College Tennis Teams - West Virginia State University - Team Staff

(INSTITUTE, WV) – Athletic Director Bob Parker announced today that veteran area teaching professional John Simms has been named the new men's and women's tennis coach at West Virginia State College. He replaces Sean McAndrews who coached both teams the last six years.

Since beginning his coaching career while still playing collegiatelly at the University of Charleston, Simms has mentored seven United States Tennis Association national level junior players along with numerous sectionally ranked players and a state champion adult team. He has also coached two state high school champions at the top singles position as well as several state junior champions in various age groups over the past decade.

In the early 1990's Simms was one of the co-founders of the USTA/WV Area Training Center for advanced junior players and has been named a National Zone Team coach for the six-state Midwest Section for the past nine years. He has been certified by both the United States Professional Tennis Association and the Professional Tennis Registry and currently runs the Simms Tennis Academy based out of the Tennis Indoor Center in Charleston. "I am looking forward to taking on the challenge of coaching at the college level," Simms said. "With the support of former coach Sean McAndrews and the administration, I believe the tennis programs at West Virginia State can become highly competitive in the West Virginia Conference and NCAA Division II in the next few years." He will begin work immediately towards those goals. "There is plenty of talent in the area to build a strong nucleus," Simms said. "And hopefully I can attract some strong players from outside the Kanawha Valley to the program through my coaching record and connections in junior tennis in the region."

Upgrading the Yellow Jackets' schedule, increasing practice and workout times, and several other small changes all figure into his plans for the future. "The goal will not be to simply show up but to be competitive in and eventually win the conference," Simms said. "But the main goal will to be to bring in players and build a program both of which the institution can be proud." Simms is also a part-time sportswriter for the Charleston Daily Mail.

For more information on WVIAC Athletics, check out www.wviac.org. For information on WVSC Athletics, check out http://www.wvsc.edu

WVSC

B30B