Lachmond Bratton is the new assistant coach for the Seward County tennis teams. Bratton is a former professional tennis teacher.

Bratton joins tennis staff

Angel Meza, Sports Editor

March 6, 2018

As Seward County Community College announces the resignation of tennis, Head Coach Greg Owen, who accepts the same position at Southern Arkansas University, Assistant Coach Chase Ashley will be taking over as the head coach for the Saints.

Assistant Coach Ashley has been the assistant coach under Owen for the past two years.

“My goals haven’t changed at all due to my title of my job. It’s always going to be that we want to get better every year. Whenever Greg Owen and I were coaching together, we always tried to find different ways to get better as coaches and for the team. We’re always finding ways to push our athletes to get better, whether it’s at the court or in the classroom. For us to be practicing two hours on the court and an hour of physical condition, in order for us to win a National Championship, that’s not enough. So we basically try to find new ways to get better every day and hopefully bring a National title to SCCC,” Ashley, SCCC Men’s & Women’s Tennis Head Coach, said.

After the resignation of Owen, Ashley adds Lachmond Bratton to the tennis staff as the new assistant coach.

Bratton comes from Toledo, Ohio where he was a teaching tennis professional, certified through the Professional Tennis Registry.

“I started playing tennis at age 13. I went to college as a former collegiate tennis player for two years at Defiance College. Then I went to the Marine Corps for four years. After that, I went to the University of Toledo to finish my bachelors degree. I started coaching tennis at two different high schools shortly after graduating from the University of Toledo. After coaching for those high schools, I transitioned to an indoor tennis club and I went to get certified for coaching,” Lachmond Bratton, SCCC Men’s & Women’s Tennis Assistant Coach, said.

“I asked myself if there was anything else I could do as a coach at the high school level. I said to myself what do I miss the most about college and it was playing tennis. To me, this is a great opportunity for me to start all over and start my tennis coaching career,” Assistant Coach Bratton, said.

“I come from a massive population city and to me the area here at Seward is a lot slower. I can get stuff finished quicker than I usually would back at home. It’s a lot more relaxing being here and the community is very friendly and I get more smiles than frowns here, which is always good. It’s a lot different here at Seward. I really love being here and I love the culture. I know being successful on the court is important, but also being successful in the classroom is very important. Here at SCCC, our athletes get to speak with their professors more than you would at a university, which plays a huge factor to student athletes,” Assistant Coach Bratton, said.

Amberley Taylor
Both Saints and Lady Saints tennis will play at home throughout this week. Be sure to go out and support.

“My goal for being the new assistant coach with Coach Ashley is pretty clear, to win the whole thing. We have no weak spots on our lineup whatsoever. All of our double’s team are extremely strong and I haven’t seen them lose yet. I think, personally, what Coach Ashley and Owen have created here is a monster tennis program and it’s going to be unstoppable. For the women’s side, for them to win a regional title will be fantastic. They’re really talented and they definitely don’t really have huge weaknesses in their game. I think they can definitely pull back-to-back regional titles this year,” Assistant Coach Bratton, said.

“My advice for our tennis team is to trust the process. Here at SCCC, it’s really tough to break the starting line up. You can be the best player at any high school and you can come here and be ranked 11 and it will be very shocking. As long as you stick with it and put the hours in your craft, it will definitely pay off in the end,” Assistant Coach Bratton, stated.