Katy Dresnok loves passing her passion for tennis on to her players

Katy Dresnok

By Matt Pascarella

Like many coaches, Katy Dresnok’s love of the game is what drives her to coach tennis. Dresnok, who is the Windham High School girls’ varsity coach, has been playing since she was five years old and enjoys playing competitively.

After she went to graduate school at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, her coaching career began. She coached both boys’ and girls’ varsity and junior varsity tennis in Tennessee. “It was a lot of fun to interact with my students out of class, that gave me a taste of coaching,” Dresnok explained.

When Dresnok, who is originally from Connecticut, first moved to Maine, she taught grades four and five in the Greely School District. She missed teaching at the high school level and took her current job at Windham, teaching French since the early 2000’s.

She was drawn to tennis because of her love and familiarity with it. “I personally play a lot in my spare time with various tennis teams,” Dresnok stated. “Since I enjoy playing competitively, I feel like I can offer the passion and the experience to my players. I really like the team building experience and watching the growth and passion that they get from the sport that I have myself.”

Dresnok stated that she enjoys watching her players improve and seeing the excitement for the season; she finds that very rewarding.

Dresnok has a younger team with 15 of her current 17 players returning next year. This is great for her, because she can see the individual and team growth. She wants her players to have fun, improve over the season and develop a love of the game so that they want to get back on the court.

Dresnok’s favorite thing about being a coach is spreading the love and passion for tennis as well as watching her player’s successes.

One reason Dresnok loves coaching tennis is it’s a disconnect from the digital world. There are no digital distractions or competition with social media on the court. The players can be present.

A Cumberland resident, Dresnok has been teaching twenty years. She has three children; one plays for the Greely High boys’ tennis team and two daughters who are a huge part of her life. She went to American University is Washington, DC and graduated with a degree in French and International Relations. She and her family love to ski and hike. Dresnok also likes to travel and spend time with friends and family.