Coach Lisa Henkel, formerly a star tennis player at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has brought strong leadership to the girls tennis team, which finished the season with a 12-7 record.
In addition to the team’s strong record, sophomore Sarah Zhou finished fourth at the Division II Sectional Championship in Strongsville and is headed to the District Tournament on Friday, Oct. 10.
In Henkel’s junior year (1988), she was a singles finalist in the state and the state singles champion in her senior year. She went on to play first singles as a freshman at Mount Holyoke College.
Before her debut at Beachwood, Henkel coached for many years at other schools in the Cleveland area.
“I coached at Hawken for about eight years, and I coached at Orange, both girls and boys,” she said. “Now I’m here coaching girls, and I still coach Orange boys. They actually just won the state tournament this past spring.”
Henkel was the assistant coach at Orange when the position opened up at Beachwood for a new girls head coach.
“When the head coach job opened up I was really interested,” she said. “I met with [Athletic Director Ryan Peters] who was very positive about the program.”
“I also knew some of the girls from the prior coach, so it seemed like a good fit,” she said.
Senior captain Mattie Spaller described the transition from former coach David Cole to Coach Henkel.
“Every coach has their own methods and things they find important when playing, so switching coaches has helped me grow into a more well-rounded player,” she said.
Henkel now coaches alongside JV coach Karen Kirchick.
“I came [to Beachwood] by myself, but [Peters] was very helpful with suggestions for pairings of assistant coaches, which I was very thankful for,” she said.
Outside of coaching, Henkel works at Howard Hanna in residential real estate.
“I’ve been doing [real estate] for about seven years now,” she said. “Prior to that, I was working in marketing in New York at a bunch of different beauty companies, Loreal being the biggest one.”
Henkel switched careers so she could make the most of all her passions.
“I really love design and real estate, so I thought a career in real estate would be a good complement to my already developed marketing and sales skills.”
A crucial component of this year’s successful season has been learning how the team can work effectively together.
“It was good to just get the girls involved and playing together early on,” she said.
Spaller feels Henkel has helped her approach to the game.
“She has taught me new strategies and how important the mental side of the game is,” she said.
Henkel feels the team’s trip to Cincinnati at the beginning of the season was a great way to kickstart the season.
“We went on this trip to Cincinnati where we played some local teams and then attended the Cincinnati Open so [the girls] were able to bond as a team and I was able to get to know them better and understand their playing styles,” she said. “The girls also began gelling together as a team.”
Spaller attributes much of the team’s success this year to Henkel’s leadership.
“We have had an amazing season, partially because our coach pushes us to be better,” she said.
Looking ahead, Spaller feels optimistic.
“We are graduating a lot of seniors, but I am not at all worried for the future of the program,” she said. We have good, younger players, and I see a lot of good leadership coming up from the junior class.”
