Swindell Earns Gold Star

In honor of our 100th anniversary in 2020, the USTA Missouri Valley is recognizing 100 deserving tennis providers, players, partners and more each month.

One of Oklahoma's July winners is Lori Swindell, tennis coach at Lincoln Christian School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Swindell began playing tennis at age 14 as an alternative to joining the track team or playing off-season basketball.

“Little did I know that tennis would get in my blood and become my favorite sport in high school out the three sports I played,” said Swindell. 

After college, she began teaching and took over the girls’ and boys’ tennis programs at her former high school. She implemented USTA programming in the Owasso School District in the mid 1990s in an effort to grow the students’ interest in tennis. At the time, the town only had two courts for the entire community. Swindell’s efforts eventually helped the high school build new courts.

Even though she quit coaching for awhile to spend more time with her kids and family, she continued to play on several USTA League teams. Then in 2012 the athletic administration came calling and she was asked to take over the tennis programs again.

“I began to run camps each summer using the Net Generation curriculum and had great success with our kids,” said Swindell. “Now I also teach privately and run many groups using Net Generation materials as well.”

During this time, Swindell also started the school's first ever junior high tennis program. Two years ago, the school hosted a workshop with USTA Missouri Valley Schools Tennis Organizer Becky Riggs.

A few years later, Swindell because an assistant coach at Lincoln Christian to start its first-ever tennis program. She again worked with Riggs to bring a workshop into Lincoln's physical education department and now serves both Owasso and Lincoln as a Net Generation provider. In a typical year she sees about 75 kids participate in camps and teaches around 25 kids privately and in groups. Thanks to her partnership with USTA Missouri Valley, she has racquets for all of the kids as well as provides lessons with the correct ball size.  

“I really feel like since I started with the Net Generation curriculum years ago, my teaching has gotten better and my kids pick up the skills quicker,” said Swindell. “I love, love, love Net Generation!”