Fremont’s Justin Bigsby utilizes no-cut policy for tennis teams

With the start of the 2024-25 school year just around the corner USTA Nebraska is featuring Justin Bigsby’s no-cut tennis teams at Fremont High School.

As another school year is fast approaching, boys’ tennis tryouts are already underway in high schools throughout Nebraska. At some Class A schools, making a team isn’t a sure thing and can be competitive. However, in other smaller districts, no-cut tennis teams are the norm in order to fill out a roster.

Justin Bigsby coaches the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams at Fremont High School, and the programs take any players who try out. 

“I’ve had some inexperienced players come out for the team as freshmen that probably would have been cut elsewhere but eventually worked their way onto our varsity team by their junior or senior year,” Bigsby said. “That, to me, is really cool to see.”

Bigsby has coached tennis for 28 years in the Fremont area. His goal isn’t only to win, but to pass on his love of tennis to others and encourage them to play beyond high school. He said his own youth coaches passed on their love of tennis to him, and he wants to pay it forward.

“Cutting kids from my program would basically be telling those kids that I don’t think they should get to learn how to play tennis, and I just can’t do that,” Bigsby said. “I know for a fact that I have ‘taught’ tennis to far more kids that had never played before than ‘coached’ players coming to our program with prior experience. That, to me, is the gratifying part of a no-cut program.”

The challenge with no-cut teams, Bigsby said, is when a large number of players come out for tryouts and there aren’t enough coaches for a reserve team. Fremont was able to hire a reserve coach for the girls’ tennis team a few years ago, but not all school districts have that luxury. Another challenge for many teams is court availability. Fremont is fortunate to have 12 courts.