The chance to be the next boys tennis head coach at Seymour High School was an opportunity that Brandon Davis couldn’t pass up.
Davis is currently a teacher at Seymour Middle School, where he coached basketball, as well as the girls tennis team. He’s been friends with Sharon Wood, the coach of the high school girls tennis team, for awhile, and Wood asked him if he were interested in coaching the middle school girls.
This was the first year in which Davis filled that role. Once Wood saw what kind of coach he was, she recommended that Davis be the head coach of the boys tennis team at the high school, a role that Wood filled this past season.
“She recommended me to Mr. (Kirk) Manns (athletic director at Seymour),” Davis said. “I wrote my letter of interest for the position. I love coaching tennis. It’s like nothing else.”
Davis grew up in Seymour, and he has played tennis ever since he was in middle school. He went to Indiana State for college, then came back to Seymour to teach. He taught in Brownstown for three years, and this past year was his first year teaching at Seymour Middle School.
The whole Davis crew is basically in Seymour as well. His parents live here, he has a wife and a 1-year-old daughter, and his sister might even move back to Seymour to teach.
“Our love for Seymour is real, and to pass up an opportunity to grow a program that is not super popular right now, I could not pass that up,” Davis said.
One of the things Davis is most excited about is attempting to change the perception of how some view tennis and make it known that it’s a fun sport and program to get behind and root for.
Matches are free to attend, and Davis wants people to come out and support them.
Not only does Davis want his players to be recognized for playing tennis, but he wants them to be known for succeeding in academics and community outreach.
“I want the boys to be proud of the sport that they play,” Davis said. “I want Seymour to be proud of the tennis program, and I want those boys to continue to grow the game and love the game that they’re playing.”
Davis hopes for Seymour to become a pipeline for talented tennis players, much like the girls program is right now. The Seymour girls team is fresh off winning the Hoosier Hills Conference this past Friday, and Davis knows they have some talented eighth graders coming in for next year as well.
That sustainability from middle school to high school is what Davis is seeking to bring.
Davis is still going to coach the middle school girls team since they play in the spring, and the high school boys will play in the fall.
“That way I’ll be focusing on tennis year-round,” Davis said.
Davis is looking forward to meeting the boys team over the summer when the team begins having some open courts and summer games to begin preparation for the fall.
“I’m looking forward to that,” Davis said. “I think it’s going to take some full-time care to get the program where it needs to be.”