Rossana Woo
With the death of legendary tennis coach Paul Xanthos in June 2006, the Pierce College tennis coaches have some big shoes to fill.
Xanthos, who died at age 85, worked as head coach of the men’s tennis team for 30 years. He brought Pierce a 550-94 win/loss record and 23 conference championships.
Xanthos will be remembered for his organized and meticulous way of teaching as well as his competitive attitude and drive to win.
“We’ve all kind of remembered what he brought to the table and we try to do some of those same things that he’s done in the past,” assistant tennis coach Allen Dunn said.
Current head coach Rajeev Datt remembers Xanthos’ determination to win. Datt, an alumnus of Pierce, had the opportunity to play for Xanthos. Last year, while Datt worked as head coach, Xanthos was brought in as an associate to help with the season.
“Paul was geared to winning… that was his goal; he wanted to win. If it took three hours extra with each kid after practice, he’d do it,” Datt said.
The values Xanthos learned during the time he spent in the military were things he translated on the court in the form of structured lessons, routines and training in basic tennis skills.
“He was a very intense man but he had the ability to become calm and, during the stress or the emotions of a match, kind of be a calming influence on the players,” Dunn said.
While most of the players currently on the team did not get a chance to work with Xanthos, second-year student Marvin Banks did.
“He was amazing. The way he saw things was, like, you couldn’t buy it,” Banks said. “He [was] very ritualistic; you could do certain things at certain times and you do it consistently, and when you do that, obviously good things come from it.”
With Xanthos gone, it has been up to Datt and Dunn to advance through the season for the past half a year.
Victory does not necessarily mean winning the championship. Datt maintains that his goal for his players is individual growth. “I want to see improvement in all these guys. Improvement just means an execution; it won’t necessarily translate in win/lose. If I see personal development in these guys… I’ll be happy with what’s going on,” he said.
Among the team’s strengths is the chemistry and depth they share, according to Dunn.
“If [a team] is tough all the way down the line, they can have a lot of success,” Dunn said. First-year student Mark Lewin agrees with Dunn. “We’re actually really a team more than anything. We have a very close friendship,” he said.
It is hard to know what kind of opponents this team will face this season. This is in part due to the fact that current matches are played at a community college level. “With a two-year school you never know what kind of team the other schools are going to be able to come up with,” Datt said.
From left to right (Ava Weintraub)
Rodrik Gharasseminan handles an overhead smash against 2006 Pacific Coast Conference winners Grossmont College in a non-conference match-up. (Ava Weintraub)