The St. Joe’s tennis program recently created the Captains’ Club, a program meant to create an alumni network and coordinate activities for former tennis players, keeping them involved with the team once they’ve graduated.
The Captains’ Club was started by Ian Crookenden, the men’s and women’s tennis head coach. He said that he wanted there to be a more regulated way to keep in contact with tennis alumni.
“I got to thinking that it would be great to have a regular communication group rather than just one individual reaching out,” Crookenden said. “If the captains could join they could reach out and network to teammates on their squad.”
Crookenden drew inspiration from the Wimbledon Final Eight Club, a program he is currently a member of, which is an exclusive program that reaches out to former players who have made it to the final eight of a Wimbledon event. Its purpose is to reach out and invite its members to certain events and extend special privileges.
The two captains who were chosen to spearhead this new club are former women’s captain Alex Zachem ’17 and former men’s captain Kyle Chalmers ’17. Crookenden reached out to them in August to let them know his plan.
“It is nice just to continue to stay involved with the St. Joe’s tennis program,” Chalmers said. “Trying to keep the bond with our school and teammates strong.”
The role of the captains in the Captains’ Club is to keep in contact with alumni from their team. As one of the initial captains, Chalmers said he had to communicate a plethora of former players.
“It was cool because I had an excuse to reach out to a bunch of alumni and teammates,” Chalmers said. “I keep in touch with a few of them but I hadn’t talked to some of them in a while. I can connect with them and even with some people I wasn’t on the same team with.”
Senior Captain Dan Tan became aware of this club last semester. He said that he thinks it’s important for alumni to stay involved with the team.
“It is a way for alumni to always be involved,” Tan said. “Our career doesn’t just end once we leave college. We can still be a part of what is happening. It is a way for those who loved their journey at St. Joe’s to keep in touch.”
Junior Captain Scott Battaglia said he is excited that there is a more accessible way to stay involved with the team post-graduation.
“I want to be involved after I am done,” Battaglia said. “The team has given me so many great experiences and memories that I never would have had without them. The opportunity to help out with future funding to make Hawks tennis as good as possible is really exciting.”
Crookenden said that even though there will be some fundraising elements, that will not be the primary focus of the Captains’ Club.
“The goal is more social and for continued involvement,” Crookenden said.
The Captains’ Club wants to continue to have events geared toward alumni. In doing so, Chalmers discussed possibly sponsoring a match and having a potluck beforehand.
Battaglia said he enjoys the opportunity to be around the former captains. Having them involved gives the team’s current captains the opportunity to pass down their experiences to the next generation of Hawks.
“It means the world just to hear what they went through and how they handled certain situations,” Battaglia said. “Learning from them is [an] invaluable experience.”
Chalmers said he hopes that the club can continue to grow in the coming years.
“I hope we have a strong foundation,” Chalmers said. “Hopefully it is a pipeline to getting more St. Joe’s tennis alums involved in the team. Give people an excuse to come back and reminisce about old times and see where the team is now.”
