Coach Reasons instructs young students at her tennis clinic for players of all ages and skill levels
Tennis is an individual sport.
Susan Reasons has made it a community sport.
In July 2001 Reasons started a weekly tennis clinic with the goal of providing a place for people of all ages to develop tennis skills. Reasons had found her own game on the same courts.
Once a Jaguar, Reasons said, she always knew she would return.
“When I was a player on this team I knew I wanted to one day come back and give the experiences this program gave to me,” she said.
Reasons was a standout player at SWC, the MVP both years she competed. (In 2011she was inducted into the SWC Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach.) She accepted a full tennis scholarship at the University of East Texas. All packed and ready to go, she said she changed her mind at the last minute.
“I didn’t want to leave San Diego,” she said. “I’ve always been in this kind of climate, so when it came down to getting ready to leave, I ultimately couldn’t do it.”
Instead she attended San Diego State University. After graduating with a degree in kinesiology, she began working in the community, running day camps and summer camps for kids.
In 2000 Reasons became SWC’s women’s tennis coach and transformed it into a powerhouse that produced university scholarship champions like Katalina Romero, who won the national community college championship.
There was also Viridiana Martino, who thrived as a tennis player and a student, winning California Female Scholar Athlete of the Year 2006 and an engineering scholarship to USC. Today Martino is a construction engineer on the new Tijuana border pedestrian crossing.
SWC qualified for the regional championships in singles and doubles every year Reasons was the coach. Even so, the SWC women’s tennis program was shut down in 2009 due to budget cuts. Reasons said she was blindsided by the news.
“I just couldn’t believe it, because it was one of the most successful programs and cheapest programs to run at the college and I always had girls interested in playing,” she said. “I worked so hard to make everything successful, so I was devastated when the program was cut.”
Reasons turned her effort to the community program and she has many students who said they are thankful she did. Maya Chu, a freshman at Francis Parker School who attends the class with her sister, said she attributes their growth to Reasons.
“Two years ago we started with Coach and we weren’t very good,” she said. “Now our technique and skills have improved. We can actually play with people now.”
Her sister, Sonali Chu, agreed.
“During class I get to play against other people which has helped improve my skills, especially for high school tennis,” she said.
Reasons said she takes an old school approach. She gets to know the kids and their parents. She said there is always an open line of communication.
“If they need advice on raquets or equipment then they are calling me from the store on a Saturday morning,” Reasons said. “The parents even invite me to dinners, birthday parties and graduations.”
Valerie Yamashitafuji, a junior at Olympian High School, has had Reasons as a coach since she started playing tennis eight years ago. She started with the weekly clinics and now has private lessons once a week as well.
Yamashitafuji said she hears the advice of Reasons anytime she plays.
“Whenever I’m in a game I think to myself, ‘If coach was here what would she tell me?’”
Reasons said she invites anyone and everyone to give tennis a chance.
“The USTA ranks people all the way up to 95, so it doesn’t matter how old you are or how experienced you are, there is a place for you with tennis.”
