USTA Tennessee has announced the Best of The Best Awards for 2019. Brannon Jones of Hendersonville is named the 2019 JTT Coordinator of the year. The award will be presented at the upcoming 2020 USTA Annual Meeting in January.
Brannon Jones has been Tennis Coach, as well as Science teacher at Hendersonville High School for 19 years. He teaches Science, Biology, and Chemistry, and is a self described “science NERD”. He also heads the tennis program for Hendersonville Parks Department, in addition to coordinating the JTT Tennis program in Sumner County. He is married, and the father of 2: Gavin, 14, and Stella, 8.
A native of Greenbrier, Tennessee, Brannon grew up playing tennis with his older brother. This background helped to build a love for the sport. He played for Belmont University for one year. He then attended MTSU, and would hit with the tennis team as time permitted. During his student teaching time, he realized how much he really missed the sport. It was during that time he decided to pursue a path to become a teaching pro. At that point he took the steps and became a USPTA Certified Tennis Teaching Professional.
JTT, Junior Team Tennis, is a club based or school based coed league for kids in age groups 10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under, and 18 and under. Teams are organized to play singles, doubles and mixed doubles against other teams. A match consists of the best of 3 short (4 no add game) sets. The winning team is the one that wins the most games.
Being a JTT Coordinator takes a lot of time. When asked, “Why do you do it?” Brannon’s response was “A crazy love for it!” He loves the organization, the scheduling, and the problem solving. He creates the teams, and sets it up and runs the matches. The real NERD comes out, and works to make the program a success.
Hendersonville and Sumner County are fortunate to have such a dedicated professional to coordinate the JTT program in their area. Coach Jones is currently on the Tennis Nashville Board of Directors and we congratulate him on receiving this prestigious award!
