- April 25, 2025
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Former Florida Tennis Center Manager Tom Kelly took the Seabreeze job to make sure the Sandcrabs had good coaching. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Riya Arab serves in the girls No. 1 singles match April 11 at Flagler Palm Coast. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze's Hunter Shuler won his match at No. 3 singles on April 11 at FPC. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Tatiana Leontyeva hits a backhand in a match against Seabreeze on April 11. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze sophomore J.J. Martin. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC No. 1 singles player Andrew Shkotkin improved to 5-1 on the season with a 8-0 win on April 11. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze senior Riya Arab fell to 7-4 in No. 1 singles with a 9-7 loss to FPC's Tatiana Leontyeva. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC junior Tatiana Leontyeva improved to 6-3 in No. 1 singles this season with a 9-7 win over Seabreeze's Riya Arab on April 11. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze sophomore J.J. Martin is 9-5 at No. 1 singles this season.. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Seabreeze tennis coach Tom Kelly watches his players during a match at Flagler Palm Coast. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Tom Kelly remembers what it was like to play tennis at DeLand High School in the 1970s. He quit the team his junior year, he said, because the tennis coach didn’t know anything about tennis.
“He would just hand us the balls and make the schedule. That was disappointing,” Kelly said.
In fact, even when Kelly played tennis at Division I Tulsa University, the coach was an administrator, not a coach, Kelly said.
So when he was asked this year if he was interested in coaching Seabreeze High’s tennis teams, Kelly knew he couldn’t say no.
“I wanted to to make sure that Seabreeze had good coaching available,” he said.
There are few people more qualified to coach tennis in Volusia County. Kelly, 68, had been a tennis coach and director in Daytona Beach for 30 years. He spent 10 years running the City Island courts and 20 years at the Florida Tennis Center off LPGA Boulevard. He was the manager of the FTC for 10 years before retiring in 2022.
Over the years, Kelly has coached hundreds of children. On the day he met his Seabreeze players, some of them said they had lessons with him five or six years ago.
Asked if he remembered them, Kelly said, “I taught a lot of kids, so I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t.”
But lessons from other coaches have made his job with the Sandcrabs easier, he said.
“The Seabreeze Sandcrabs have been successful this year,” he said. “But it's not me, it's more the coaches in the Volusia County area that are bringing them up, and I get them when they're fairly accomplished and have the technique and the skills to play at a high level. So that's where the credit belongs.”
But Hunter Shuler, the Sandcrabs’ No. 3 boys’ singles player said Kelly has made a difference.
“I think Coach Kelly has provided us with amazing opportunities,” Shuler said. “It’s definitely a different approach considering the age difference between him and (former coach Trishna Patel). I think the approach has worked out in many different ways. He’s a lot more hands-on. He helps us out a lot with technique and game play. We work a lot more in doubles in our practices and I think we’ve improved a lot.”
The Sandcrabs’ boys team is 5-4 and the girls are 7-3 heading into the District 6-3A tournament April 16-17 at Red Bug Lake Park in Casselberry. In their final regular-season match on April 11 at Flagler Palm Coast, the girls won 4-3, while the boys lost to the Bulldogs 6-1 with Shuler collecting the Sandcrabs' lone win. Shuler was the only junior among four sophomores in the boys’ lineup.
Although, Kelly has spent 30 years as a coach and administrator, his path to the game he loves was circuitous. He thought he wanted to follow in the footsteps, of his father, Thomas C. Kelly, Volusia’s first county administrator. The Volusia County Administration Center in DeLand is named after him. But after working in the Fort Lauderdale city manager’s office as a budget analyst, Thomas A. Kelly decided that wasn’t the profession for him.
“My friend there, who was the assistant city manager, came up to me one day, and said, ‘Hey, Tom, let’s quit our jobs and go traveling.’ And I go, ‘Bob, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of.’ And so we did.”
Kelly traveled through Asia and Europe for a year. Then he traveled for two more years through Latin America, ending up in Chile. As he began his swing back he met his wife. They got married in Uruguay. And Kelly returned home with his bride, looking for a job. And so began his 30-year career with the city.
“I said, ‘Well, I know how to play tennis. And (former Daytona Beach Recreation Director) Owen Davidson hired me, and I basically collected court fees (at the six-court facility at City Island). So I’m forever grateful to Owen.”
Kelly is just as competitive as a high school coach as he is as a player. He said he would like to see more pressure placed on him to win. But he knows his players have other priorities. Shuler also runs track. Freshman Madison James is on the girls weightlifting team. Several players are in the AICE program and are dual-enrolled.
“It’s been a challenge,” he said. “I want to practice hard, but they also have other things they do after school.”
Kelly plans to be back next season. He’s not ready to retire again.
Email brent@observerlocalnews.com
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