City College welcomes Jami Jones this year as the new head coach of the women’s tennis team. Jones is replacing Getchen Margers, who brought more than 30 years of experience to the program and has led the team to many victories.
“I got a full-time job with amazing benefits at a four-year university, Claremont McKenna College, as the women’s tennis coach and physical education faculty,” said Margers. “I am the coach of three of the schools in the five-college system; Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Scripps College.”
“Jami is an experienced coach and will do great at City College. She (Jones) will have the most eager and willing students of her coaching career. Go Knights!” Margers said.
One of Margers’ memorable moments as coach at City College was when “Kentra Merriwether gutted out a win at 7-5 in the 3rd set against Cuyamaca. The match was tied at 44 … It was a hot day and Kentra was exhausted. She reached down deep and came up with the win.”
“I hope to move forward with the tennis team. I hope I can lead these girls to success and push forward what she originally started,” Jones explained.
Jones promises her commitment to City’s tennis team by using her experience as a tool for making the girls achieve the success and recognition they deserve.
“A little bit of my background information regarding my experience with tennis is, I have played tennis throughout my life. I received a tennis scholarship to the University of Miami where I played tennis for four years,” Jones said. “Afterwards I became an assistant coach for the tennis team in the University of Arizona. Shortly I became the coach for Long Beach State Division one tennis team.”
”There will be about ten matches in the season. This will start in spring. We are looking for players from now to January,” Jones said.
Jones explained the expectations of future players who are interested in joining the team.
“Anyone can join the team, but I have noticed the students who have some experience in tennis enjoy the sport faster,” Jones said.
Jones also explained the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, which will be held sometime in spring and include other community colleges. It will be the very first conference Jones will be a part of.
“The simple way I can describe tennis is it’s an individual sport but team oriented. It is also a very focused and strategy-filled sport,” Jones said. “Tennis requires a great amount of movement and it requires skills, however it is also a fun and social sport.”
Jones also explained the benefits of playing tennis and how easy it is to play the sport.
“A sport that you can grow up with, it will always be around. You would just need one person to play against,” Jones said.
“In football you would need a whole team set up in order for you to play, but with tennis you would just need an opponent and of course you can always play as doubles,” she added.
Any female who wants to join the women’s team can register online or contact Coach Jones at [email protected].
