Roberto Aspillaga
Roberto Aspillaga begins his first season with the University of Colorado women's tennis program as the Associate Head Coach.
Aspillaga (pronounced ahs-P-a-ga) comes to Boulder after serving the last two years as an assistant coach (2010-2012) at Purdue University.
"I am really excited to work with Coach Kenneally and to be part of Colorado Athletics," Aspillaga said. "I believe Boulder is one of the premier locations in collegiate sports and there is no doubt we will take the program to new heights. I'm also very impressed on how supportive and involved the community is, and I can't wait to get started."
At Purdue, Aspillaga helped the Boilermakers have a season to remember this past spring, earning their first Big Ten Tournament Championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. At the conference tournament, Purdue performed its best three match stretch in school history defeating a trio of nationally ranked top-20 teams en route to the championship (No. 17 Nebraska; No. 11 and 13-time defending champion Northwestern; No. 15 Michigan).
Prior to the conference tournament the Boilermakers had never defeated a top-20 opponent. They finished the season with a school record 18 wins (7 losses) and their highest national ranking in program history at No. 22.
"Roberto is definitely one of the best young college coaches in the country right now and I believe he will bring a lot to the program," Kenneally said. "The Purdue program has had a lot of success over the last two years which Roberto was an integral part and that experience will benefit our program. I am looking forward to working together as we get ready for a strong 2012-13 campaign."
Last fall, Aspillaga also helped Purdue bring in its highest nationally ranked recruiting class (No. 8) in history. For his efforts, Aspillaga was named 2012 Wilson/ITA Assistant Coach of the Year this past spring. Ironically, Purdue head coach Laura Glitz and freshman Lynda Xepoleas were named Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively.
In two seasons with the Boilermakers, Aspillaga helped Purdue to 31 overall wins and 13 regular season victories.
Aspillaga has also produced a number of recognized instructional tennis videos focusing on player development (specific workouts, instruction, technique, and similar tennis skill), which has been released on his public YouTube channel. His videos have received hundreds of thousands of total views.
His work has been used to help teach tennis across the country and has been used on multiple tennis websites including the tennis coach network.com and Workoutmatrix.com. Aspillaga also has received an offer from "Championship Productions" to produce a series of coaching DVDs. The company has produced DVDs from the nation's best coaches including three-time national champion coach Peter Smith of USC among other nationally acclaimed coaches.
Aspillaga will be the first assistant or associate head coach to ever produce a line of DVDs for the prestigious company. He plans to shoot these DVDs this summer at CU.
Aspillaga has also spent the last four summers as a staff professional at the Top Gun Academy in Louisville, Ky., coaching junior players (ages 8 to 18) helping them prepare for local tournaments, but also assisted with strength and conditioning for other high-performance groups.
A native of Santiago, Chile, Aspillaga graduated from Georgetown College (Ky.) in 2009 with a bachelor of science degree in sports administration. At Georgetown, he climbed as high as 33rd in the NAIA singles rankings and was an All-Mid South player in 2008. He also played soccer for the Tigers during his time on campus.
Aspillaga is no stranger to tennis excellence, as his father, Eduardo, was a Federation Cup captain and Davis Cup conditioning coach for Chile. The elder Aspillaga also was a speaker for the International Tennis Federation.
Aspillaga is a certified professional by the United States Professional Tennis Registry. His wife, Mo, also graduated from Georgetown.
