Former Bloomington High School and Illinois State mens tennis coach Barry Nixon, a legend in the sport who was named Illinois High School Tennis Coach of the Year three times in a 30-year prep career, will be joining tennis great Nick Bollettieri for a day of clinics and motivational speaking on Jan. 17 at the Evergreen Raquet Club.
Nixon was a five-year head coach at Illinois State before retiring from the coaching ranks in 1999. The current Venice, Fla., resident helped put Bloomington High School and Illinois State on the map in regards to tennis and won the IHSA state titles as BHS coach in 1989 and 1992 while also pushing the Redbirds into a top contender for a Missouri Valley Conference championship during his career at ISU from 1994-99.
Head womens tennis coach at Illinois State, Chris Hoover, said the addition of Nixon to the days events is extremely exciting and the area teams participating in the clinics will surely benefit.
Barry and I came into ISU at the same time and he quickly became a friend and mentor to me, Hoover said. I really believe it is just as exciting that Nixon is going to be here as Nick (Bollettieri). To have both of these tennis wonders in the same place at the same time is just down right exciting.
Nixon will be working directly alongside Bollettieri during the clinics, which includes an adult workshop from 10-12:30 p.m. and a junior high/high school clinic from 3:30-6 p.m. Both workshops are open to the public and free of charge. Bollettieri will address the audience at 11:30 a.m.
Evergreen Raquet Club provided financial funding for Bollettieris Tennis in a Can instructional program that will be presented and distributed to 24 of the areas (Central Illinois) high school tennis teams that will be in attendance at the days workshop. Coaches of the participating schools will be present to personally receive the material while Nixon will be there also to help present the newest and latest in tennis training and programming to the participants.
As a former coach at ISU and BHS, it is overwhelming to have such another tremendous tennis legend come back to the Bloomington/Normal community, Hoover continued. With Evergreen Raquet Club making it possible to have instructional material available for the teams that are going to be at the workshop along with two very respected scholars of the game of tennis, the day will be amazing.
Area high schools taking part in the afternoon workshop that will be presented with Bollettieris Tennis in a Can instructional material are Bloomington, Normal, Normal West, University, Central Catholic, Champaign Centennial, Champaign Central, Pontiac, Washington and Morton.
