User:Hawaiiaces/sandbox

= Dave Porter (Coach) =

Early Years
Born in Des Moines, Iowa on May 14, 1951 Porter lived in Ames, Iowa and Ithaca, New York before his family settled in Provo, Utah. He was educated at BY High School, a privately run K-12 facility operated by Brigham Young University with an accelerated learning component. He spent one of his high school years in London, England where he competed on regional and national basketball teams. BY High School closed at the end of his junior year and he graduated from Provo High School in 1969 prior to enrolling at BYU where he started as a freshman on the basketball team (freshman were not eligible to compete on varsity teams at that time in the NCAA). Following his freshman year at BYU he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the New England Mission headquartered in Cambridge, MA, from 1970-1972. Following his Church Mission he competed in both the basketball and tennis programs at BYU while earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education in 1975.

Academics
Porter earned his Masters of Science degree from Brigham Young University in Physical Education emphasizing Exercise Physiology in 1977. After completing his first year in the Master’s Program he was hired as a faculty member at BYU and assigned as the first Director of Physical Fitness at the Missionary Training Center, a facility that emphasized final preparation, particularly language training, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He developed a fitness program called Timed-Ex which allowed its users to develop muscular strength, cardio-vascular strength and endurance in limited space, with no equipment, in the same area as another user on a completely different level of fitness. The Timed-Ex Physical Fitness Program was used worldwide for over a decade by hundreds of thousands of full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is available today on app for either i-phone or android users.

In 1982, Porter accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Exercise & Sports Science Department at Brigham Young University Hawaii and he and his family moved to the picturesque North Shore of Oahu. Soon thereafter he was accepted into the Doctoral Program at University of Hawaii in Curriculum & Instruction in Physical Education. He developed a high school physical fitness program based on his Timed-Ex philosophy and implemented it in selected high schools in Kiribati. He established the foundation for the current curriculum in Exercise Science and later was named Chairman of the Exercise & Sports Science Department at BYU-Hawaii. He is a full professor and has been recognized with multiple Exemplary Faculty Teaching and Service Awards, and selected to present the David O McKay Lecture. For a number of years, he published a monthly article in a major tennis magazine in China.

USPTA
In 1984, Porter was tested and certified as a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association. Within a year he became a member of the Hawaii Division Board of Directors and a year later became the Hawaii Division Regional Vice-President earning him a place on the USPTA National Executive Committee. In 1992 he was elected a member of the National Board of Directors, serving as a member of the National Board for 15 years. He was the USPTA National President from 2003-2005. During Porter’s time on the National Board he promoted and established an emphasis on accessible continuing education. He made a number of educational videos as part of the Tennis Channels On-Court with USPTA series. Following his service on the National Board of Directors Porter continued to serve the tennis teaching community as either the chairman or member of both the Education and the Testing and Certification Committees.

Before Porter’s time as the National President he was chosen to Chair the USPTA Player Development Council. This select group were considered the “elite” player developers worldwide. The initial Council included Porter, Nick Bollettieri, Rick Maaci, Jim Leohr, Jack Groppel, Luis Meidero, and Tim Heckler.

Porter became a tester for the USPTA over 25 years ago and has been the Head Tester for the Hawaii Division for over two decades. He has conducted USPTA Exams in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. He has tested over 1,000 USPTA members in China alone.

Porter has been awarded the George Bacso National Tester of the Year Award, the National Collegiate Coach of the Year Award (twice), and the Alex Gordon Professional of the Year.

Coaching
Porter began coaching while still in high school. His first “official” coaching experience was Little League Baseball which he did for three summers until leaving for his Church Missionary Service. His love of coaching continued when he returned. He was the high school tennis coach for both boys and girls at Provo High School and guided the girl’s team to a State Runner-Up Finish. Porter was the Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Brigham Young University and later an Assistant Coach with the Men’s team and the Head Junior Varsity Coach. He left coaching at BYU and accepted the Assistant Men’s Coaching Position at BYU Hawaii in the fall of 1982. During his two year stint with the basketball program BYU-Hawaii won twenty plus games for the first time in school history.

In the fall of 1984, Porter was an Assistant Volleyball Coach for the Women’s Volleyball team and helped guide them to the NAIA National Championship game and an overall 2nd place finish. That fall, in 1984, Porter began the first Intercollegiate Men’s tennis season in school history at BYU-Hawaii. With a $1,000 budget, which included scholarships, equipment and travel (and no release time from his professorial teaching duties) Porter’s team finished the year with 20 wins and 10 losses (7 of the losses to NCAA D-I schools). His teams won HIAC (Hawaii Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) and/or NAIA District 29 Championships each of the next 10 years. During the fall of 1992 Porter was asked to coach the BYU-Hawaii Women’s team in addition to the Men while continuing to teach in the Exercise & Sport Science department. While the Men’s team had established themselves nationally having finished as NAIA National Runner-up in both the 91-92 and 92-93 seasons the Women’s team exploded into national prominence with a record of 150 wins and 11 losses over the first six years under Porter’s reign including NAIA National Championships in 1997 and 1998. In the fall of 1998 BYU-Hawaii moved from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II. Over the next 18 seasons the BYU-Hawaii Women’s Tennis Team won seven National Team Championships, finished second in the nation eight times, third in the nation twice and fourth once. BYU-Hawaii’s Women’s Tennis record during this 18 year period was 582 wins and 14 losses for a winning percentage of .977. During the decade between 1996 and 2006 Porter’s Women’s Team won 103 consecutive matches and then following a loss in the 2001 National Championship match won the next 130 consecutive matches for a 233-1 record over that stretch. Over the 24 years that Porter coached the Women’s Team at BYU-Hawaii they had 9 undefeated seasons. Only one other team in BYU-Hawaii athletic history had an undefeated season and that occurred just once. During the 2002 and 2003 seasons Porter coached the Men’s team to consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships. The Women’s teams also won NCAA National Championships those same years making Porter the first Head Coach to win both men’s and women’s national titles in back-to-back years. Porter’s overall intercollegiate men’s record of 678 wins and 163 losses (	.807) combined with his intercollegiate women’s record of 732 wins and 25 losses (.968) makes him the winningest coach in four-year intercollegiate tennis coaching history with 1,410 wins and 188 losses (.882). Had BYU-Hawaii not chosen to eliminate all intercollegiate sports at the university who knows how many wins Porter may have achieved? Porter has been highly sought after for coaching for over three decades. In 1988, Porter was selected to represent the United States Information Agency as part of their “Sports America” program and traveled to Guyana in South America to conduct clinics which included tennis, cyclists preparing for the Seoul Olympics and conditioning and fitness for elite cricket players (3 of whom played on the West Indies World Cup team). In 1996 Porter conducted a two-week coaching clinic and certification course for the International Tennis Federation in Fiji. Over 30 coaches from 10 different countries in Oceania attended the course. Beginning in the late 1990’s the China Tennis Association brought Porter to China to work with its national teams. Although he worked with both men’s and women’s teams his focus became women’s team members. He taught Australian and French Open Champion Li Na the open stance backhand (amid resistance) at a National Team Training at the 51 court facility at Mission Hills Club in Shenzhen. Over the next several years Porter spent most of his time with four players seen below. These players, 2004 Olympic Gold Medal Champions Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian and 2006 Wimbledon and Australian Open Champions Zheng Jie and Yan Zi. For the past 20 plus years Porter has worked with entry level and developing players at Camp Walt Whitman, a coed children’s camp, located in Piermont, NH. Whether beginning and developing players at CWW, with collegiate champions, or with Olympic Gold Medalists and Grand Slam Champions Porter loves to coach and believes that many of life’s most important lessons are learned best through sports.

As a result of his coaching and tennis expertise Porter was a member of the USTA High Performance Committee and served as the vice-chair of the Committee with Billie Jean King as the Chair.

Olympic Gold Medalists Li Ting & Sun Tian Tian/		Wimbledon and Australian Open Champions Zheng Jie & Yan Zi

Family
Porter is married to the former Lorrie Parker and they have four children; Tara (James Bekker), Lincoln (Erin Plicka), Dillon, and Taylor (Dane Nielsen). They currently have 13 grandchildren.

Awards, Honors, and Recognitions
International Tennis Hall of Fame: Educational Merit Award (2007) United States Olympic Committee: “Doc” Counsilman Award for Tennis (2004) USPTA Alex Gordon Professional of the Year (2012) USPTA George Bacso Tester of the Year (2014) RPT International Master Professional (Registry of Professional Tennis) (2010) USPTA Hawaii Division Hall of Fame (2005) USTA Hawaii Pacific Section Hall of Fame (2016)

Highlights

 * 1) 	During the 2007-2008 season Dr. Porter passed the 1,000 win mark.  He achieved 1,000 collegiate coaching victories in fewer contests than any coach in any sport in any division in NCAA history (1,128).
 * 2) 	Won more dual meet tennis matches than any other coach in four-year collegiate history.  Record is 1,410 wins and 188 losses.
 * 3) 	He has the highest winning percentage of any NCAA women’s tennis coach in history:  582 wins and 14 losses for a .977 winning percentage. (18 seasons since joining the NCAA in 1998-1999 through the 2016-2017 season.)
 * 4) 	He is the first coach in NCAA tennis history to coach both men’s and women’s teams to National Championships in consecutive years (2002 and 2003).
 * 5) 	He received the Educational Merit Award in 2007 from the INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HALL OF FAME.
 * 6) 	In 2004 Dr. Porter was awarded the United States Olympic Committee’s “Doc” Counsilman Award for tennis.  This is given to the one individual who best combines Coaching and Sports Science.
 * 7) 	Dr. Porter has been the President of the 15,000 member United States Professional Tennis Association and is currently the Chairman of International Testing and the Player Development Committees.
 * 8) 	Coach Porter has worked closely with the Chinese National Women’s Tennis Team/specifically the women’s doubles Gold Medal winners in Athens 2004, (Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian) and the 2006 Australian and Wimbledon doubles champions (Zheng Jie and Yan Zi).
 * 9) 	Dr. Porter has been named the National Coach of the Year 8 times and he has coached 11 NCAA and NAIA National Championship Teams.
 * 10) 	In 2012 Dr. Porter was named the USPTA Alex Gordon Professional of the Year.  He has been named a Master Professional by the USPTA and an International Master Professional by the Registry of Professional Tennis in Spain.