Samantha Siegel learned early on that tennis was her passion. She started playing at the age of three after seeing her parents play. Once she picked up a racquet, she never looked back.
“My dad played on the club team at the University of Texas and my mom played recreationally so throughout my childhood they played together,” Siegel said. “My mom is 65 and she still plays leagues. Unfortunately, I live in New York and she’s in Florida, so we don’t really get to play together.”
Siegel might not get to play with her mom very often, but she gets her tennis fix daily. Tennis became a core staple in her life and It didn’t take her long to navigate towards coaching.
“I literally started coaching in high school,” she said. “I loved my high school coach and he inspired me to get into coaching.”
Siegel started coaching at summer camps during her junior year in high school. Later, when she went on to play college tennis at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, and McKendree University in Illinois, she realized that she couldn’t see herself being stuck in an office for the rest of her life. That is when she made the decision to change from a business major to health and wellness.
Siegel continued to coach summers throughout college and eventually got an internship at IMG. Now, she is a coach and league coordinator at SPORTIME Syosset in New York where she runs UTR Sports Tennis Leagues, offering team tennis opportunities for juniors and adults.
“I started using UTR about three years ago,” Siegel said. “Then we started using the UTR Sports software about a year ago and leagues became really big at Syosset.”
As soon as she realized leagues were blowing up, Siegel started looking for courts in other SPORTIME locations, adding leagues at the Port Washington location.
“UTR Sports Tennis Leagues really help the kids and they really enjoy them,” Siegle said. “I’m currently running several leagues and a lot of the players who are in my main league are already playing in some of my other leagues. They can’t get enough."
SPORTIME Syosset also runs in-house leagues for orange and green color ball (for young juniors), as well as one-day events. Hosting has been easier because of the UTR Sports software.
“When we started using the software it was a little more difficult to get used to, but there have been so many improvements,” Siegel said. “Now, it’s a lot easier, especially when it comes to leagues, creating teams, and inputting the scores.”
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