Maddy Platko Selected as Springfield League Coordinator

“Now that we have Amy Mathew as district league coordinator, the primary responsibility for our local league coordinators is recruiting captains and players to build teams. And inviting friends to play with them to grow our rosters. Her personality is perfect for that. She is going to be awesome for the district.”

Platko — who is originally from Mountain Home in northern Arkansas, a two-hour drive from Springfield — played tennis growing up and led her high school team to a state championship her senior year. She competed on the Missouri State University Club Tennis team her freshman year before taking a four-year break from the sport.

In 2022, Platko began playing tennis again. She called Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield and took some intermediate classes there. She wanted to get involved in USTA league play and was provided Echols’s contact information. Platko proceeded to participate in a pair of leagues last summer and joined in on some fun social leagues throughout the year.

This summer, Platko captained an 18 & Over 7.0 team and played on an 18+ 4.0 women’s team as well as an 18+ 8.0 mixed team. She has helped the USTA Missouri district as a volunteer and has worked the Tournament Desk at an event. With Platko taking on the Springfield local league coordinator job, Echols is excited to focus on other district opportunities.

“I’ve been trying to do more outreach in the district, like in Rolla for example,” Echols said. “There are so many areas with potential for growth and so many players we want to reach. There is programming we want to provide for juniors and adults. The more we get people like Maddy involved, the more I can pursue some of these other areas that will bring tennis to more people in the district.”

Platko is in her third year of teaching and first at Central High School in Springfield, as she’ll teach history in addition to helping with the boys’ and girls’ tennis programs at Central. She spent the previous two years at Nixa Junior High School. Platko is looking forward to creating and expanding adult leagues in Springfield, with an eye geared toward younger players.

“I have found there are not a lot of people my age playing tennis,” Platko said. “It seems like across the board people play in high school — then take 20 years off or more — and then get back into it. Or that’s when they start to play for the first time. We can barely put 18 & Over teams together. And even if we can, a majority of the people playing are 40 and up.

“That’s the thing I talked about a lot with Leslie — trying to get a younger population into tennis. Hopefully growing more of those leagues and beginner leagues, too. We struggle to get 3.0 leagues. So, trying to get more people to play tennis for the first time and trying to get the younger population playing. While also keeping the older population playing as well.”