Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was offering up his opinion of the teaching profession when, in the early 1900s, he offered up the following: He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.
Now, more than a century later, some tennis players at Warren are rewriting that bit of literary history.
To wit: He who can, does; and he who can, also teaches.
That’s one of the important messages that’s being delivered through the Fall Junior Excellence Program, which is a instructional tennis program for top-end grade-school boys players in the area. The FJEP was founded by longtime Warrenboys tennis coach Greg Cohen, but it’s not Cohen that makes the program a success.
It’s the instructors, who also happen to be current members of the Blue Devils tennis team.
“One of the best things about the Fall Junior Excellence is that high school players are able to coach the juniors,” said Cohen about the program that’s now in its 16th year.
The purpose of the camp is to give young players a chance to play more competitive tennis, both through drills and in matches.
Cohen said he “considers this camp to be one of the top reasons for the success of the (Warren) program.” But that said, the camp also includes players who won’t be attending Warren.
“It is a great chance for kids that are committed to tennis and to academics to get to know each other and build friendships that will be great for the future,” Cohen said.
And, of course, it also affords current Blue Devil players a chance to pass along their knowledge of the game to the next generation of quality players.
And, in fact, the FJEP has an amazing track record for honing the kills of future high school stars.
The list of top players from the past who were part of the youth program included Warren standouts Eric Seiler, Nikola Trukov, Kristiyan Trukov, Matt Matheny, Karina Kocemba, Brian Silverstein, Igor Fedorov, Konrad Siczek, and Paul Schlais.
