People ask sometimes why I'm still in Connecticut. The answer is simple: I like it here.
I grew up in the area. Left for a few years for college, came back, stayed. The seasons are real — which matters more than you'd think when your life is organized around an outdoor sport. There's something grounding about a sport that goes dormant in winter. It makes the spring feel like a genuine return.
The tennis scene
Connecticut has a surprisingly strong tennis culture. The Pilot Pen tournament ran in New Haven for years and brought legitimate tour players to a city that doesn't usually host that kind of event. Club tennis is active across Fairfield, Hartford, and New Haven counties. The number of public courts in the state is underappreciated.
My students come from all over — Westport, Greenwich, New Haven, up into Farmington. I travel to courts rather than having a fixed home base, which I like. Every court has a slightly different character.
The seasons and the sport
I coach year-round. Indoor courts in winter, outdoor from April through November if the weather cooperates. October in Connecticut is one of my favorite times to be on a court — the light is different, the air is cool enough that you can play without wilting, and the trees are doing their thing.
There's a court I play at near the shore that faces west. Late afternoon in October, the sun is low, the ball is hard to track, and you have to trust your footwork completely. I love that court.
Why it matters where you coach
I think place shapes coaching more than people acknowledge. The rhythms of a place — the weather, the pace, the culture — get into how you work. Connecticut is not a city. It moves differently than New York, where the tennis culture has a different intensity.
My students are, generally, people who have lives outside tennis. They're professionals, parents, people who play because they love the sport and want to get better, not because they're building toward a professional career. That suits me. It suits the pace of this place.
I'm staying.