Spring Break
TENNIS: Young coach leads tennis team's revival
by Mike Prada
Editor in Chief
Sports | 5/22/07
Posted online at 8:26 PM EST on 5/21/07
/ Last updated at 12:34 PM EST on 5/21/07
On a page of Jordan Bieber's '07 tennis journal, head coach Ben Lamanna stamped his core philosophy in capital letters. The words are boxed in for emphasis. "The truth about competition is that the worst times often decide the best teams," the motto reads. And indeed, when Lamanna arrived at Brandeis in the summer of 2005, he took the reigns of a tennis program that had been in utter disarray ever since the sudden resignation of former head coach John "Rocky" Jarvis the previous winter. Whether unique motivational tools such as the journals he requires his players to keep will transform Brandeis into a tennis powerhouse remains to be seen. But undoubtedly, his methods have instilled a much-needed sense of accountability among players. And as the men's team graduates five seniors this month, phase one of his rebuilding project is complete.
"The talent was always there, but it wasn't cultivated in the right way," Lamanna said of the players. "I wanted to create a work ethic they haven't had before."
Longtime head coach Jarvis resigned in December 2004, but even before he left, many players on the tennis teams described him as aloof. They said he played favorites, didn't engage the team in off-court conditioning and failed to provide direct, one-on-one coaching. The men's team in particular lacked camaraderie and discipline, a problem that persisted when assistant coach Matt Porter took over on an interim basis for the 2005 spring season.
"[Jarvis] didn't teach us how to play as a team," Cliff Silverman '07 said.
Then Lamanna, a former college tennis star himself, applied for the position of head coach that summer. Lamanna's face lights up when describing his playing career at Bates College, which he called an incredibly powerful experience. A few years later, after stints as an ESPN intern and a private tennis instructor, Lamanna found himself back at Bates as an assistant coach, where he watched his team dismantle the Judges 7-0 in the spring of 2005. He says he was a "longshot" to be hired as the Brandeis head coach after two other applicants turned down the job, but he still got the position that August.
"The talent was always there, but it wasn't cultivated in the right way," Lamanna said of the players. "I wanted to create a work ethic they haven't had before."
Longtime head coach Jarvis resigned in December 2004, but even before he left, many players on the tennis teams described him as aloof. They said he played favorites, didn't engage the team in off-court conditioning and failed to provide direct, one-on-one coaching. The men's team in particular lacked camaraderie and discipline, a problem that persisted when assistant coach Matt Porter took over on an interim basis for the 2005 spring season.
"[Jarvis] didn't teach us how to play as a team," Cliff Silverman '07 said.
Then Lamanna, a former college tennis star himself, applied for the position of head coach that summer. Lamanna's face lights up when describing his playing career at Bates College, which he called an incredibly powerful experience. A few years later, after stints as an ESPN intern and a private tennis instructor, Lamanna found himself back at Bates as an assistant coach, where he watched his team dismantle the Judges 7-0 in the spring of 2005. He says he was a "longshot" to be hired as the Brandeis head coach after two other applicants turned down the job, but he still got the position that August.
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