tell the athlete though, is that everyone is playing under the same conditions. So whether it is indoors or outdoors, we just adjust and don’t make any excuses.

In early March, your team is heading to Hawaii and has three matches against Hawaiian schools. How did you go about scheduling that trip?
Marie Curran, UB’s softball coach, was taking her team to Hawaii and got a great deal on transportation and the hotel. She showed me the rates and asked if we could afford to go with them. It really works out well – we are going to try to do more of that at UB, as far as scheduling with other teams here. The team is very excited about the trip and it will be educational for us, as well as very competitive.

Talk about the Mid-American Conference as a tennis league.
There are some very good teams – Eastern Michigan, Marshall and Western Michigan are often ranked nationally. There are some excellent players in the conference, and not just from the US. The MAC has some great international talent, too.

-The ‘10 Questions with…’ feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.

02/18/2003