Dennis Van der
Meer

THE TEACHER OF ALL TEACHERS

When serious students of the game examine the way the sport has been taught and how it has all evolved to the betterment of not only club players but those who have participated more seriously at various levels in tournaments, they inevitably laud the incomparable Dennis Van der Meer for his wide range of contributions. Van der Meer garnered a label he would wear proudly across much of his lifetime. He was fittingly called “the teacher of teachers” by those who shared his sphere of the sport.

No one contributed more mightily to the evolution of the teaching professional in tennis. Van der Meer was a singular force in the industry who succeeded comprehensively for decades on end because he never stopped gathering knowledge and opening his mind to new concepts that he could pass along to students who deeply appreciated his wit and his wisdom. Van der Meer was a serious student of the game but also a man with a contagious sense of humor which colored all of his teachings and created a bond between himself and most of his pupils.

EARLY DAYS AS A PLAYER

His aspirations initially were to make his mark as a competitor. Born in Namibia, he started playing tennis there at the age of six. He moved with his family to South Africa and was immensely promising as a player, claiming the prestigious Western Province and Boland Championships in singles and reaching the final of the South African Championships in doubles as a junior in the 18-and-under division. He played the South African Davis Cup trials as well.

SHIFTING TO THE TEACHING PROFESSION

But by 1954, when he was still only 21, Van der Meer became a teaching professional, swiftly realizing that this was where he could make the most of his communicative skills and clear understanding of technique and strategy. He soon established himself as the President of South Africa’s first tennis teacher’s association. The young man may not have known it yet, but he had found his true calling.

In 1961, Van der Meer emigrated to the United States, widening his world significantly with that move. He accepted a job as the head teaching pro at the renowned Berkeley Tennis Club in California, enlarging his reputation immeasurably in the process, using that platform to pursue higher ambitions. To be sure, Van der Meer was deeply devoted to his duties in his prestigious post at the BTC, developing a substantial following among grateful members. But he also started innovative tennis camps in that period that enhanced his name and gave him a larger platform in the sport.

ESTABLISHING VAN DER MEER TENNIS UNIVERSITY

In the 1970’s, he founded Van der Meer Tennis University as a means to train tennis teachers. It was one of his most important and enduring endeavors. In 1973, he served as a coach for Billie Jean King in her much heralded “Battle of the Sexes” victory over Bobby Riggs, and also coached Margaret Court for her duel with Riggs earlier in that season.

FOUNDING USPTR

Now among the most recognizable and influential individuals in his field, Van der Meer founded the United States Professional Tennis Registry in 1976. Later known more widely as PTR, that organization and the way it evolved over the decades took Van Der Meer to a higher level of prominence than he had ever known before. PTR has soared to around 16,000 members worldwide in no fewer than 125 countries. He was the architect of his own destiny, crystal clear in his convictions, unfailingly precise in how to present his ideas.

STANDARDIZING TEACHING METHODS

Deeply concerned that club players and students of the game not be sent conflicting signals from teaching professionals with different philosophies on how to teach the sport, he conceptualized the “Standard Teaching Method” that became his trademark and allowed those in his profession to remain distinctive personalities but to make certain their message was essentially the same. The Van der Meer notion was simply this: students should be guaranteed a bio-mechanically sound method of play that could hold up for them enduringly.

This is not to say that Van der Meer viewed teaching professionals as automatons. As he once said, “You try to make it for for your students. If they enjoy it, I enjoy it. No. 1 is looking at how to influence beginning players to start playing; No. 2 is how to get people to keep playing; and No. 3 is trying to improve the level of social players so they remain players for life.”

MOVING WITH THE TIMES

Clearly, Van der Meer lived by that code and succeeded not only with his personal teachings but in making those in his trade better at what they do. But he kept moving with the times and recognized over the years that the central way of teaching tennis had to be consistent but not without modifications. Sweeping through history, Van der Meer was never lagging in his efforts to keep the sport moving forward.

As he said when he was in his seventies, “The game has changed tremendously. If you still teach the way you did initially, your students will be very unhappy. Nothing stands still.”

Practicing what he preached, Van der Meer wrote numerous books on the sport, authored teaching manuel’s for PTR, wrote learned instructional pieces for tennis magazines, and even shaped courses for wheelchair tennis.

Van der Meer worked tirelessly all of his life to make the tennis teaching profession as lofty as possible, and to ensure it was easier for students to learn. As PTR Board President Karl Hale said, “Dennis did more for the growth of tennis and coaching education than any one individual in the history of the game.”

Dennis Van der Meer changed the face of tennis forever, advanced the teaching profession immeasurably, and was a singularly far reaching individual in his field. He realized his largest dreams, advanced the sport surpassingly and ultimately made tennis much more accessible than it ever would have been without him.