Tennis coaches Zachary Keith and Scott Blakely have worked hard together to make the tennis team what it is today, and their combined experience has gone back 16 years.

Platte County High School has had a tennis team since 2008, and started out with no courts of their own. The team has had a long history of making things work for them, and they made do with what they had. Since then, however, it has grown tremendously, with multiple state qualifiers and championships to carry with them.

Blakely started his tennis career on the first-ever Platte County tennis team, not having any idea how to play.

“I was actually a baseball player my freshman year, and then we got a tennis team, and I really enjoyed the environment,” Blakely said.

Back when the team started, most of the players were playing for fun, and tennis was not their number one sport. Blakely was coached by Keith himself, who always added a lively environment to the game. Blakely also had the influence of his father, who coached tennis for 20 years. Growing up with a coach in the household led to Blakley having a long-time interest in coaching, and he found that Platte County was the place to do it.

He always wanted to come back to the school he graduated from to coach, but he first took an assistant coach position at St. Joe Central. While St. Joe’s team was exceptional, he wanted to move somewhere closer to home and also loved the idea of coming back to coach with Keith, and it allowed him to still play with the players.

“When it got to the point where I couldn’t be a player anymore, I tried to find a way to stay involved in the game, and coaching was that opportunity,” Blakely said. “Also getting to coach with Keith was something I wanted to do.”

Junior Hannah Tomlinson has been playing since her freshman year, and has worked a lot with Blakely. Most of their coaching strategy involves working separately, while still joining together to check on their respective tasks.

“Sometimes Blakely would work with Keith’s team, and Keith would help us,” Tomlinson said.

She mentioned the duality of both coaches, and their determination to help everyone. While the coaches made sure to coach the sport, they also built important social skills with the players.

“They put us with people we don’t talk to as much, so we get to know them better,” Tomlinson said.

They also implement traditions every year to have the players get to know each other, and build a team. One notable one is the team’s annual scavenger hunt, where the players complete tasks around the school and race to the fast food restaurant, Sonic.

It’s important to Blakely to have a strong team that keeps going when it gets difficult, and you aren’t able to do this if your team is unable to socialize with each other.

“[We] instill it in the players that we have to give it our all when we’re in a bad spot. We keep on battling,” Blakely said.

Both coaches believe in a hard-working mentality, and fighting for the win.

Zach Keith is a social studies teacher at Platte County High School and was the one who started the tennis program in 2008 with the help of Anna Nutt, a middle school teacher. Keith has been coaching tennis at Platte County since then, making this year his 16th season. The tennis program started with limited resources.

“We didn’t have tennis courts from 2008 until 2016 so we practiced at Seven Bridges,” Keith said.

This meant that the tennis teams didn’t have home games until 2016, when the school finally got new courts.

Keith played tennis throughout high school and went on to play tennis in college. He was inspired to commit to tennis because his father also played tennis and coached his brother and him as children.

“My dad played tennis and actually he helps us coach a little this year, but he taught my brother and I how to play whenever we were little, and so I’ve played my whole life,” Keith said. The team has had many
changes but one thing Keith feels that has been the same is the work ethic of his players.

“I’d like to think that we have a culture of hard work, and trying to win matches by making sure that were working had on the court and putting in the time,” Keith said.

One student who went on to become a coach for the tennis team is Scott Blakely, someone who Keith says was always someone you could tell would make a really good coach. “If I were to retire tomorrow he would be a great head coach and you know that’s something that really helps our team,” Keith said. “He has a tremendous amount of pride in Platte County tennis, it means a lot to him. If we have guys on the team, or girls, on the team that don’t necessarily meet those expectations of caring a lot, he doesn’t get mad easily, he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.”