Former men’s tennis star, Donovan McKnight, is the new assistant coach for Maryville University tennis program
ST. LOUIS — There’s a new assistant coach in town for Maryville University tennis.
Former men’s tennis star, Donovan McKnight, has taken up a new post at Maryville University, a position he’s wanted for a long time, one that he’s well prepared for and one he’s enjoying very much so far.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” McKnight said. “I’m definitely enjoying showing up to work with the players every day, which is always a good thing, and I’ve been delegated a lot of tasks by Coach Reinhardt.”
“Dony Nation,” as he’s commonly referred to, says the tasks assigned to him are helping him learn about what it takes to run one’s own tennis program. On the side, he teaches lessons, and he says that he hopes to take a head coach position next year.
“I like being able to work with athletes that are coming together to achieve the goals of the team,” he said. “I think in general with my job as a tennis coach, I’ve always enjoyed working with athletes who are motivated to do well, and it just goes up another level when the level of tennis is this good.”
And so far, the level of tennis has been quite good this season. It has instilled a belief in McKnight that both teams, men and women, have a very strong chance to finish high in their division and advance to the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament.
“I’ve been really impressed by the guys’ ability to compartmentalize everything so far this year and build their form towards the important competitions we’ve had,” McKnight said. “The women’s team has also done really well at answering the call when we’ve needed them to perform well, and both of those things are going to be really important in the conference season.”
McKnight has also been impressed by the work ethic of his teams, but three freshmen have caught the young coach’s eye in particular.
“After our first two tournaments, Juan Suero was leading the men in wins and Viki Lisson was leading the women,” he said. “That’s two freshmen leading our team in wins and getting it done on the court. Between them and Mario Aleksic, our freshmen have been above and beyond in terms of upholding the standards of our program and motivating the rest of the team.”
McKnight doesn’t see much of a difference between coaching and playing. He says he tries to put himself in the players’ shoes as much as he can because of what they have to deal with on a daily basis with emotions and feelings. He says emotions aren’t really a part of the equation when coaching, but understands that as a coach, he needs to help his players channel those emotions. The only real difference, he says, is that as a coach you have to give your players perspective and point out things that they may not catch while they’re on the court competing.
“The first thing is that you’ve got to be all in with doing this,” he said. “For example, instead of relaxing and chilling out on weekends, I’ve spent the last four weekends on the road with the teams at their competitions. I could be sitting at home watching football or whatever, but 100% of the time I’m going to be there for the players so I can help them get better. That’s the whole reason I’m here with the team. The second thing is you have to show the head coach and the players that you have a really strong work ethic and good character. If the team has a bad day, it’s on you to welcome them back to practice and carry the same positive energy all the time. I think if you show the willingness to work hard in your role and do anything you can to better the student-athlete experience for the players, they respect you much more because of that.”
McKnight spent time working at the Newks Tennis Academy in San Antonio and the Forest Lake Academy in St. Louis. He says that what he’s learned there he’s essentially translated into his work as a coach.
“For a player, I could talk for hours about the discipline that’s needed to perform,” he said. “Things like eating well, getting the right amount of sleep or doing mental work to prepare yourself for practice. Those are all sacrifices. As a coach, I haven’t had to worry about the amount of sleep I get before a match because it doesn’t really matter. But I mentioned it earlier, things like being with the team on most weekends instead of relaxing at home or going out partying is a big sacrifice. You also have to be available for your players at all times in case they want to work on something.”
McKnight also talked a little bit about his philosophy on coaching. One of the main things he mentioned was that as a coach, it’s all about your players.
“I think as a coach, literally nothing is about you,” he said. “Obviously, you have to build your skills and capabilities and learn as much as you possibly can, but everything is about how you can improve the players around you and you have to get your personal satisfaction from that.”
Now McKnight can take the lessons he learned as a player and teach them to his players today. And he expects big things going forward.
“I expect us to continue to be relentless in doing things we need in order to maximize our talents and to continue having ambition to improve,” McKnight said. “I expect that we will be a tough out in the GLVC.”
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