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For Maddie Kobelt, transitioning from teaching to coaching felt natural. She used to teach beginner lessons to kids at her dad’s tennis club in New Albany, Ohio. Coaching Division I tennis at Syracuse is just like teaching those lessons, she said. She’s utilizing the same extensive knowledge about the sport, but instead applying it to more advanced players.

Kobelt, a former Syracuse player from 2011-14, was a second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference and All-Big East selection and a captain during her senior year. She became the 30th player to reach 100 victories in program history. In January, Kobelt announced she was returning as an assistant coach, a decade after she first arrived at SU.  

“She’s got an unbelievable reputation,” Syracuse tennis head coach Younes Limam said of Kobelt.

Growing up, Kobelt and her brothers played basketball, lacrosse and ran track. Her dad, Paul, wanted his kids to try every sport they were interested in, but all three kids stuck with tennis. 

By high school, Kobelt played in national and midwest regional tournaments. Her dad opened the area’s first indoor tennis club, New Albany Tennis Center, where she was able to train in her hometown year-round. Sixteen years later, she still goes back to train with her dad at that same club, her “home base.”

At Syracuse, Kobelt said she never felt overwhelmed, despite consistently balancing academics and DI tennis. She maintained a consistent schedule because she wanted to excel in the classroom and on the court. That same self-sufficient attitude would later allow her to successfully navigate a professional tennis career that required daily rigorous training, frequent travel and careful financial management.

She won her first collegiate match against Navy, an experience that she described as both nerve wracking and exciting. Then in Kobelt’s senior year, Syracuse switched from the Big East to the ACC, which meant new, highly competitive opponents, she said. “I really enjoyed seeing how far I could go with my last year on the team,” Kobelt said. That year, she was named second-team All-ACC. 

Post-grad, she decided to go pro on the Women’s Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation tours. Kobelt played an average of 20 tournaments each year, but continued teaching lessons at her dad’s tennis club back home. She opted to play both singles and doubles in almost all, sometimes playing both matches on the same day.

“Tennis is kind of a brutal sport — every week you lose — it’s just a matter of when,” she said.

After six years of teaching lessons and traveling for tournaments, she landed an assistant coaching position at Kenyon College in Ohio. Kobelt still competed in professional tournaments over the summer or during the offseason because of the Division III’s shorter fall season. 

During her two and a half years at Kenyon, she helped coach both the men’s and women’s teams to conference titles each year. The women’s team ranked No. 12 at one point, its best in nearly 20 years.

At Kenyon, Kobelt’s job included everything from constructing the bus schedules, giving  course selection feedback to players and maintaining equipment. She was only 26 years old, which meant she was relatable to the players because she was in their shoes recently, Kenyon head coach Scott Thielke said. Instead of teaching lessons focused on improved technique, like she did with the beginning tennis lessons at her dad’s club, she had advanced — now helping players with strategy and match-playing.

“She brought some youth into the program. I’m 60, so it was good to have someone younger on the coaching staff as well,” Thielke said.

Kobelt returned to Syracuse because of her familiarity with the school and how the program runs, Thielke said. As the only female coach on the staff — like she was at Kenyon — she’s relatable, like always.

“We’re very excited to have her here for a long time,” Limam said. 

She’ll need to learn how to recruit at the DI level, something Kobelt has never done before, Thielke said. But he believes she’ll learn quickly, just like she did as a player at SU, just like she did as an assistant at Kenyon — and just like she did as an instructor at her dad’s club.

Published on February 15, 2021 at 11:35 pm

Contact Ella: enplowma@syr.edu