One of Maggie Pate’s earliest sports memories involves something for which most young kids would probably get reprimanded.
But all of the makeshift tennis matches she’s had against the family’s garage door have come to mean something, as she’s recently played in her first pro tournament — at age 14.
Although Maggie and her doubles partner lost their opening-round match at the Jose Cuervo Women’s Open, playing against women nearly twice her age, the experience she gained was invaluable.
NATURAL TALENT
Maggie began formally taking tennis lessons around age 5, when her parents signed her up to work with local pro C. Shane Johnson at the Plant City Tennis Center. Although her father, Morris, played tennis for Plant City High School, he didn’t want to be anything more than his daughter’s biggest fan.
So he was surprised when Johnson asked how often he was coaching her outside of the lessons.
“She’d been up there about two weeks, and there was a message on my answering machine that said, ‘Mr. Pate, this is Shane Johnson, could you come and see me,’” Morris says. “I’m thinking, ‘Did she get in trouble?’ He said, ‘I’ve been coaching for 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve had anybody pick it up this quickly in I don’t know when. Have you been playing with her?’”
Johnson coached Maggie for much of her young career and helped develop her skills. Eventually, her parents felt that she should try moving to an area with more competition than what was available in Plant City. Now she works with Brandon-based coach Alex Golub.
She does most of her training at the Brandon Sports Aquatic Center, but returns to the Dort Street courts several times a month to work out with local tennis enthusiast Rhett Rollyson and any hitting partners he can find for her.
Maggie is so immersed in the sport that she hasn’t bothered to try any other organized sports over the last 10 years.
“I play some volleyball at school, sometimes, but that’s it,” she says. “Just in P.E.”
She plays in tournaments and competitions several times each month, and has her time management skills down pat: school until 4:15 p.m., tennis practice at 4:30 p.m., and homework afterward.
Last month Maggie decided to jump on an opportunity that most girls her age don’t get: a spot in a professional tournament.
WILD CARD CHANCE
When Rollyson’s not running his insurance company, he’s playing tennis. And if he’s not playing tennis, he’s getting involved in competitions.
He served as tournament director for the Jose Cuervo Women’s Open, which was held last month in Palm Harbor, and noticed that he had a wild card spot open in the doubles section. He then reached out to the Pates, asking if it was something she wanted to try out.
She linked up with Daniela Nasser, a 19-year-old player based in Tampa, and the two kicked off the tournament against Petra Januskova and Chiara Scholl. Pate and Nasser were beaten, 6-2, 6-2, and eliminated, but it’s nothing that the girls are upset about.
“I learned that, in some ways, I can hang with them,” Maggie says. “Like, the ground strokes and everything. But I also learned what I need to improve on, like my serve, and other points of my game where they overpowered me on.”
Maggie says that her ground stroke, backhand and forehand are her strengths, but that she could stand to improve her serves and volley game. Over the last year Golub’s coaching has made a clear difference.
“She’s improved exponentially in the last year,” Morris says.
THE FUTURE
Maggie is getting ready for another national tournament in Fort Myers, in June. She’s also finishing up her final year at Mulrennan Middle School and looking forward to enrolling at Durant in the fall. She hopes to join the Cougars’ tennis team.
In the distant future she’s not sure if going pro is what she wants to do. Maggie already knows she wants to play well enough to earn a college scholarship to get a good education. As for everything else, she’ll cross that bridge when she gets there.
Her parents couldn’t be more proud of her, from things as big as her competition success to the intangibles.
“She identifies herself as a tennis player,” Morris says. “She’s not just some kid who sits around and plays video games all day. The worst thing you can do to her, as a punishment, is to take away tennis for a week.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.