Teaching Lady Rams tennis more than a game for veteran approaching his last coaching hurrah

August 24, 2023 at 1:40 a.m.

Junior Fatima Coyt and senior Natalie Barreto are captains of this year’s Port Chester High School girls’ tennis team. Both are expected to vie for first and second singles after just two years of playing organized tennis. (Courtesy photo of Manny Martinez)

Nobody is going to expect the level of tennis played by the Lady Rams on the Port Chester High School courts to come anywhere remotely close to the style of professional play on display starting Monday (8/28) at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in Queens. Especially since most of the student-athletes barely knew the basics of the game before they came out for the team. But by the time the season ends, they will have upped their game, understand the nuances of the sport and be in the swing of things. And that's mission accomplished for veteran coach Manny Martinez, 62, and now a step closer to retirement after 34 years teaching five different subjects at the high school.

So a lot was going through his mind as he watched 27 student-athletes trying out for the team at the start of the first official fall season practice Monday (8/21) on the high school courts.

More than a game

His experienced eye saw a lot more than just the different levels of play on display, way more than just the number of tennis balls clearing or not clearing the net at varying speeds and heights.

      

"As I start my sixth tennis coaching season and quite possibly my last, I am very proud of the progress that the Port Chester ladies have achieved in their respective careers," Martinez said. "Most of our girls join our program barely knowing the basics of tennis and by the time they reach their senior year, they're ready to play at a higher level."

So the program is about a lot more than winning or losing.

"The mission of our girls’ tennis program is to provide a unique and engaging environment and encourage our young ladies to participate in competitive tennis activities and enhance their confidence through sports," said Martinez, speaking with the authority that comes from having coached multiple sports at Port Chester and Blind Brook as a local educator who came to America as a child in a family fleeing from Castro's Cuba without knowing how to speak English.

What matters most

So he knows all too well that most of his tennis team started learning the ABCs of the sport late while growing up in an environment where there usually wasn't enough money for lessons, travel teams or pristine white tennis outfits that fit into the country club atmosphere often associated with the traditionally upscale sport.

But what matters most to Martinez is seeing how much his players have achieved in net results measured in their progress on the court.

His captains, junior Fatima Coyt and senior Natalie Barreto, for example, are expected to compete to play first and second singles for the Lady Rams after just two years of playing organized tennis. In addition, and just as important to Martinez, both are honor students and National Honor Society members.

The returning talent

They are expected to lead a dozen returning players—a talented group that includes junior Brooke Federice (who is expected to vie for the third singles spot) and a quartet of special doubles players including juniors Casey Schultz and Juliana Castillo (both coming off outstanding seasons as sprinters on the Track & Field team) and Luciano Giordano and Kim Maldonado, the early leaders in the race for who will be playing first and second doubles.

Other key returnees who figure to be in the doubles sweepstakes include senior Melany Monroy, juniors Alexandra Espinosa, Maldonado and Barbara and Kayley Martinez.

"They have all been with me for the past few years and have all made substantial progress, improved drastically in the time they have been in the program," Martinez said.

Last coaching hurrah

He said practices will continue mornings at the high school and resume after school starts Tuesday, Sept. 5.

So Manny and his Lady Rams won't have much time to get ready for their first away match the following Friday (9/8) at Valhalla or their first home match the Tuesday after (9/12) against Mount Vernon, both at 4:30 p.m.  Whatever happens during the season, win or lose, just playing the game represents a big W.

And for Manny being Manny, this season will be very special because it brings him one step closer to his coaching last hurrah.

"This will be the only team sport that I'll be coaching from here on in until I retire," said Martinez, primarily known as a basketball coach who has also coached soccer and Track and Field and recently stepped down as Rams head varsity basketball coach. So in a way it is fitting that he is winding down his coaching career on a tennis court, albeit a very different kind of netted court from the ones where he made his reputation turning around losing basketball cultures with the Lady Trojans of Blind Brook as well as Port Chester's hoop Rams.