Garrison Takes Advice from Coaches

NORMAN, Okla. - Senior Tommy Garrison has played tennis since he was a kid, going from the league level to the OU team. He has played in hundreds of matches that have taken him from coast to coast. However, as he reflects on his career, Garrison says that it hasn't been the tournaments he has played in or the places he has been that have influenced him the most. It has been his coaches.

From his first coach to his most recent, each one has pushed him, guided him and inspired him, not only on the courts but also in his everyday life.

Garrison decided to take up the game when he was eight years old after his first coach, John Williams, visited his school to talk about tennis.

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“After I heard him speak, I went home and told my parents that I wanted to start playing,” Garrison said. “I joined a league and played for one summer and ended up winning the first tournament I ever played in. From then on, I was hooked.”

For the next few years, Garrison traveled across the country while competing in the USTA/Missouri Valley Section. Williams, who Garrison says was instrumental in his success, was there to guide him.

“John played college and pro tennis and didn't start coaching me until his mid-50s,” Garrison said. “So he had lots of experience, which helped me a lot.”

Garrison says his most memorable moment with Williams came during his sophomore year, when Williams was giving one of his famous inspirational speeches before a Saturday afternoon tennis clinic.

“John always said, If you don't know what you want, you're never going to get it,'” Garrison said. “It usually lasted a few minutes, but that day, his speech lasted nearly 20 minutes. It really hit home for me at that moment.”

A year later, Williams retired, and Garrison came under the direction of his second coach: Jim Shaughnessy. Although the coaches were very different, Garrison says he benefited from having two coaches with such different styles.

“Jim was very energetic and focused on helping with the physical aspects of my game,” he said. “That was different from John, who focused more on the mental aspects.”

Armed with a sound technical and mental game, Garrison competed as a junior in the state tournament at No. 1 singles. Over 500 people watched Garrison win a three-set match to become the state champion.

“That was one of the biggest crowds and most fun atmospheres that I've ever played in,” he said.

During that same year, Garrison began looking at collegiate tennis programs across the country. After visiting Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Notre Dame, Garrison decided on OU. He says that one piece of advice that Shaughnessy gave him made his decision rather easy.

“I had been a Sooner fan my whole life, but what really stood out to me was the team,” Garrison said. “Jim said that should be my main criteria in picking a team, and I felt like I fit in really well.”

When Garrison came to OU, head coach Paul Lockwood says that his maturity was quite noticeable. Lockwood attributes Garrison's athletic skill, work ethic, maturity and commitmentwhich were fostered by former coaches as well as his familyto his growth into the athlete and person he is today.

“His maturity level was very noticeable,” Lockwood said. “Look at his singles record during his freshman year compared to his junior and senior years. He went from struggling at No. 6 to tying the OU record for most consecutive wins. No one can do that without making huge strides in the development of their game.”

As he came to befriend Lockwood, Garrison says Lockwood taught him lessons about juggling the many responsibilities that came with college life, like balancing athletics and academics with a personal life.

“He has been a big help, and I can say nothing but great things about him,” Garrison said. “He has been a friend as well as a coach.”

Lockwood confirms that although he helped Garrison's game along, he primarily served as a friend to a player whom he calls “a coach's dream and a poster boy of a role model.”

“He has it all,” Lockwood said. “He had so much of the total package when he first arrived that I didn't have to remind him to do the little things because he was already doing them. His character and work ethic are rarities in coaching, so I mostly gave him encouragement and tried to bring together everything that he had learned.”

Attesting to his development are the numerous awards Garrison has received over the years. Last year, he was chosen as the recipient of the ITA Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship & Leadership Awardwhich is given to one athlete who has excelled in scholastics, sportsmanship, leadership, character and humanitarian concernfor the ITA Central Region. Last week, he was awarded the Big 12 Conference Medal for OU for exemplifying the ideals of a student-athlete.

On the team, Garrison has been the go-to guy for leadership. A two-time team captain, Garrison is also well-known for inviting teammates who cannot go home for the holidays to his home in Enid for Thanksgiving dinner.

When asked why he has become a leader on the team, Garrison says that it has been the lessons he has learned from his coaches, past and present, that have influenced him.

“Sometimes you need someone to help you out with your game,” he said. “Sometimes, you need someone to yell at you when you're doing something wrong or pick you up and be your friend when you're down. I try to take the lessons I learned from John, Jim and Coach Lockwood and lead by example.”

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