14 Oct From player to mentor: Janet Glaser’s lasting impact on youth tennis
October is National Coach Appreciation Month and USTA Kansas is highlighting Janet Glaser, Junior Team Tennis coordinator and longtime tennis head coach at Andover Central High School.
Glaser’s work to develop and implement programming that motivates and encourages junior players has earned her several awards, including National Coach of the Year.
She’s also a five-time winner of the USTA Missouri Valley award for Outstanding Contributor Junior Team Tennis Organizer (2014, ‘15, ‘18, ‘19, ‘20).
“Awards pale, though, compared to watching young people overcome obstacles of all kinds to become great human beings,” Glaser said. “Like I tell the kids, everyone is fighting battles of some kind or another. The battles on the tennis courts are the fun ones.”
Early Tennis Roots
Glaser’s passion for tennis began at an early age.
“As young children, my brother and I would play on playground equipment in the park while my parents and some of their friends played tennis on the public courts,” she said. “It seemed like they were having so much fun, and we wanted to play also.”
Her parents noticed her and her brother’s curiosity of tennis and coached them. And just three weeks after that first lesson, they entered their first tournament.
“Mom and Dad were our only coaches for years. The four of us would spend summers traveling from one tournament to another playing in every event we could,” Glaser said. “Back in those days there were only 18 & Under singles, doubles and mixed doubles. But we also entered all of the adult divisions, which were played at the same time.”
All that experience as a junior player led to Glaser playing tennis for Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), with her brother also securing a spot on the Wichita State University men’s team. After college, Glaser kicked off her coaching career.
“I have been involved with coaching high school tennis for more than 40 years. It’s really what lured me into teaching and kept me there,” she said. “I’ve done the JTT USTA Kansas program since 2014, and I have taught summer tennis camps almost every summer since college.”
In those 40 years, Glaser helped develop many young players into confident competitors. Her positive approach to coaching is what she hopes her players take away from their time working with her.
“It is such a privilege to be able to give back to a sport that has given so much to me,” Glaser said. “I want so much for kids to have positive experiences in life, and tennis seems to lend itself to so many life lessons. If we could begin each day as a tennis match with ‘love-all’ and wanting to serve, I think we’d all win.”
The Power of Belief
A favorite memory of Glaser’s is a hard-fought comeback one of her players faced, and how that sophomore dug deep to overcome the odds with a trip to the state championships on the line. That player, who finished third at state as a freshman the year prior, was down 0-7 in a match with a berth to state in the balance.
“She was a technically better player than her opponent but had a case of nerves that was robbing her of all her strokes and confidence,” Glaser said. “Nothing seemed to be working, and I really didn’t know what else to tell her as I approached the fence in what looked like our final conversation of the match.
“Out of nowhere, I found myself smiling and saying to her with excitement, ‘Do you know where you’re at?’ She looked at me like I was crazy and, after a long pause, I tried to muster excitement in my voice, saying, ‘You are at the very point where great comebacks begin. It’s going to be difficult, long and at times scary, but it will be so worth it. Now go write your story.’”
Glaser shared this story had a Disney ending as the player fought off several match points to pull off a 9-7 win and secure a spot at state.
Credit for Coaches
In addition to coaching juniors, Glaser also gave credit to the several great coaches she’s worked with—and coached against—in Kansas.
“Along with working with the kids, the best part of coaching are the absolutely amazing coaches,” she said. “Kansas high school tennis coaches are some of the very best people you’ll meet. They instill character and pride in their players by modeling incredible values on and off the court. They truly care about the well-being of each kid, even those not on their team, far more than win-loss records.”
The work coaches do both on and off the court may go unnoticed at times, but Glaser noted the impact is far-reaching and fulfilling.
“Most people will never know their stories and what they do behind the scenes for kids, but it is heartwarming and pretty much across the board,” Glaser said. “I am humbled and honored to be among them.”
