Forest Hills Tennis Program Creates Local Champions

Mark Paull has spent more than two decades leading a tennis club that has helped shape young children into model players and adults—on and off the courts.

Paull, who grew up in and just recently moved to Shadyside, played high school tennis and in college, ran a summer tennis program.

After graduating, he started running the local tennis program again in 1990 and has been at it ever since, helping to form young players who have gone on to be key members of high school and college tennis teams across the region.

“They built the courts in Forest Hills in 1975 during the tennis boom,” Paull said. “My brother came home from college and got my dad playing, then I picked it up and did the Forest Hills program growing up. I was one of those kids who was addicted to tennis and playing all the time.”

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in computers, Paull decided shortly after that the corporate world just wasn’t for him. He decided to earn a teaching degree and has been a math teacher for 20 years at the University School in Shadyside.

“The thing that made me want to be a high school math teacher was my experience coaching tennis for Forest Hills,” Paull said. “One of the things I love is working with kids.”

While he resumed the tennis program in Forest Hills in 1990, Paull said it’s all been done through a community effort.

The program has a junior tennis traveling team with 75 students—all from Forest Hills. Other programs are open to nonresidents, but only those from Forest Hills can compete in the program.

The program also remains affordable. An introductory or advanced beginner group can come in for one week and take four lessons for $28. Classes are Monday through Thursday over the summer. If there are no rain outs, the group then gets a free lesson on Friday.

The tennis club is located at the Forest Hills tennis and swimming center off of Braddock Road in the borough.

“The group clinics are really fun especially with the younger kids,” Paull said. “Little kids are just so fun and you can make it fun for them and they’re pretty simple. Most of them get hooked on tennis and want to move into the teen program, and there are all types of things they can do.”

In-house tournaments are a regular feature of that program with trophies. The travelling team has kids as young as seven.

“They don’t play as many matches because we have to guide them through the match and find other clubs with young players,” Paull said.

Forest Hills residents involved with the program have given it a community feel, he added.

“Through a group, collaborative effort, we have all these parents who pitch in to drive, make phone calls, and do a variety of things, so unlike other tennis clubs, which basically have clinics, practices and lessons Monday through Thursday and then play once a week on Friday, we play matches five days a week. We are active with competition five days a week.”

On Fridays, the students play in the West Penn Tennis league, which has all the best players in the state. Last year, the Forest Hills tennis club members were the champions.

“What’s nice is that it’s fun for the kids,” Paull said. “I am a tennis club coach but I believe that prior to high school, no one should feel pressure to win a tennis match. We say ‘Try your hardest, play your best and everyone has fun.’”

The official season starts with weekend practices in May and kicks into high gear the day after Woodland Hills schools let out for the summer. Players are then on the court from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the week.

The Forest Hills program has fed many players into the Woodland Hills starting tennis lineup. This spring, the entire slate will most likely be students from the Forest Hills program, Paull said.

“We start kids at a young age, they get hooked on the competition and really thrive on that, and then develop into high school tennis players who are very successful,” he said.

Maria McCool of Forest Hills has seen Paull's impact throughout the community.

“Mark Paull is one of the most treasured assets that Forest Hills has," she said. "He could never be paid enough for his time, talent, and total devotion to the kids of Forest Hills and to tennis. Many of the students who first held a racket in his program have gone on to excel at the high school and college level, but more importantly, they developed a lifelong love of the game and will probably continue to play as adults."

But, it’s not all about successful tennis matches.

“It does so much for them off the courts,” Paull said. “Summer tennis really teaches kids sportsmanship, which transfers to all sports. All of the clubs universally agree it’s not a win at all cost attitude—we teach them to play fair. It also puts an emphasis on having fun and trying their best.”

Interested in registering for the 2012 season? Call 412-304-3697.