MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / July 5, 2000

LAPLACE – Jason Pinholster remembers the day his father tried to get him to take up tennis.

The elder Pinholster would take an old bucket filled with balls and throw the balls at his son. But Jason wanted to play baseball instead and would knockthe balls over the fence, forcing his father to retrieve them.

Pinholster would eventually take up the game on his own, going on to play the sport in high school and college. And today, it is his job to introduce the sportto youngsters as the tennis director at Belle Terre Country Club.

Pinholster played collegiate tennis at Lee-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C., aprogram that was ranked in the Top 20 in the nation all four years he was there. Pinholster played in the No. 1 position three of the four years and wasranked as high as 70th in the nation.

After graduation, Pinholster played in a few challenge tournaments before going to work at the Van Der Meer tennis camp in Hilton Head, S.C., one ofthe best programs in the country. There he got to work with a number ofworld-ranked professionals and juniors.

“I felt like I had gotten all I could out of playing and I enjoyed teaching,” Pinholster said. “I found I had a knack for it.”While teaching at Van Der Meer, Pinholster met Chris Giordano, the director at Metairie Country Club. Giordano said if he ever had anything open up, hewould give Pinholster a call. Last year, Giordano did indeed give him call,offering him the head professional spot at the club.

Pinholster was at Metairie Country Club for about four or five months when he met Mike Bryan, the tennis director at Belle Terre. Bryan told him hewould be leaving soon so that the director spot would be opening up.

Pinholster applied for the position and was hired in December.

As the tennis director, Pinholster is responsible for overseeing all the programs and leagues at the club. The ladies’ league alone has over 70members and Pinholster also heads up the junior leagues as well as providing private and group lessons, summer camp and clinics. Pinholster also stringsand sells rackets and sells clothes and other tennis equipment out of the pro shop.

One of the Pinholster’s goals is to increase the junior program. Pinholstersaid he is getting a number of youngsters from the swimming programs and summer camp but by the fall, they are going back to other sports.

“We’ve got to get them from the summer and move them into the program in the fall so we don’t lose them to other sports,” Pinholster said. “I want totry to expand some programs into the fall to keep the kids out here.”Pinholster is about to start up the second session of the tennis summer camp. The camp, for all ability levels ages 5-15, will run four days a weekfrom July 18 to Aug. 11. The cost of the camp is $140 for non-clubmembers and $120 for members.

In his instruction, Pinholster said he starts with the fundamentals of the game.

“The first thing I teach is the fundamentals and the basics,” Pinholster said.

“One you learn to hit shots the right way, it’s a lot easier from there.”Pinholster said he has seen the popularity of the sport grow. He’s had anumber of non-club members he has taught join the club. He also holds aFriday Night Fun Night that has drawn a number of non-members as well as members.

“I want to grow the club and get as many new tennis members as I can,” Pinholster said.

“I’m happy with the way things are going. Everything is pretty much on theupswing as far as interest in tennis around here.”

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