Paine earns coach of the year honors
 |
| Kaufman tennis coach Brenda Paine was recently honored by the Tennis Coaches Association as the coach of the year. |
By Christina Campbell
Published Kaufman Herald:
Thursday, November 12, 2009 7:35 AM CST
She never played high school tennis. Didn't play for a college and didn't get her first coaching job as a tennis coach -- but it hasn't stopped her from taking Kaufman teams year-after-year to state tennis meets or from being voted the Texas Tennis Coaches Association coach of the year.
"My philosophy is simple, just to make it fun for them," Kaufman coach Brenda Paine said. "If they are having fun, they are spending time on the court.
"That doesn't mean they aren't working hard."
Paine played volleyball in high school and enjoyed tennis on the side, but never knew then it would be her future.
"When I was in high school you could either play volleyball or tennis and I loved volleyball," she said. "I played tennis at the park and enjoyed it, but I played volleyball."
When Paine interviewed and was hired for her first job at Keller ISD, she expected to coach volleyball.
"When I interviewed they asked if I coached anything else and I said I would like to help out with tennis," she said. "Well, two weeks prior to school starting the tennis coach left and I was the tennis coach.
"I probably learned as much from those kids as they did from me."
Paine said what she lacked in tennis coaching experience she made up in teaching motivation to her players.
"I coached volleyball and my players did very well," she said. "I was a good motivator."
Since arriving at Kaufman in 2000, Paine has led her teams to 8 district championships, two TTCA regional championships and qualified for seven years for the TTCA state team tennis meet.
In nine years, Paine has also led Kaufman with 21 UIL state qualifiers which finished third several times, second four times and had one state champion.
Last season alone, Paine coached a boys' and girls' doubles teams to the state tournament.
"The boys lost in the first round, but they lost to the eventual state champions," Paine said. "The girls finished third and lost to the eventual state champs, so it shows how strong our program is."
"Welcome to Kaufman ISD. Our motto is 'Emphasizing Excellence'. As KISD employees, we believe that each student can learn and it is our job to provide quality learning experiences that help students become productive members of society. Thank you for your interest in our website and I hope that you find the information you need to help us in our mission to educate the youth in our community."