Keep moving forward — it’s a good mantra on the tennis court, not to mention elsewhere in life. Judy Dixon, the retiring UMass Amherst tennis coach, is a model of that classic advice, both on the court and off.
At 67, with 25 years of coaching and other kinds of success, Judy is certainly looking back with pride. But mainly, she’s looking forward to working with a group based in Springfield and Chicopee that makes tennis available to underserved kids. She’s also giving herself two years to play, as she says, “at a high level,” with some elite competitors on the Senior National Women’s Team.
Judy is a fighter. She started early when, as a 27-year-old women’s tennis coach at Yale, she sued the university for sex discrimination under Title IX, the new federal law prohibiting such treatment. She was the first person to sue a major university under that law. A March 1977 article in the New York Times reporting on the suit noted that Yale spent $300,000 for women’s sports compared with $1.7 million for men’s sports.
Although Judy now contends with physical problems that often mean headaches and quirky balance, she is a trained athlete — early in her career she competed at Wimbledon and in the U.S. Open — and she’s found ways to bypass those hurdles and keep up with her coaching.
That used to mean both men’s and women’s tennis at UMass, but these days it’s a women’s sport only; the men’s team was eliminated in 2003. All this time, Judy has had to scramble to find space, equipment, staffing and money at a university that always seems to acquire support and space for men’s team sports. (Sound familiar?) While the university builds big modern structures for football, basketball, and hockey, the tennis team has to drive to Hampshire College for indoor practice and matches — a big part of the year in chilly New England.
Fighting hard for the women on her team, both on and off the court, has meant making sure they’re not only physically fit but psychologically ready for competition. Judy also sees to it that they keep up academically. On the walls of her office hang several coach-worthy sayings: “Pressure is a privilege.” “No excuses.” “Go out and fight.” “No whining.”
But along with the tough talk, there’s warm encouragement; just ask her players. She’s recruited them from all backgrounds and from all over the world. “I promised their parents I’d support inclusion and diversity and that I’d look after their kids,” says Judy.
As a coach, cheerleader and all-around supporter, she’s been able to produce not only well over 300 career wins but a sense of loyalty and team spirit in what is essentially an individual sport. This is no small task, as speakers at a recent farewell dinner for Judy testified. She has a superb coach’s knack for seeing a person’s strengths and building on them.
I can testify to that knack from several encounters with her teaching skills. From each encounter, I went away with one new thing to think about on the court, one improvement I could work on.
In June, Judy will offer the last of her summer camps for women on the outdoor courts at UMass, something she’s done for 20 years. Many of the women who will be there have been coming the entire time. One of them, now 86, continues to learn new things. She says, amazingly, that she’s thinking about changing her grip. Some players are hindered by injuries acquired over the years but have adapted their games so that they can continue in this lifetime sport.
“We’ll have fun,” Judy says. “Often women worry too much about letting others down.”
I plan to be there and I hope to avoid letting too many people down. I also hope to learn at least one new thing. Maybe I’ll even remember to keep moving forward.
Footnote: By now readers of the sports pages will know that Judy’s team won the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, with a win over powerhouse Virginia Commonwealth University. The team now goes to the NCAA tournament to face an even bigger hurdle: the tournament’s No. 1 seed, the University of Florida, on May 13 in Gainesville, FL.
Marietta Pritchard can be reached at mppritchard@comcast.net