Girls JV Tennis
Schedule
Meet the Coaches
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Head CoachA native of Staten Island, New York, Steve joined The Frederick Gunn School after a Naval career within the U.S. Submarine Forces. He also worked in industry as a safety engineering consultant at NASA Langley Research Center and as a maintenance consultant for the U.S. Navy. In addition to teaching physics at all levels, he coaches JV girls tennis. In his spare time he enjoys reading, playing piano, biking and sauntering through the beautiful countryside surrounding Gunn. Steve and his wife, Jane, live in Litchfield, Connecticut.
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Assistant CoachTimothy Schatz is a member of the Mathematics Department faculty. an advisor for the Model United Nations co-curricular program, and Assistant Coach for GIrls JV Tennis. Timothy holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Boston College and bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Oregon. Prior to joining Gunn, he was a private tutor and a graduate teaching assistant in psychology at Boston College.
Meet the Players
Team Overview
The FGS Girls' Tennis team consists of about 14 players. We play on eight courts, 4 DecoTurf courts (same surface as the U.S. Open) and 4 Har-tru courts, we are one of the few teams to have both the soft and hard surfaces. The facility is highly regarded and through a wonderful relationship for decades with the Washington Club, we enjoy this special facility.
We play a competitive schedule, including teams such as Hopkins, Berkshire, Millbrook, Ethel Walker, Westover, and Hamden Hall and play in the Suffield tournament in mid-May. The team philosophy is not to just win matches, but to have every girl who participates in the program learn and improve their tennis skills. Some come into the program with very basic tennis skills, and we teach them the sport. The coaching staff emphasize forehands, backhands, serves, volleys, strategy (especially doubles strategy) as well as court etiquette during practice each day.
The end objective is for each of the players to learn a lifelong sport, potentially play in college, but almost certainly be able to play courteously and well at the club level for the rest of their lives. Team play; a willingness to have fun, and a competitive spirit are key traits of an athlete on the team. Each athlete is an important member of our team and plays a vital role in the success of the program.