This past May, Head Coach Ben Lamanna was named the Division III Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). With the help of Lamanna’s coaching, the women’s tennis team returned to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2017.

Lamanna credited the team for his award, explaining how the program has grown over the years despite rough patches during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’m really proud of the players’ experience, mostly because it was a partnership all along…. We had a bunch of great kids who were doing the right things for many years in a row, and the culture built on top of each other,” Lamanna said. “Any award is just icing on the cake, because the true award for me was watching this team grow, and that was what kept me getting up motivated every morning.”

Lamanna previously won the ITA Division III Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year while at Brandeis University from 2018–2019. As one of few people to have won the award for both women’s and men’s teams, Lamanna explained the similarities he felt between the two teams.

“I was telling the [team] that I had another special feeling about this group, one of the same special feelings I had with that Brandeis team. It was a lot of years of hard work, and we were doing special things in practice,” Lamanna said.

Lamanna was inspired to coach college tennis by his experience on the Bates College tennis team, where his own coach brought the team together cohesively.

“[When I] played tennis at Bates, I always loved being a teammate, always loved learning from upperclassmen. And then it was my chance to be that person to lead as well,” Lamanna said. “I had a great coach who developed me as a player. I had a super diverse group of teammates, and it was hard to bring that group together…. But I [thought] if that group can really find a lot in common, it could happen anywhere.”

Lamanna’s first key coaching technique is creating a strong team culture.

“We use the acronym, GO UBEARS, [standing for] grit, optimism, upstanding citizens, bold, energy, accountability, resilience and selflessness,” Lamanna said. “We feel like if we execute those values to a super high standard, then we’ll win…. For many years, the winning didn’t happen, but the winning happened this past year, and so the culture is important.”

The second part of his coaching technique is fostering player development.

“[When] I’m working with my players on court, I might be working on their inside-out forehand, or I might be working on different plays that they’re running…. . We might be just sitting down and talking about their Bowdoin experience and how they’re doing,” Lamanna said.“Other programs are getting better recruits as far as the rankings are concerned, but I don’t care as much about those junior rankings. I care about having good kids who are going to get a lot better.”

The women’s tennis team is excited about what this year’s season will bring, with the goal of winning the national championship.

“We know how [winning the national championship] happens now, so we’re going to try to do all the little things right for the next few months…. We have three new first years coming in, so we’re excited to see how they can contribute,” Lamanna said. “We’re playing more top ten teams than we have since I’ve been here, and we’re ready to be challenged again.