Tennis coach Christi Hays adds Quaker Valley hall of fame to remarkable resume

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 27, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Christi Hays is not a Hall of Fame newcomer.

Following a successful athletic career at Sewickley Academy, Hays was a standout athlete at Hollins University and was inducted into the Hollins College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

Upon her graduation, Hays returned to the Sewickley area and began what can only be described as a hall-of-fame career on several fronts.

She currently is in charge of the Quaker Valley girls and boys tennis programs.

Hays was set to be inducted into the QV Sports Hall of Fame this past weekend — Oct. 25-27 — along with four former QV athletes and two teams.

Joining Hays, 72, the 2024 QV HOF class consists of 1992 graduate Dr. Rick Ruperto (football, basketball, track), 1982 graduate Bobby Farrington (basketball, track), 2013 graduate Spencer Caravaggio (tennis), 1985 graduate Willie Jordan (football, basketball), the 1968 football team and the 2002 girls track and field team.

Briefly, Hays’ tennis background is as follows.

In 2007, she won the national championship at the American Platform Tennis Association Nationals, finishing that year alongside Chris Ford as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in their age group.

Hays was awarded with the first WPPTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 from the West Penn Paddle Tennis Association.

Following a brief stint in California where she was employed at Lagunitas Country Club, Hays returned to Sewickley to continue her distinguished career and become the foundation for racket sports in the area.

Her list of accomplishments as a player and a coach are long and span generations in the area.

• She founded the Sewickley Area Junior Tennis team and Quaker Valley Middle School Tennis Club.

• She was named paddle facilitator/head teaching pro at the Sewickley Area YMCA in 2012 where she continues in that role today and also serves on the YMCA’s pickleball staff.

• She has been conducting the Sewickley Area Junior Tennis team program in the summer months, which just completed its 16th year.

• She teaches private and small group lessons and junior age group clinics at Quaker Valley.

• She became head coach of the QV girls tennis team in 2013 and the boys tennis team in 2018.

Prior to the 2024 PIAA tennis tournament, Hays compiled an overall record of 197-70, won six section titles, advanced to the WPIAL team finals five times and won the WPIAL team championship in 2021 and 2022.

Hays was lauded as USTA Middle States High School Coach of the Year in 2021.

The following is a Q&A session with QV’s tennis coach:

What are your thoughts on being selected for the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame?

In order to adequately express my thoughts about being selected (which really is impossible), I had to pull out my trusty thesaurus because words failed me. Words like amazed, surprised, humbled, excited, thrilled, grateful, shocked. And what an absolute honor to even be considered much less being selected this year along with one of my brightest pupils (Caravaggio).

Do you recall your reaction when you first found out you were selected for the Hall of Fame?

Yes. Our AD Mike Mastroianni pulled me aside after a short meeting in his office and told me he had something to share with me but that I had to keep it quiet until it was made public. He told me I had been unanimously chosen for this year’s HOF class.

Being the good Irish lass that I am, I burst into tears right there in the hall. Luckily, nobody walked by right then because they would have thought it was bad news — it was just the opposite. I was completely surprised because I thought it might be a few more years before I would even be eligible to be considered. So, the news came completely out of the blue, and I am still floating.

But if I am being honest, I didn’t keep the news quiet for too long.

What are some of your fondest memories of your coaching career so far at QV?

Every year and every team has its own personality, challenges, successes and disappointments. But if I had to pick out a girls season that will always stick with me, it would have to be the 2020 covid season. The 2020 boys season sadly had been cancelled after our first match — with probably the strongest boys squad I’ve had at QV. We were devastated, and I had sweatshirts with a map of Pennsylvania on it made for the boys noting that we had “all the pieces to go all the way.”

I also lost a summer of my Sewickley Area Junior Tennis. It was devastating. And going into the fall, the governor was recommending that no sports should happen until 2021. Thank goodness my friend Amy Scheuneman, then head of the WPIAL, did a press conference telling the governor that his data was flawed, and not only should we have sports, but we could do it and do it safely. And that it was something that the kids needed. So, because of her brave leadership, we were able to have our season, as did other sports.

What was also memorable in that 2020 girls season was all the precautions we had to take: social distancing (even with your doubles partner), temperatures every day, players using their own can of balls with their initials on them. But we were happy to do “whatever it took.” It was a blessing to just have a season. Thank you, Amy.

Also memorable was the incredible boys run from 2019-2024 — WPIAL finalist in 2019 and fifth at states; 2020: covid; 2021: WPIAL champion and fifth at states again; 2022: repeat as WPIAL champ and third at states.

But it was the way that we clinched the WPIAL title in 2021 that still makes me burst into the biggest grin — and I still shake my head in disbelief — because you couldn’t have written a better or more unlikely script. We were playing an always tough South Park team at North Allegheny. Doubles were at one end of the courts and singles at the other. We were hoping to win all three singles. We won first singles but we lost lines 2 and 3 in very close matches. We won first doubles in a tight three-set match.

It came down to our second doubles team of senior Jack Bresch and junior Justin Hajdukiewicz with all the spectators and players from both teams watching. They won the first set and lost the second to force a third and deciding match for the WPIAL title. Jack and Justin thought we had already clinched, so none of us told them otherwise; we just let them play.

They went up 5-3 with Jack serving for the WPIAL title. His first serve was an ace. To my knowledge, Jack had never registered an ace in his whole career. Second point was a service winner. Next point was a winning volley, and match point was a groundstroke error by South Park. The title was ours.

I am also very proud that over the years many of my former team members (boys and girls) have returned and have worked with me during my summer programs.

Who have been the biggest influences in your coaching career?

I have been so very lucky to have had outstanding coaches and role models both during my high school and college years.

At Sewickley Academy, I had hall of fame coach Joan Schenerlein. I was impressed that she had been on the United States women’s field hockey team as a player. It was also impressive that back in those days high school coaches coached multiple sports. Since I played multiple sports, I spent a lot of time with “Miss S” and got to know her quite well.

At Hollins College, I had two wonderful coaches who were influential in my life — Marjorie Berkley and Lanetta Ware. Again, at college I played multiple sports so I spent a lot of time with each lady for four years. They had very different personalities and coaching styles; one was strict and demanding and the other one had a softer, more approachable style. I think I have integrated elements of all three of those incredible coaches in my coaching style over the years. And I am grateful for having all three in my life.

I would also like to give credit to all the wonderful QV coaches I have watched over the last number of years. I see how dedicated they are, how hard they work and how they manage to get the most out of their teams — as evidenced by the fact that QV has won the Trib Cup many times. I just try to keep up my end of the equation.

And I would also say that a trip to QV principal Deb Riccobelli’s office back in 2018 also influenced my coaching career. Mike (Mastroianni) called me into his office one day and told me not to even sit down, that we had to go see the principal.

I had never been called into a principal’s office, and it is terrifying. Deb said some girls on my tennis team had come to her and voiced their opinion (lodged a complaint) that I was too tough. Deb then very expertly recommended that I might think about amending my style a bit to appeal to this current generation. I took her advice to heart — took a totally different approach — and was able to pull the team together and, in turn, maximized our potential. Thanks, Deb.

Where do you reside?

I live in Sewickley. It has been my home most of my life except for two years in Roanoke, Va., after college (1974-1975) and my five years in Northern California (2007-2011) where lived in Sonoma and worked in Ross. I have lots of family — five siblings and lots of cousins — and many, many friends who are like family.

What do you enjoy most about coaching tennis? What do you enjoy the least?

Playing a high school sport is not easy. It is like walking a tightrope; it’s an amazing balancing act — balancing school, practices, matches, friends, parents, injuries, a social life and on and on. It is challenging and gratifying to help these young student-athletes walk that tightrope. It is OK to have a few unsteady moments, but the key is to help them not fall off. That is what I enjoy the most. Obviously, success is important but watching each team member grow and support each other is also what I enjoy.

Another challenge that I enjoy every season is to build a “team” mentality in a short period of time. Tennis by its nature is a singular sport, so to mold these individuals into a cohesive force is another of the aspects I enjoy. It can’t be emphasized enough how significant the contribution of every single player is to the team result.

I would love to see a couple of changes to the high school format. I would love to see more head-to-head matches. Right now, the format is three singles matches and two doubles matches. Since there are no substitutions allowed in a match, only seven players are involved. It is difficult for a coach sometimes to find enough playing time over the course of a season and maintain a competitive level. I would love to see high school matches follow the college format more closely.

And there are no timeouts in tennis matches. Yes, there are determined times when we can talk to our players. But sometimes a well-timed timeout could change the momentum and course of a match.

When did you start coaching tennis at the high school level?

I have been a tennis teaching professional since 1979. But my high school coaching career actually started at Sewickley Academy. The AD at that time was the great Win Palmer. He and I got acquainted the year (2004) I was inducted into the Sewickley Academy Sports Hall of Fame. I had left Edgeworth Club after 24 years and was out on my own — coaching middle school tennis for Quaker Valley and teaching privately at the Kopf’s courts down on Edgeworth Lane.

Win told me they were searching for a girls varsity coach at Sewickley and asked if I would be interested. I took a leap of faith and accepted the challenge. It was a new landscape for me, dealing with a group of teenage girls and trying to mold them into a team and all that that means.

We had two amazing years in 2005 and 2006 and qualified for the state tournament for the first time in team history. And it was during that time that I met and coached against Jeff Sebastian, the coach at QV. I moved to California from 2007-2011. When I came back into town, Jeff reached out to see if I would be interested in helping at QV as a volunteer coach in his last year (of coaching) in 2012. When he retired after that year, I took over and have been there ever since.

What is your basic coaching philosophy?

I think it can be summed up with a great quote: ‘The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery,” Mark van Doren.

Coaching is my passion and has been for 45 years. What an incredible gift it is to be able to give someone a safe space to try and fail, only then to succeed and know the confidence that comes with that success.

Coaching is very different than teaching tennis. When teaching, you are mostly concerned with the technical side of the game. When coaching, you are dealing with the whole game and the whole player — the mental, emotional and the technical side. And match play is especially challenging in that you have to react to your opponent’s style and make necessary adjustments while also maintaining your own style. A player has to be able to stay the course as every match has peaks and valleys.

And coaching high school sports is so rewarding. Many believe that high school sports are the purest forms of sports.

Is there a difference coaching the boys compared to the girls?

There are some similarities whether coaching boys or girls. But there are definitely marked differences in how they receive the coaching information and how they react to it. And that is all I will offer because there is a great quote that goes: “A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether or not to say it.” Let me just say that I enjoy the challenge of each.

What is your background on your distinguished athletic career?

Sewickley Academy (1967-70): lettered in six sports — field hockey, tennis, volleyball, basketball, lacrosse and softball — all three years. Hollins University (1971-74): lettered in four sports — field hockey, tennis, basketball and lacrosse — all four years.

Do you have any hobbies?

Yes, many, but I have a hard time fitting them in as luckily my coaching and teaching occupies most of my time. I love to walk my dog Roxy; correction, she walks me usually. I love to cook; I make a mean spinach souffle. I love to go to movies, especially since most theaters now have recliner seats. I enjoy time with family and friends. And I especially love time up at Lake Erie and Chautuaqua Lake in Westfield and Chautauqua, N.Y.

Any final thoughts?

In thinking over the last 20 or so years, I am so very grateful for all the opportunities Quaker Valley has given me.

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