Missouri Valley

USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame: Jane Hines

November 13, 2020


Jane Zukaitis Hines has been instrumental to the growth of the Omaha tennis community and a strong champion for diversity outreach and adaptive tennis. She has grown the game of tennis in many roles, with her tennis resume including playing, teaching, coaching, administrating, fundraising, and marketing tennis.

 

As a player, Hines excelled at high levels. As a junior player, she was ranked #1 in Nebraska singles and doubles. During her career at Omaha Burke High School, she won the Nebraska State and Omaha Metro doubles championships. Hines went on to play college tennis at the University of Hawaii. There she would earn the Most Inspirational Athlete, Academic All-American, and the prestigious Jack Bonham Athlete of the Year awards.

 

During her time as a college athlete, Hines realized her desire to make a career out of her sport. Upon graduation, she quickly soared into a marvelous tennis career.

 

“Tennis provided me with so many opportunities. I just wanted to share those opportunities with others,” said Hines. “Tennis provided me with friendships, fitness, fun, a college education, and my career. I thought ‘Gosh, I have this fabulous recipe for life. Why not share this with others?’”

 

A highly accomplished junior high performance coach, Hines brought in several state, sectional, and national coaching awards.

 

Hines’s tennis influence didn’t stop there. As a USPTA Tennis Professional, she worked as a tennis instructor, programming director, and marketing director at various clubs, schools and community centers in the Omaha area. In these roles, she would build up numerous adult and junior instructional and competitive programs.

 

Outside of her roles of teaching and directing tennis, Hines has used her marketing and website skills to promote the game in big ways. For many years, she has served as the volunteer webmaster for the Omaha Tennis Association, USTA Nebraska, Omaha Tennis Buddies, and USTA National Adaptive Tennis. She created e-newsletters for several tennis organizations, published various adaptive tennis spotlights on the USTA National website, and has written a multitude of tennis publications, guides, articles, curriculums, and more.

 

The list of how Hines has involved herself in local tennis is never-ending; her passion for bringing diversity and inclusion into the tennis community is unmatched. 

 

This passion is clear especially in her work with the Omaha Tennis Buddies, a program co-founded by Hines which partners adaptive athletes with local tennis enthusiasts to provide year-round tennis programming for adaptive athletes. Her other local tennis involvements include grant writing, after-school tennis programming, multicultural outreach, non-elimination tennis competitions and more.

 

“Every individual is important! I wanted to make certain that any individual who wanted to learn to play tennis had a way to do so,” Hines said. “I did not want this sport that we love to be locked into a box and kept away for only the elite players. I wanted to make certain that if there were a player out there of any age or ability, that we would have a place in which they could come to play in a safe and successful environment.”

 

Hines has served in several roles within the Omaha Tennis Association and USTA Nebraska, including chair of several committees and as President. At both the section and national level, Hines was involved in many committees, workshops, meetings, and events, most notably serving as the Chair of the USTA Adaptive Tennis National Committee and as a coordinator of the USTA Missouri Valley Fred Johnson ALL Stars adaptive event.

 

Her selfless work has been reflected through the multitude of awards that she has received from the Omaha Tennis Association, USTA Nebraska, and USTA Missouri Valley. Other notable recognitions include the USPTA National Star Award, Tennis Industry Adaptive Tennis Champion of the Year, President’s Awards and induction into the USTA Nebraska Hall of Fame.

 

When asked her thoughts on being inducted into the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame, Hines had humble words to share:

 

“I have to tell you, I was rather shocked and I was even surprised to find myself choking back some tears. When I got off the phone, I had to explain to my little granddaughters that I was shedding tears of joy, and that sometimes people get tears of joy when they are very, very happy. So, I am very, very happy to be inducted into the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame!”

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