Anelisse Garner Relishes Role as Community Sports Coordinator, Springfield Lasers GM

Garner began playing tennis as a young girl growing up in Bolivia but started taking the sport more seriously as a 9-year-old. Prior to that, she participated in dance and gymnastics but elected to hone in on tennis.

“I got to 9 and I was like ‘Nope, this is my sport,’” Garner said. “I decided that’s the only thing I want to do.”

Garner is a triplet, and her two same-aged brothers also grew up playing tennis. The trio frequently competed together and needed just one more individual to be able to play doubles. One brother, Adrian Torrico, was an NCAA Division-I player at Montana State University. The other, Alejandro Torrico, played recreationally at the University of Arkansas. With the boys starting tennis a bit before Garner did, she dropped her other sports to catch up.

“I’m going to quit this. And I’m going to play tennis with my brothers because I want to be better than them,” Garner said with a laugh. “At the end of the day, I was not better than them. We were pretty even. It was fun. My whole life I played with them since I was a little kid. We always had that healthy competition. We all still play for fun.”

Garner and her tennis-loving husband — who worked for years at Cooper and coached at Drury University — play together as frequently as they can. Garner was a standout student-athlete at Missouri State under then-Head Coach Mallory Weber, who now works in part as USTA Missouri president. Garner got some of her college friends involved in tennis and is hoping to grow the sport to new players in the same manner with her fresh career.

“Now those friends play even more tennis than I do,” Garner said “And they absolutely love it. That’s the excitement I like to see in the community really.”

Garner saw that excitement on display during one of her first outreach events, which took place May 1 at Springfield’s Meador Park. She helped hold a tennis and pickleball clinic with better than 20 kids participating on the tennis side. A second run of the same event occurred May 15.

“Just getting more people playing tennis and getting people excited about tennis,” Garner said. “If it’s recreational, that’s great because tennis is a sport you can play your whole life. It would be great to discover a new, hidden talent — like maybe a little kid who turns out to be great at tennis. And then, who knows, maybe we have the next Jack Sock here in town. Giving kids and adults the opportunity to go out and get a hobby that can last a lifetime.”

Garner is looking forward to teaming up with USTA to organize events for the community. She hopes to partner with local schools to facilitate tennis programming, as she has a contact list for institutions in the Greene County area. She is orchestrating a college night during the summer to get students from Springfield-based universities all playing tennis together. Garner — who speaks English and Spanish — would like to get the Springfield Latino community more involved in tennis.

“I’m excited to get more people playing at the courts, tennis clubs, on local teams, boys & girls clubs,” she said. “Really, the opportunity to do community outreach with tennis could be endless. I recently even drove around town to check on all the public courts in the parks. Make a list of what shape they’re in and if they need repairs. Also to get a good idea if we can make an event happen in that neighborhood.”

Garner is likewise eager for her GM role with the Springfield Lasers, a World TeamTennis franchise that plays home matches at the Cooper Complex. She will work to find team sponsors and coordinate logistics so participating players are well taken care of. Garner said that’s an important element in making the Lasers attractive and ensuring players want to come back year after year.

“I’ve been to the Lasers before — seeing the stands full at Cooper, it’s amazing,” Garner said. “Seeing kids and adults so excited to see all these players you really just get to watch on TV, it’s amazing. The facilities at Cooper are amazing. It’s just great for big players even from different countries to come and see all the things we have to offer.”

Garner said any individuals interested in providing sports outreach events to the Springfield community can get in touch with her at anelisse.torrico@springfieldmo.gov.