Connie Weiss Reflects on Role as Mixed League Coordinator

When Megan Kovacs and Mary Vassar approached Connie Weiss about becoming the USTA St. Louis mixed league coordinator in 2017, she jumped at the opportunity. Kovacs — USTA St. Louis’s adult league coordinator at the time who now works as executive director — and Vassar, the district’s longtime ED who is now retired, felt Weiss would be a terrific match for the role.

They were right. Weiss spent the last five years as mixed league coordinator — helping grow those leagues and the district’s offerings while lending a hand in other areas, too — before moving to Venice, Florida this past June. The district is seeking her successor, and interested individuals can learn more about the job and apply by clicking here.

“I liked the people I worked with,” Weiss said. “No. 1, I loved working with Megan. She was amazing. I loved working with Jill Kunkel. They were both such great leaders and great people to work with. They let me do whatever I wanted as long as it was within the rules. They were so giving of their time to explain things to me and to help. It made the job easy. You’re working with them, not just for them. They want you to succeed and grow the leagues.”

Weiss added she loved working with the mixed doubles captains who stepped up to lead teams. Weiss captained teams herself and co-captained two squads a season alongside Hope Zittel the previous couple years. Weiss played several seasons for Christine Wheeland’s teams and credited another captain, Sam Shouldis, for getting her into mixed doubles to begin with.

“The captains were amazing to work with,” Weiss said. “I found it’s competitive, but there’s still a camaraderie amongst the captains. And that trickles down to the players. It’s a nice group of people who play mixed. You want to have fun, but you’re still out there to be competitive. It makes it so much fun on the court.”

Weiss and her husband, Carl Weiss, played in USTA St. Louis leagues starting in 2007. They moved in 2010 before returning to St. Louis in 2012. At that time, Weiss said the two began playing tennis a ton. Carl and Connie competed on some mixed doubles teams together, which she called “a blast,” and played on separate teams as well.

“I enjoyed the social aspect of it, definitely,” Weiss said. “You’re new into town and you’re trying to find your peeps. Tennis is such a wide and varied community with the people you’re playing and the competition. Your tennis competitors become your friends. Fortunately, I was able to play on teams where my competitors became my teammates.”