Lund Named Section Youth Provider of the Month

This year, USTA Missouri Valley is shining a spotlight on impactful members of the tennis community as they recognize a Youth Tennis Provider of the Month. 

The July recipient of this award is Brad Lund, Director of Tennis Development for Britton Christian Church Tennis Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

According to BCCTA’s website, “what began as an outreach ministry for the kids of our community has become a multi-faceted tennis ministry which is producing great tennis players and even more outstanding kids.”

“Even though founded in 2011, we started the “competitive” side of things about four years ago and it has really taken off,” said Lund. “I would have never dreamed this would have happened.”

As the Director of Tennis Development, Lund serves as the primary line of communication with parents regarding weekly schedules, orders equipment and apparel and registers players for USTA tournaments. As he puts it, “at the end of the day, [my job is to] ensure all of our students are put in a position to succeed, on-and-off the court.” He also coaches and oversees BCCTA’s Junior Team Tennis squads as well as a weekly drill group of six to eight year-olds known as the Cubs.

“Personally, I think the key has been our approach to Junior Team Tennis,” said Lund. “Our approach is different than the vast majority. We let the players name the team, have captains and mandatory practice, etc. Uniforms are head-to-toe, and we host a year-end banquet. Everything is run like a traditional youth sports team.” 

Lund says he got involved about a decade ago when a friend asked if he would help with his church’s new program. Soon he found himself in charge of his own group of kids each Tuesday afternoon and it snowballed. He says he’s proud of the strong retention rate at BCCTA.

“Individual sports traditionally don’t have as good a retention rate as they should,” said Lund. “Kids and families have more extra-curricular activities available to them than ever before. But to know that more than 80 percent of our full-time students have stayed with the sport and BCCTA tells me we are doing something right and that they are enjoying success.”