Serving up a storm in the tennis world is Mathew Halfpenny as he was hired as the new head coach of the Saint Joe Boys Tennis team in April of 2023. Halfpenny has been off to an incredible start only losing two matches so far. This is by no means his first time coaching though.
Halfpenny was the assistant coach at Brown University from 1999-2002 and at North Carolina State University from 2002-2006, the head coach at Norfolk State from 2006-2011, and then worked at South Bend Racquet Club from 2011-2019. This is Halfpenny’s first time coaching at the high school level and he is excelling and excited about doing it.
Outside of being a tennis coach, Halfpenny puts on a different coaching hat during the day. He works at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in the Mental Health and Substance Use facility as a Peer Recovery Coach. Halfpenny also leads a team that works on responding to mental crises in the community. As if this wasn’t already a full plate, Halfpenny is also pursuing his master’s degree in Addictions Counseling through Liberty University in his spare time.
Recently the tennis team participated in the Northern Indiana Conference tournament and received runner up in 1 Singles and the championships in 2 and 3 Singles and 1 and 2 Doubles. This landed the team first in the tournament, coming in ahead of Penn, John Glenn, Marian, Elkhart, Bremen, Jim Town, Clay, Adams, Riley, Washington, and New Prairie.
However, one player on the varsity squad has really stood out to Halfpenny, and that is the number 2 singles player – freshman phenom Jacob Hix. “I knew he was good coming in… but his ability to compete [is amazing]” says Halfpenny. With the state tournament coming up, Coach is hopeful that with players on the roster the team will push far into the postseason.
Even after the state tournament Halfpenny hopes to coach the programs for years to come. He looks forward to continuing to develop the young talent at his disposal, like Hix, and to build upon the legacy left by the class of 2024 seniors.
