Addvantage 2019 February

Page 14

USPTA EASTERN HIGHLIGHT

A decade of teaching experience

at the age of 25 by Tommy Cardinal, USPTA Communications Intern

(Photo courtesy of Rochester Athletic Communications.)

This is the first in a monthly member profile featuring members from across the 17 USPTA divisions. Next month will feature a member from Florida Division.

W

hen he started teaching tennis, it was just for community service hours during summer vacation. He loved the sport, but teaching wasn’t something that came easily for him in the beginning. “To be honest, my first summer doing this was pretty rough when I was 15,” Julian Danko said. “My boss was always on me about talking more and being more communicative with kids. I honestly didn’t step out of my shell until I realized that I was still a kid and interacting with those kids was just being myself.” Julian Danko started teaching group lessons at the age of 15 at Mendon Racquet and Pool Club. He fell in love with tennis the same way many others were attracted to the game: Agassi. “It must have been one of the US Open series tournaments on TV, and I remember seeing Agassi just ripping a few groundstrokes, and I said, ‘that looks pretty cool’,” Danko said. After that, seven-year-old Danko found a “Kapow” racquet and an old tennis ball and started hitting against the garage. His neighbor across the street saw Danko and introduced him to her son who would become Danko’s first tennis teacher, Tennyson Saucedo. 15-year-old Saucedo and Danko would walk to the public tennis courts down the street for lessons. Danko is now Head Pro and Junior

Julian Danko playing for the University of Rochester in 2014. Danko went 9-1 during the fall season in singles for the Yellowjackets.

Program Director at Empire Tennis Academy in Rochester, NY. “I have a finger on the pulse of all of our younger players at any given moment,” Danko said. “I’m on court for pretty much all of our junior lessons so I can really see the progress that our kids are making and I kind of ensure that they’re going down the right pathway.” Danko is pretty young himself, 25 years old, but he’s been teaching for a decade. He’s a part of the USPTA Under 30 Initiative and said he wants to be more involved in the coming years. “Right now with our program we’re halfway into our third year, so we’re still kind of in the building phases and still polishing our structure,” Danko said. “But it is absolutely something I want to get more involved with.” After graduating from the University of Rochester with a bachelor’s degree

54 - USPTA ADDvantage Magazine — February 2019

in Health, Behavior and Society, Danko decided to teach tennis until he figured out what he wanted to do for a career. He’s been teaching since. “I did know that after college, I did want to take some time and teach and do something that really interests me on a more personal level,” Danko said. “I didn’t realize it could be a career path, but just something I wanted to do.” Danko said that when he started teaching during high school, his father would dog him to get certified, but he put it off for a while until he came to Empire. Jason Speirs is the Tennis Director at Empire and is highly involved with the USPTA as first vice president of the USPTA Eastern Division. Speirs explained the advantages of a USPTA certification to Danko when he was hired at Empire. “Just like we ask our kids to get better,


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.