McDuffee excited about being new pro at Centre Court
Jun. 29—Dylan McDuffee has been working at Merchant Centre Court since his senior year at Daviess County High School.
"I've been here almost four years," McDuffee said Wednesday, taking a break from a nearly full day of tennis lessons and classes. He graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College in May and jumped head long into the tennis instructor workforce. "Ever since I started working at Centre Court, it doesn't feel like a job, it's like a dream come true really."
McDuffee is the new tennis professional at Merchant Centre Court, located at the Owensboro Tennis Complex on Bittel Road.
"I run the clinics, they usually start around age four, and it goes all the way up until they don't want to play tennis any more, we've had some that were up to 70-80 years old," McDuffee said. "It's a lot of groups, a lot of people like getting their friends together to split costs. There are some small lessons for two people, I would say 75% of the lessons there are at least two people there. It does get very busy, Monday through Thursday I'm super busy. I'm on the court anywhere from four to nine hours a day."
That workload will likely pick up in the fall, once kids go back to school, McDuffee said.
The 22-year-old majored in accounting at KWC. "Anything with business is good for the job," McDuffee said.
He knows a lot of people in the tennis community here by playing since he was a young child.
"It boiled down to having some great mentors," McDuffee said. "My dad (Adam) was the first one that got me into tennis at a younger age. Jack Etchison, Noel Clayton also, Chuck Brown was the former pro at Centre Court. They were all great mentors, and I got a USPTA certification. I started out doing some online, then did some Zoom calls with some pro coaches. I went to Orlando for a weekend, did some workshops, took some tests, then I got certification. I was nervous at first to do this, it's a four or five month process."
Clayton, who is general manager at Centre Court, said McDuffee has a knack for teaching tennis.
"You can tell Dylan has a real passion for teaching tennis," Clayton said. "It shows in his energy, enthusiasm and preparation. We are thrilled to have such a talented young man, and we appreciate all of Chuck Brown's contributions to our club during his tenure as head pro at MCC.
Etchison was McDuffee's coach at DC and long before that.
"Jack coached me, he known me since I started playing tennis, probably since I was about five years old," McDuffee said. "The kids love Jack, he's got a good sense of humor about him. I use a combination of all my mentors, a little of how Jack teaches, mix that with former head pro (Brown), mix that with how Noel teaches. I take the best aspects and put them together."
As a senior at Daviess County in 2019, McDuffee and doubles partner Chris Salamah reached the quarterfinals of the KHSAA State Tennis Tournament as an unseeded team.
"We took out a nine seed, a five seed, we lost in quarterfinals to the two seed," McDuffee said. "One of the best memories I've had in tennis was making it that far in the state tournament."
McDuffee has already been teaching long enough that he has developed some good relationships with players who are students.
"I like to watch the player grow, and not just from tennis standpoint," McDuffee said. "I've got some kids who I've taught for four years. You see them grow and get older, and I love seeing that too, that's probably the biggest upside to it."
McDuffee also is involved with the Junior Team Tennis program, which has about 40 kids involved.
He has also done a few pickleball lessons.
