The sport of tennis is constantly growing in the Lexington area.

It’s now home to a tennis academy run by the new director and owner of TopSpin Racquet and Swim Club Randy Bloemendaal.

Involved with the sport for 41 years, Bloemendaal had grown up with tennis as his grandparents introduced him to the sport at the age of 10. In addition to his grandparents, his stepfather played tennis in a church league.

Even though tennis ran in Bloemendaal’s blood, it was really the 1980 Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe that ignited his passion for tennis.

Before taking the reins as new director of TopSpin, Bloemendaal spend 20 years coaching collegiate tennis. His first collegiate coaching position was at his alma mater Lees McRae where he served as the assistant coach from 1994 until his promotion to head coach in 1995.

Bloemendaal held the position until 2003, eventually moving on to accept the head coaching position at Charles ton Southern University from 2003-05. He then landed at Indiana University where he was an assistant coach for a year before being promoted to head coach in 2007.

After 7 years, Bloemendaal was asked to leave despite having a couple of good runs during his time as Hoosiers’ head coach. He also had a young team, however, he and the administration apparently did not see eye to eye on things. In addition, when coaching at the collegiate level, you either win matches and keep your job or if you have one bad year you might be gone.

Over the course of 20 years, Bloemendaal did not have too many downward cycles. When you have a majority freshman team, most coaches understand you will have a slight slowdown. Nevertheless, the Indiana administration appeared ready to head in a new direction.

Fast forward to today. The tennis academy is multifaceted with school, the after-school program and beginner classes with the kids. The adult part of the club is separate from the academy. However, on certain levels, membership is high considering that it is something they can include their families.

Because the adult part of the club involves memberships, this means catering to the members needs whether it’s the leagues, clinics, family time, socializing, or just a friendly match.

Since TopSpin is known throughout the state of South Carolina for its excellence, Bloemendaal wants to continue build its legacy of excellence with the tennis academy and after school program.

He believes tennis is the best sport in the world, because the sport can teach you a great deal of life lessons such as work ethic.

More on Bloemendaal in next week’s edition.