Shoemake heads tennis program
In Northwest Arkansas, tennis can be a small community. Bella Vista’s new head tennis pro, Jake Shoemake, used to play in Bella Vista tournaments when Paul Pautsch ran the program. He also knew his immediate predecessor, Pat Hennesey.
Shoemake graduated from Rogers High School, where he played on the tennis team. He worked at the Hard Scrabble Country Club in Fort Smith, Summerhill in Rogers and the Walton Life Fitness Center, as well as stints in Mississippi and Kentucky. He was general manager at Centre Court in Owensboro, Ky., when he heard about the opening in Bella Vista.
Shoemake’s son, Hayden, is playing tennis for Bentonville West High School, where he’s been very successful as a sophomore, so his father is happy to be back in the area.
Although he’s only been working a couple of days, Shoemake predicted that there would be some changes in the program. Anytime the leadership changes, so does the program, he explained. But he plans to continue all the tennis events he inherited.
He’s looking forward to working with the junior program, where he’ll use the “quick start” concepts developed by TGA Sports. Based on age and ability, the youngest tennis players will start on a smaller court with balls that don’t bounce as high. They move through color-coded balls and larger courts until they are ready to play with adult equipment.
The junior program will become a career portal, he said. He’ll add some novice tournaments to the schedule so his beginning players get to have that experience.
He’s looking forward to working with Pautsch, who still teaches small groups and helps at events.
“He’s always been Bella Vista tennis,” Shoemake said about Pautsch.
Although there is always tennis going on, the winter isn’t as busy as the summer. When league tennis begins, Shoemake expects to have at least 14 teams and he would like to add more.
Now, tennis players can purchase beer or wine in the tennis shop and enjoy it on the covered patio in front. Shop manager Koven Childress said it’s too soon to know how alcohol sales will go.
It adds to the social atmosphere around tennis, Shoemake said, “It gives the players a place to sit down and kick back.”
When the POA hosted a meetand-greet to introduce Shoemake to the tennis players, he realized he already knows many of them from tournaments. Coming to Bella Vista is like coming home to a man who has seen tennis from every angle — as a player, as a coach and as a parent.