Teaching, Coaching, Inspiring: The Siske family’s tennis impact
If you grew up playing tennis in the Ralston area, there’s a good chance you had someone from the Siske family as a coach or part of your team.
It all started with Richard Weidman. He once even played against Bobby Riggs in a tournament he hitchhiked to. Weidman later played collegiate tennis for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“He passed his love of tennis on to everyone in our family and taught my dad how to play once he and my mom started dating,” said Thomas Siske, one of Weidman’s grandsons. “My dad was a longtime junior varsity tennis coach at Ralston (where I am now), and my dad and grandpa taught my brothers and I how to play. We all went on to play college tennis.”
Thomas Siske’s dad, Ron Siske, previously coached tennis at Ralston and now coaches volleyball, basketball and track at Ralston Middle School. One of Thomas Siske’s brothers, Tony Siske, coaches tennis, basketball and golf at Crete High School.
Another brother, Randy Siske, coaches softball at Yutan-Mead as well as golf. He previously coached tennis at Papillion. Yet another brother, Josh Siske, is the assistant principal and activity/athletics director at Platteview High School in Springfield, Nebraska. He used to coach tennis at Crete and Papillion.
Their aunt, Wendy Robinson, played for the Huskers and coached for a high school in Kansas before recently retiring. Andrew Robinson, Wendy's son, worked for USTA Missouri Valley as a social media producer and is now with USTA national as the manager of social media content.
The Siske brothers enjoy introducing the sport of tennis to young adults, watching them improve and hoping they fall in love with the game like they did.
“Tennis is an activity that people can enjoy for many years,” Tony Siske said. “And I hope that our athletes enjoy it enough to play beyond high school competitively or recreationally.”
Hundreds of student-athletes in the Ralston community have been impacted by the Siske family of coaches, including the tennis players at Ralston High School.
Ralston High School received $49,925 in USTA Tennis Venue Services grant funding to improve the tennis facility.
- Hundreds of student-athletes in the Ralston community have been impacted by the Siske family of coaches, including the tennis players at Ralston High School.
- Ralston High School received $49,925 in USTA Tennis Venue Services grant funding to improve the tennis facility.
“Coaching tennis was very enjoyable because I always loved to see kids learn the mental side of the game,” Randy Siske said. “It’s so fun seeing that lightbulb go off in their head on when to make specific shots during a match.”
“I like being able to pass my knowledge of the game to my players and teaching them to do things the right/respectful way,” Thomas Siske said. “I hope to get as many kids involved with the sport as possible. And they enjoy their experience of playing for me and continue to play after they graduate from Ralston.”
Thomas Siske added that almost all of his players never have played tennis before, so he just wants them to get better and be competitive by the time they make it to the varsity level. Ralston is unique in that it is a no-cut team. So he’s had teams as big as 50 players.
“We had to get creative to manage that many players,” Thomas Siske said. “But we have retained most of them from year to year.”
Ralston High School’s six-court tennis facility was recently the beneficiary of Tennis Venue Services grants from USTA national and USTA Missouri Valley totaling $49,925. A check was presented at the school on Aug. 11.
Check out additional stories from across USTA Missouri Valley spotlighting coaches and student-athletes by clicking here.
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