Ever since she was six years old, Angie Minova has been playing tennis. Her mom got her started in Angie’s hometown of Kiev, Ukraine. “She like to play a lot and she just took me along with her,” Minova said. An only child, Minova was enrolled in the local tennis club by her mom, Luisa. From there, Luisa, who works in real estate, guided her daughter’s progress as a player at the club. Upon graduation from secondary school, Minova decided to pursue college in the United States. After a disappointing semester at a school in Oklahoma, she started looking around on the Internet and found Fresno Pacific University.
If her success in three years at FPU is any indication, she’s learned the game pretty well and may have found a new home. Since she’s so experienced, it helps her relate to what she’s asking the players to do. They should listen. Angie’s personal highlight as an FPU player was taking first place in the collegiate division of the prestigious Ojai Tennis Tournament. It is held every April and attracts just everyone who is involved with tennis.
As the first-year Fresno City College head women’s coach, she’s passing along some great knowledge and experience to her players. Last spring, she was an assistant coach for the girls’ team at Buchanan High School.
Her first head coaching job, she decided to look into it at the suggestion of FCC men’s coach Steve Loop, who ironically, returned to FCC last year after being assistant men’s coach at FPU.
“It was my dream from the start that I wanted to be a tennis coach,” she said.
Minova is learning along with her players. “I want them to realize it takes hard work and I work hard at getting them challenged.”
The task at hand will not be an easy one because the women’s tennis team has not had a winning season since 2005 when the Rams posted a 14-1 record and were 10-0 to win the Central Valley Conference. Coach and players received a rude entrance into community college tennis when Bakersfield blanked the Rams in the 2009 season opener.
However, the team has only the sophomores. Jamie Fernandez (San Joaquin Memorial High) and Roneva Monreal (Bret Harte) are playing at No. 1 and No. 2 singles while Monica Rodriguez (Washington Union) is at No. 4. Minova is confident the team will improve during Big Eight Conference competition.
For someone who loves the game so much, and is patient, it appears that it won’t be too long a wait for Minova to acquire a lot of coaching highlights on the FCC courts.
Foto cap-Court coaching sense!-New FCC women’s tennis coach Angie Minova (right) works with Reneva Monreal (left) and Sydney Ilic (center) through a drill during recent practice session.
