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KELSEY LEACHMAN: A Natural Born Tennis Coach
KELSEY LEACHMAN: A Natural Born Tennis Coach
By Leonard Shapiro
The headline on the 1949 obituary for Kelsey Leachman’s great grandmother, Augusta Bradley Chapman, described her as “a tennis star.” Kelsey’s father, Bradley Chapman Drowne, was an outstanding tennis player and member of the American Platform Tennis Association’s Hall of Fame who once won a national championship.
So no one should be surprised that his daughter became an outstanding tennis player and has been coaching at Wakefield since 2013. She first signed up to handle the middle school’s boys team, then moved up as Wakefield’s varsity boys and girls team coach two years later.
The only surprise is that Kelsey never played high school or college tennis, preferring lacrosse and field hockey. Still, she’d been playing tennis growing up in Haverford, Pennsylvania and is still competing with and against the top players at the Middleburg Tennis Club. She was a member of MTC’s national U.S. Tennis Association 50-and-over championship team in 2011.
Kelsey and her late husband, Bill, and their family joined MTC in the late 1990s and she started playing with the club’s teams at the 3.5 and 4.0 level.
“I was playing a lot, doing clinics and playing on the team sounded exciting,” she said. “Then we won nationals at Indian Wells (California) and it was a great accomplishment. I just kept playing tennis, and it’s been a huge part of my life.”
She had no coaching experience when she first decided to apply for the Wakefield job, but obviously was a quick study, evidenced by her moving up to the boys and girls varsity jobs. The girls season runs from August through November and the boys play from February through May.
She usually has between 10-12 players on each team from grades 9-12, with an occasional talented eighth grader on the varsity as well.
“The best part is that I’m able to share my love of tennis with the kids,” she said. “They’re so respectful, they enjoy the game and we’ve done well. I am so proud to be their coach.”
They play in the Greater Piedmont Athletic Conference, with nearby Highland School always a fierce rival. Most league schools have larger student bodies, but Wakefield has always been competitive, with several high finishes in the standings and many players moving on to state championship competitions.
They practice daily from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Wakefield’s four outdoor courts. In bad weather, they move inside to the school’s squash court facility to pound balls up against the walls. Practices include plenty of drills, with players also facing off in singles and doubles competition.
“During matches, the exciting part for me is that I can coach them when they change sides after odd games,” she said. “I might tell a player to hit more high balls to their opponents backhand, just little tips that might help them as the match goes on. Some of them want it, some don’t, but most are receptive, especially when it’s a close match.
“The best part is that I’m able to share my love of tennis with the kids ... They’re so respectful, they enjoy the game and we’ve done well. I am so proud to be their coach.”
– Kelsey Leachman
“It’s just fun to watch them use the skills and the drills we work on in practice and apply it to the match, and then see them have success. I love what I’m doing, and every season is different. I enjoy working with all of them. They’re fun, they work hard and they get along with each other. It’s so rewarding to share my knowledge and love of tennis with them.”
