Mr. Chris Murphy, the Dean of Students, is the new boys varsity tennis head coach as of this spring.

He’s played tennis his whole life and coached his own children’s teams for years, which this inspired him to take the position of head coach for the St. Pius tennis team.

“I’ve always enjoyed coaching, but this was the first time I felt nervous about actually winning,” he said. 

Mr. Murphy said one important aspect of coaching is getting the athletes in a positive mindset.

“They want to win, so I had to try my best to get them to in the mindset of winning,” he said. “That can be tough sometimes.”

He also said that there are both highs and lows when it comes to coaching. 

“Seeing the kids’ enjoyment when they get out on the court is one of my favorite parts about coaching. Also, helping the kids after a tough match when they come off the court frustrated because they might have not played to the best of their ability,” he said. “It’s always great to see their joy after beating an opponent. I get to see the joy of winning and the agony of defeat, and I like both sides because I can coach the kids when they’re not feeling good about a loss.”

One of the toughest parts of coaching for him was making decisions after tryouts

“Having to cut kids that aren’t as good as the other players and having that talk, ‘Keep working hard, but unfortunately they make the team this year [is hard],'” he said.

Taking on the role of a coach was a perfect fit for someone in Mr. Murphy’s position. 

“Well, I have a busy job at Pius dealing with students, so coaching is just kind of taking it to the next level,” he said. “Also, I like to attend all the sporting events to support the students here because my job is to support the students at St. Pius. So coaching gets me a little bit closer to some of the kids because we travel to different places with them. That’s the best part about coaching, and I’m always going to be part of the students’ life, but now I just have a special group of kids that I have to focus on.”

“I just hope that one day continue to win and maybe get a state championship one day,” he said.