Waterford tennis coach leads with a winning combination

SANDY— For the past two years Waterford has dominated 1A and 2A tennis, and most think that Calvin Bennett is the reason.

While it's true that Bennett has been the catalyst for the team, Waterford has been a huge success because of its underrated coach, Ken Wade.

Wade's name should be known throughout the state by now. Although he's a newcomer in coaching tennis, he made moves that veteran coaches would do. His calm demeanor and the way the Waterford's tennis team has responded to him has led Waterford to success.

"His coaching and attitude has helped my tennis game a lot, and because of him, I'm playing college tennis," says one of his former players Dave Reichert.

It's not easy to assemble successful doubles team while organizing matches, driving the bus and teaching history.

During Wade's four years, Waterford has been successful with a second-place finish at state and two first-places. Wade also has been successful with the girls team. They have won two state championships. If you ask many in the Utah tennis community who the Waterford tennis coach is, you'll likely get no response. Most people don't even know that Waterford has a tennis team. Even Waterford overlooks tennis because of the school's emphasis on lacrosse, basketball and soccer.

Wade got into coaching because he wanted to do something besides teach history.

"I loved teaching, and I wanted to see kids excel outside the classroom," says Wade. Five years ago, the Waterford tennis team was barely surviving. The school barely fielded seven players, and yet the Ravens managed to finish in third-place under their coach Chad McCall.

McCall abruptly left, and that's when Wade asked Waterford's athletic director if he could become an assistant coach. Wade took the job. Then Wade found a head coach, who left quickly, and Wade was suddenly the head coach.

Wade's biggest challenge came this year, because five players from the previous year left, and he had to make the doubles team from scratch. He had his singles set with Bennett, Daniel Reichert and Chris Chang.

After the singles players, the doubles team was up for grabs. Wade had to pick four players from among 11. Luckily he found a real talent in Sam Wilkinson, and Wade matched him up with senior Amir Ghaffarian.

The second doubles matched freshman Andrew Munoz Butterfield and senior Robert McCrae. Wade knew these teams would have chemistry even though the doubles team members didn't even know each other.

Before state, Waterford was not the favorite to win the title. The Ravens won three spots in region and finished second at No. 2 doubles and in three singles. Manti was the slight favorite, and the Templars beat Waterford's doubles easily and won three singles. But at state a determined Waterford team lead by Wade beat down Manti, and every position took state except three singles.

Now Wade is preparing the girls team for their upcoming season. Wade has confidence that his girls team will do well with almost everyone returning from last year's second-place team.

"The most important thing I've learned from coaching is to instill confidence in players," he said.

If past performance is any indication, he's succeeding.