By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Bishop LeBlond High School Athletic Director Michael Evans announced the hiring of Jackson Gwinn to lead the Golden Eagles boys' and girls' tennis teams.
Gwinn, a native of Nashville, TN, competed for one year at DIII Wheaton College, earning a scholarship offer to DI Tennessee State University.
He's also a certified tennis professional through both the U.S. Professional Tennis Association and the Professional Tennis Registry.
Gwinn came to St. Joseph to work as a tennis professional at Genesis last August.
Prior to that, he worked at a large, 21-court facility in Nashville and helped run their junior program. At Genesis, he leads the junior and adult programs, and offers private lessons and training.
Evans says that Gwinn’s experience, coupled with Bishop LeBlond’s tennis tradition, should keep the programs on stable footing and provide growth for the future.
“Jackson’s enthusiasm for tennis and his commitment to increase the level and success of our tennis programs is exciting,” Evans said in a release. “With our girls coming off of a 4th place state finish, and our boys with recent postseason success, our programs should not miss a beat.”
Gwinn says he 's committed to attracting more young people to the sport and to developing LeBlond’s student-athletes to reach their full potential.
“I plan to give the players the support and guidance they need to visualize their path to success and to achieve it," Gwinn said.
Bishop LeBlond’s girls tennis program has had eight top-four finishes in state team tennis since 1978, and the boys program has had two-top-four team finishes.
Numerous LeBlond tennis players have played collegiate tennis.