As a tennis player, coach and scientist, my role on the team during the next school year will be to work with educators - both classroom teachers and those involved in tennis instruction and player development. We want to provide an opportunity for exchange of ideas. How are you using our sport science materials? Tell us your success stories! And we want to hear your ideas on making the tennis science information we present as relevant and useful as possible to teachers and instructors.

During college, I played on the University of California, Davis tennis team while I studied mechanical engineering. My four years of varsity tennis at Davis were a lot of fun . I was given the Lindsey award for Outstanding Student- Athlete at Davis, named an NCAA Division II All-American, and given an NCAA post-graduate scholarship, which I used to continue studying mechanical engineering.

After graduating with my bachelor's degree, I started working at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA. In addition to working, I continued taking courses at Davis on a part-time basis using the television link. That's right, I watched engineering classes on TV. It wasn't as much fun as watching cartoons, but it was very convenient in a lot of ways. I turned in my homework by mailing it to Davis, so if I was late with my homework, I could tell the professor it was "in the mail". I eventually completed masters and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering. I work mainly on combustion problems, studying the chemistry and fluid dynamics of how fuels burn. I enjoy writing computer programs that model flames on which other scientists conduct experiments in the lab.

I retired from competitive tennis when I started working at Sandia. My fond memories of playing tennis were rekindled a few years ago, when I was inducted into the Cal-Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame. I started thinking about applying my tennis experience again, and recently discovered a fun way to do it. I took a part-time job coaching a high school team near my home. I've now spent two years coaching the San Ramon Valley High School team, and it has been a lot of fun to coach and hit with the boys on the team.