Swindoll earns 'Ph.D in coaching'
By Andrew Carroll Sports WriterLast Modified: Monday, September 29, 2008 at 10:55 p.m.
TUSCALOOSA When Keith Swindoll was working his way through the University of Alabama, he got invited to Indian Hills Country Club. He decided then that he wanted to teach tennis.
Swindoll, tennis director at IHCC, returned from a recent California trip with a plaque that validated his career choice. He earned the distinction of Master Professional from the United States Professional Tennis Association.
'It's sort of like getting your Ph.D. in coaching,' he said.
Swindoll said Nan Rhodes helped collect the data to support the nomination. Swindoll met one of the criteria by coaching her daughter, Katie Rhodes, to a national junior ranking.
He was one of six to receive plaques during the USPTA World Conference on Tennis at La Quinta Resort and Club. The award is 'for outstanding service to the USPTA and the tennis industry.'
Only about one percent of USPTA's more than 15,000 members have achieved the Master Professional designation, according to a release on the USPTA Web site. To qualify, a member must hold a Professional 1 certification for more than 10 years. Additional requirements include achievements in teaching, coaching, business, education and volunteer work.
Swindoll is the third person from Alabama to earn the honor.
'For me, it ranks right up there with having this job,' Swindoll said.
The late Curt Keeney, former tennis director at IHCC, gave Swindoll his start.
'When I stepped on the clay courts here, I thought, ‘If I ever had a job, this would be it,'' Swindoll said. 'I never wanted to go anywhere else. Everything fell into place after I met Curt.
'Now I'm coaching the kids of kids I coached when I started working here.'
Swindoll started working at IHCC in 1982 and became the tennis director in 1987, when Keeney left for a job in Montgomery.
'Even when I was a little kid I wanted to be a coach because I loved sports,' Swindoll said. 'I remember Curt was always working with the little kids. I was thinking I couldn't do anything like that, but then I started having fun with it. It was like a light bulb went on.'
Swindoll said he wouldn't have a job if not for the IHCC members, but he likes to make his facility available to the public.
IHCC is the site of the annual Pritchett-Moore Men's City Invitational, a seven-day tournament that has been dubbed 'Tuscaloosa's Wimbledon.' Keith's Classic is a tournament for women. The club hosts an annual sanctioned tournament for juniors, and Swindoll and his staff conduct clinics throughout the year.
'I've always felt if it's good for tennis it's good for us,' he said. 'The administration here feels the same way. The facilities we have here now are amazing.'
For six years Swindoll was a volunteer for coach for the Alabama women's team. Earlier in his career, he coached AISA championship teams at Tuscaloosa Academy and at West End Christian. Clint Butler, a former WEC player, is the head professional at IHCC.
Swindoll went to Montgomery this year to watch his son, Stefan, play in the AISA Tournament. Stefan, now a 17-year old senior, won the No. 4 singles title, helping Tuscaloosa Academy claim the team championship.
'It was one of my proudest moments, just watching the
way he handled himself on the court,' said Swindoll, who also has a 5-year-old daughter, Isabella. 'I love my job. I love my life.'
Reach Andrew Carroll at andrew.caroll@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0223.
