Coach Bill’s Bio
Coach Bill Bush grew up in Upland, California and started playing tennis at the age of 10 when his father traded tennis lessons for physics tutoring with a high school neighbor. “I can remember our first lesson vividly, my coach would feed me the ball and I would intentionally blast it over the fence into the grass field behind the courts. Within a short time I truly grew to love the sport. By the time I had been playing for a few years you couldn’t drag me off the courts. And by the time I was 16 I was competing at the upper levels of the game in Southern California and Nationally. I was fortunate and often in the right place at the right time so I had the privledge of training one on one with: Pete Sampras and John McEnroe. During my Sophomore year Summer I lived at the premier tennis training academy in Florida, Nick Bollettieri’s, and roomed and trained with a then young Andre Agassi. I went on in Southern California to be ranked in the Boy’s 18’s number 25 in Singles and number 1 in Doubles. I was a fairly good singles player but because of very fast hands at the net, I truly excelled in doubles. Later I would go on to have my best professional results on the professional ATP double’s circuit, beating players such as Jan Michael-Gambil, ranked a career high of 14 in the world on the ATP men’s Circuit. After sustaining a knee and shoulder injury I decided to pack up my professional ambitions and enrolled at Azusa Pacific University on a tennis scholarship and started teaching tennis on the side. I later graduated with a degree in Psychology. Looking back over the journey I can honestly say that tennis changed my life for the better. I like to tell people that tennis will bring more fun, fitness, and friendships into your life because that has truly been my experience.