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Legendary coach Jan Van Tuyl passed away on July 17th at the age of 83. Van Tuyl coached tennis at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas for the past 12 years, but he first began his teaching and coaching career in 1960. 58 years and countless student athletes later, he was still going strong, showing up at the Desert Pines High School Tennis Courts at 6 a.m. to run summer tennis practices, transporting and arranging rides for his players to get to and from tennis matches, and taking care of all the logistics that go with the job of being a tennis coach. But Coach Van Tuyl was more than a coach to his players. He was a mentor, a role model, and often filled the role of a surrogate parent or grandparent. Because of his willingness to so completely invest in his players both on and off the court, he had a massive impact on their lives. A recent example of his outsized influence can be seen with the four Desert Pines Seniors pictured below, who were all awarded scholarships to Kentucky Wesleyan College, where they will play tennis this fall.

Coach Van Tuyl’s recent coaching accomplishments include being named High School Coach of the Year by USTA Nevada in 2011, winning Recreational Coach of the Year from that same organization in 2014, and being honored by USTA National in 2016 as one of ten high school coaches across the country who ran an exceptional ?no-cut? high school tennis program.

Coach Van Tuyl will be deeply missed by all the children he has coached and students he has taught. He is survived by his wife Linda of 63 years, his three children, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and the thousands of students and players whose lives he profoundly changed both on the court and in the classroom.


Vincent Whatley; Kevin Giron; Jose Ruiz and Adan Cano
 
Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa
Game-Set-Match
Tennis Warehouse


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