A pleasant Surprise: Beginner tennis player Ross Roark qualifies for nationals in Arizona

Ross Roark said that while HR employees don’t make the rules, they’re responsible for enforcing them. It’s a job of dotting i’s and crossing t’s. They need to know the roles and responsibilities of the departments they are involved with so they can make sure rules are being followed.

When the bosses for the City of Springfield suggested the HR staff find out what the departments under their umbrella had to offer, Roark decided to do some digging. One of his areas of responsibility is to support the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, which oversees Cooper Tennis Complex.

He found out about leagues and classes for beginner-level tennis players. He had played some tennis earlier in his life — “nothing too extreme” as he described it — and thought participating in a league would be a good way to get some exercise and meet new friends.

“I got involved for social engagement and social interaction,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of new people, made new friendships and formed new partnerships just from playing tennis. It’s a great way to stay active and fit. I personally got into this sport just as a way of lowering my cholesterol and getting a little bit more active. It’s a really good stress reliever.

“I didn’t necessarily know it was going to be a USTA League. I just thought it was kind of a pickup league here and there. I kept evolving and getting better. I kept playing, and here we are today.”

Two years after starting tennis at Cooper, Roark will represent USTA Missouri and USTA Missouri Valley at the NTRP National Championships.

He’ll compete in the 18 & Over 2.5 men’s singles division in Surprise, Ariz., on April 10-12. Players from Oregon, Utah and Colorado are also in the draw.

His qualification surprised him, and the humor of that fact did not escape him.

“HR people are supposed to know every detail of everything that needs to happen,” he said. “One day I logged into my email and saw a message that said I may be qualified to go to nationals.

“I sent (former USTA Missouri Executive Director) Leslie Echols a text message and said, ‘Is this a scam? This seems like a scam.’ She responded, ‘No, it’s not a scam.’”