On tennis courts in San Marcos last week, two collegiate women’s tennis teams battled; one from the northeast, the other from Texas.  The match wasn’t between teams in the same conference; it was between teams led by two head coaches of NCAA Division 1 women’s tennis programs with mutual respect for one another and a long, deep Texas connection. There are 264 Division 1 women’s tennis teams in the United States; in 2020 (the latest stats available), only 39 of those teams, less than 20{37ef6ac642fae6f93f343032eb62785d28fa7a25a4a4f0267a12512c541c53a9}, were led by women. In 2023, among D1 female head tennis coaches, the coaching lineage for two of them runs through the Austin Tennis Academy.

Lucie Schmidhauser

Lucie Schmidhauser* and Kendall Brooks cut their teeth in coaching at ATA. “For me personally, it is incredibly gratifying to have been a part of their coaching journey,” said Jack Newman, Austin Tennis Academy Owner/CEO. “Coach Kendall Brooks and Coach Lucie Schmidhauser are two of the most high quality, high character individuals I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I cannot think of two more qualified and gifted coaches to lead young collegiate athletes.” 

Brooks is in her first year at Texas State University, while Schmidhauser is in her 5th year at Brown University. Schmidhauser is beginning to reap the results of what she’s been implementing with her team over the past 4 years. Brooks is just getting started shaping and building her program. Even though the two coaches are in different places with their teams, they each credit ATA, and Jack Newman, for giving them the tools they say they still use every day as D1 college tennis coaches.

Kendall Brooks

“What ATA does, it’s proven. It works,” said Lucie Schmidhauser, Women’s Head Coach/Brown University. “I’ve been basically using the system for the past 5 years. When I first took over, we obviously were not that good. This year, we won – for first the time since 1996 – a big Ivy League tournament that’s held every year in February. And we’re up to being ranked 42 in the country so far this year, and that’s the first time I think since 2014 that Brown Women’s tennis has been ranked. It does take time, but it’s definitely working.”   

“I learned so much both as a person and as a coach at ATA under Jack; how to develop players and actually teach the game better, and to better understand the game,” said Kendall Brooks, Women’s Head Coach/Texas State.  “As a college coach, at certain levels, you are still doing a good amount of developing players. You want players who come to you that you can continue to help improve, to tweak things here and there. For the most part, their game is intact, but you’re still doing a lot of developing.  And I still pride myself on being a coach who can develop players even this late in their game.” 

‘A master’ is the term Schmidhauser uses when referring to Coach Newman’s ability to motivate players to want to be better and to want to be really strong emotionally on court. Brown players are no strangers to this type of work. “We have what’s called the ‘Between Points Routine’ where we work on establishing routines between points, and that’s something that’s non-negotiable for our team,” said Schmidhauser. “You will not see very often any of our players having emotional outbursts on the court or not looking strong with their body language.  That’s very important to our team culture and our competitive spirit.” 

Mental tools, such as emotional control, visualization and scripting, are things Schmidhauser traces back to ATA, and still uses consistently. “Our team does a lot of mindfulness training before every practice. Our players are visualizing. We work on scripts about their games,” said Schmidhauser.  “I learned from both Coach Doug Davis and Jack to write a script about your game, record it in your own voice, and then listen to it before you go on the court so you have complete clarity about how you want to play.” 

Outside of the pro tour, college athletics is considered by many to be the pinnacle of coaching in tennis. Being successful, most often, is about more than what happens on the court. “As a D1 college coach, you’re really running a business,” said Brooks. “I mean you’re deciding who to give scholarships to, deciding who to recruit, developing team culture, and trying to set your program with a good foundation. I learned all those things at ATA.”  In order to begin building that strong foundation, Schmidhauser remembers exactly what her main focus was when she first took over Brown’s program. “My biggest emphasis as a first-year coach was really looking for players who were not only athletically talented, good players, but my premium was definitely on good character.”

Both women point to Coach Newman’s ability to build a strong culture as one of his superpowers, and feel strongly about honing it as part of their own skill set. “The way he established the culture at ATA: very family-oriented, developing citizens of significance,” said Brooks. “I’m constantly trying to not only make my players better on court, but off the court and in the community, and who they are as young women. Giving them opportunities to learn how to be good leaders.” Schmidhauser echoed those sentiments. “I’m happy to report that our team culture is really strong and all of my players are empowered, passionate women of good character. That’s definitely something I’ve taken from ATA , and I will definitely carry that torch forward.”

*Voted Ivy League Coach of the Year 2023