Sichterman Finds Joy in Captaining USTA Iowa League Teams

Part of what makes Muscatine’s Jim Sichterman a good USTA league captain is he truly enjoys the role and everything that comes along with it. He currently captains six USTA Iowa league teams, including men’s and mixed doubles.

“Captaining and coordinating practices takes a lot of time and commitment, but I have been blessed and gotten way more back from my players who are now part of my tennis family than anything I could ever give,” he said. “I enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the players and everyone’s willingness to listen to each other as we work to become better players.”

Sichterman has been playing tennis since 1991 when he first moved to Muscatine and some guys needed an extra player after he finished playing racquetball at a local health club. A few years later he started playing USTA and after one year as a 3.5, quickly moved up to 4.0 where he currently stands.

Over the years, he’s had a lot of players ask to join his teams because of the competitiveness and the camaraderie involved. In addition to having fun after the matches, his teams also practice and drill hard during the season.

“Some of my favorite memories were eating out with the team at Sectionals or grabbing a cool beverage at an outdoor pub after a hot summer practice,” he recalled. “We’ve even taken a couple of day trips up to the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club in Charles City as a team.”

As for the future, Jim hopes to continue improving as a player, teammate and captain. Ultimately, he also wants to see one of his teams make it to the USTA National Championships, something his team came close to achieving a couple years ago.