Jessica Staub

Jessica first stepped onto the tennis court at age 4. Growing up, she continued to play first singles while training in the world–class program right here at Sportsplex, traveling for USTA tournaments, and ranked 9th in the Southeastern Region of NYS. She made it to Section 9 in the top 4 of her MHAL. In 2013, she put down her racket due to injury. After graduating from Ithaca College with a Bachelor's degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, Management, Branding, and Design, her career path led her to many people and places she had least expected. It has been far from a conventional journey.

Life has taught her to build resilience, listen to her inner voice, reclaim her power, and pick herself back up (more times than one). She desires to instill these skills in others – to come back stronger every time, regardless of the challenge. As a new coach with roots in the Hudson Valley, she has a “no-give-up” attitude, leading with a pure and passionate heart, bringing the duality of the two to her students, intending to make a genuine difference in the lives of others to ignite play, growth, curiosity, creativity, discovery, and reflection within themselves, their game, and their life path. She finds the importance of allowing each player at any age to find their own style, rhythm, and pace of hitting and learning through fundamentals and foundational teachings, empowering everybody’s unique strengths and style of play, being true to their game and who they are and want to be on and off the court. 

Jessica truly believes that no matter how many times you lose or get knocked down, you should never give up and are capable of starting again as often as you need. This is why she finds the concept of “beginner's mind” to be so valuable for herself and her students; regardless of skill level or how frequently you play, act as if you were learning or practicing for the first time, with openness and eagerness, even if you’re an expert. At the end of the day, as a predominantly singles player, Jessica believes tennis is a “you vs. you” sport. The only way you can win is by learning how to get out of your own way. In the process of figuring out how to do that, she wishes to convey the value of having grit and perseverance towards reaching your goals and anything you want in life. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, as long as you keep going.