| Title: | Director of Tennis Operations |
| Email: | cyndismith@gilmour.org |
Cyndi Smith is in her 16th year as the head coach of the Varsity A girls tennis team with the 2018-19 school year. She also previously was as a coach with the varsity boys tennis team for 11 seasons, serving eight years as the head coach, then assisting with the program for one season before taking a brief hiatus and then making a return to the head role in 2016. On the girls’ side, five of Smith’s players have been state qualifiers, most recently with doubles pair Claudia Althans ’17 and Carly Cohen ’20, who were state runners-up in 2016. In singles, Smith coached 2008 State Champion Lauren Davis, who went on to continue her career in the WTA; Althans also finished third in singles in 2015 and fourth in 2014; Jen Snyder ’08 made it to the Final 16 in 2007; Ali Althans ’11 was a quarterfinalist in 2009 and the Lancers finished third in the state as a team in 2008.
Smith is a volunteer coach for the Forest City Tennis program. She also plays on a United States Tennis Association (USTA) Women’s 4.5 team which earned a state championship five consecutive years. Smith advanced to the national tournament in 1993 and has won numerous tournaments throughout her career. She was the winner of women’s doubles in the national championship in Indiana in the summer of 2009 and participated in the National Senior Games in Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 2014. Most recently, she qualified for the national tournament in Orlando, Fla., with her women's USTA team in October 2017.
The Mayfield Heights, Ohio, resident has a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Kent State University. She retired from Gilmour Academy at the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year as a health and physical education teacher in which she specialized in exercise physiology, strength training and conditioning. Both of her sons are graduates of Gilmour, Brandon ’06, who is also a 2010 Miami University grad, recently entered the professional hockey ranks, and Jarred ’07, a graduate of Brown University. Smith is a lifetime member of the USTA, and a member of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association (OTCA), the United States Tennis Professional Association (USTPA) and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).