Greater Midland Tennis Center Executive Director Jeff Rekeweg is making changes aimed at revitalizing the largest indoor/outdoor tennis facility in the Midwest.
“I’m getting the structure back to where it was when we were really humming and we were ‘Best Tennis Town USA,'” Rekeweg told the Daily News in reference to an honor that the tennis center received from the U.S. Tennis Association in 2009.
The tennis center on Thursday announced the return of two former staff members and the establishment of separate directors for adult tennis and junior tennis.
Mike Andrews will be the director of adult tennis and Jared Flick will serve as the director of junior tennis.
“It’s digging back a bit and assessing what our members need and want,” Rekeweg said of the changes. “Anything after high school, we consider adult programming: leagues, tournaments, classes. We once had a very strong league set-up here, and we also had adults that traveled and competed throughout the state and even at the national level.”
Over the last three years, Andrews has been a leader in bringing innovation and growth to the tennis center, according to a release from the tennis center.
Flick previously worked at the tennis center from 2008-14 and will be returning after leaving his current position as academy director at Sportsmen’s Enrichment Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
“He’s a master teacher on many levels,” Rekeweg said of Flick. “Being able to bring him back here from a big city … I think is a big win for us.
“(We see Flick) being able to come back here and get the tennis center really humming again and making it the Mecca of the Midwest as far as tennis is concerned,” Rekeweg added.
The tennis center is also welcoming back Mike Rose in a part-time position teaching private and group lessons. A tennis professional since 2005, Rose also serves as head tennis coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Northwood University.
“Now there’s more opportunities for us to collaborate with Northwood now and down the road — with all the success they’ve had in women’s and men’s tennis — to have that talent around here more,” said Rekeweg, who spent 10 years as the Northwood men’s basketball coach and two years as the university’s advancement officer.
This week’s changes follow the tennis center’s hiring of Nicole Northard earlier in the summer as full-time director of membership and events, and Jessie Lehr as full-time director of tournamants and leagues.
“Those two in particular will help us drive membership and look for opportunities (to grow),” Rekeweg said.