HighFIVE: Randy Stephens

Randy Stephens steps down from coaching after 37 years

As high school girls’ tennis teams across Colorado start the season this week, there may be no fan bigger than Randy Stephens. While Randy has looked forward to stepping on to the court as the girls’ coach for Colorado Springs Christian School for the past 37 years, this Spring he will be watching and cheering from outside the court fences as he retired at the end of the 2024 season. 

“It will be different watching just as a fan, but I am excited to support the team and watch them grow during the season,” he says.

The Michigan native says that tennis was always a part of his family. “My family played recreationally, and it was a common activity for us on vacations”, he says. Randy played for his high school team and then at Northwestern College in Iowa (NAIA).

After graduating college, Randy moved to Colorado in 1988 and took a job as a math teacher at Colorado Springs Christian School. The girls’ tennis team needed a coach and Randy decided to take that on as well. It is rare to find a high school tennis coach who stays with one team for almost four decades, but Randy’s approach to coaching was one that lent itself well to such a long tenure.

For Randy, his pull to coaching was to develop well-rounded and successful individuals who happened to play tennis.

“Most coaches in athletics would define success by records and state level accomplishments. I have always had a slightly different definition. Of course, I wanted my teams to win every match, and we practiced and played to win. But as I reflect on my 37 years, I don’t remember the win/loss records of any of the seasons. I do remember players that I built a relationship with and memories of both fun and challenging times that we went through together.”

By Randy’s own definition, his 37 years of coaching certainly seem to have been a success. “Quite often, I run in to former players and they ask ‘Hey, do you remember the time when…..’ which is always followed by a smile or a laugh,” he says. “It warms my heart.”

Randy figures that he will retire from teaching in a few years. Funny enough, the math teacher and tennis coach says that he “never loved either tennis nor math”. What he does love are the countless students he has seen come and go through the doors of Colorado Springs Christian School and being a part of their high school journey and beyond. 

“My hope is that I have had a small impact on the kids and maybe helped them learn something about themselves that has helped them deal with life.”

While he won’t be on the court anymore with the team, Randy hopes that the girls continue to “have fun and be on a team that helps them enjoy their high school years.” And, as long as he stays teaching, Randy will continue to find the opportunities to build relationships with the high schoolers and knows that once his teaching days are done that he will “surely miss that aspect a great deal”.

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