The History of ATA
The History of Austin Tennis Academy
From its inception, Austin Tennis Academy has been built around excellence. The driving force behind ATA is a man named Jack Newman; Coach Newman pulled together people who shared his passion about tennis, as well as the necessary resources to create a tennis academy like no other. His plan started with making the tennis program excellent; hiring the best coaches that could be hired and building the best facility. Then ATA added its own private, fully-accredited school which is also now known for excellence in education. Coach Newman says ATA’s number one focus is changing the trajectory of kids’ lives, and his goal is to impact ATA’s junior players in a way that makes them end up being someone better than they would have been otherwise.
Like most successful business, there’s a story which began long before what people see currently, and ATA is no different. Along with values instilled by his parents, there were two stops in Coach Newman’s coaching career where he cultivated many of the ideas and practices he ultimately put into place as solid foundations in the creation and develoment of ATA; Fretz Tennis Center (1982-1996) in Dallas, Texas, and St. Stephen’s Tennis Academy (1996-2002) in Austin, Texas. Coach Newman was lured to St. Stephen’s by the man who founded that tennis academy, Eric Schmidhauser. Coach Newman then, in turn, helped entice a coach who was making a big mark out in West Texas to come join them at St. Stephen’s. Coach Doug Davis made the move to Austin, bringing with him his wife and three sons who played junior tennis at a national/international level.
In 2002, Coach Newman, Eric Schmidhauser, and Coach Davis left St. Stephen’s to found Austin Tennis Academy. Groundbreaking for the ATA facility took place in March 2003. Construction was completed in mid-October of that same year; until it was completed, though, ATA’s physical programs operated on rented court space at an Austin-area country club. The first building phase included the construction of 10 hard-courts and a Pro Shop which was located in what is the current CP building. The second building phase came two to three years later with the addition of two more hard courts, bringing the total to 12 hard surface courts, and a 3200 square-foot state of the art Fitness Center and a new home for the Pro Shop. The building which originally housed the Pro Shop then became the home to ATA’s private, fully-accredited school ~ ATA Colllege Prep. The third building phase happened in 2013 with the addition of two, Italian red clay courts.
Giving Back
Austin Tennis Academy strives to develop what Coach Newman calls ‘citizens of significance, not just accomplishment’, and Coach Newman sees giving back to your community as part of who you are and what you do as a citizen of significance. He wants ATA students to be highly accomplished, to be as good as they can possibly be, and for them to do it in the right way and be the right sort of people. To help ensure that outcome, Coach Newman has spent years breeding the concept and action of giving back into the DNA of the culture at ATA.
At the founding of ATA, Coach Newman made a commitment to raise $1M dollars over the life of his business for a local charity called A Glimmer of Hope, which does projects in Austin, as well as Ethiopia. ATA players, parents, and coaches have raised funds to drill numerous water wells, and build educational and medial facilities in the dry Tigray region of Ethiopia. On three different occassions, members of the ATA community, including students, have traveld to Ethiopia to participate in the opening of schools, water wells, and other projects. Coach Newman calls those trips a life-changing experience… when you can see with your own eyes that life is totally different for many people than it is for you. He also believes ATA students feel a lot of pride in their involvement to raise money and positively impact lives. To date, the ATA community has raised more than $650,000 of the $1 million pledge.
If you would like to make a donation to A Glimmer of Hope click here.
Changing Lives
Another way Austin Tennis Academy has been giving back to the community since the very beginning of its creation ~its annual fundraising event called the Shootout for the Austin Athletics Scholarship Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity which helps deserving student-athletes pursing a discipline lifestyle to reach their highlest level of accomplishment. After nearly a quarter of a century of holding the Shootout, ATA has raised more than $2.2 million dollars that have been awarded in scholarships to dozens and dozens of junior players who have a philanthropic spirit and commit themselves to giving back and making a positive impact in the world.
For more information about AASF and how you can make a donation click here.