Any player who tries out for Wichita Collegiate's girls tennis program makes the team. It doesn't matter how many players there are, coach Dave Hawley finds tournaments for them to play during the course of the season.
For while Hawley is supremely successful - 46 team state titles for girls and boys -every single player is his focus.
Competed in a junior varsity dual? Beat the best players in Kansas? Hawley spotlights it all equally with the team.
"We make sure we celebrate everyone's matches," Hawley said. "We'll talk about those kids and how they did. They know they'll get some recognition from their peers."
It would be easy to focus solely on those top-level tennis players. After all, his teams have won 27 girls doubles titles, 20 girls singles titles, 19 boys doubles titles and 12 boys singles titles
.
But as much as the rest of the state puts the focus on Hawley's state championships at Collegiate - 31 girls team titles and 25 boys team titles - his emphasis is all on his players.
"I guess it depends on how you define success," said Clare Vanderpool, who played for Hawley in the early 1980s. "If you talk about wins, that's one level of success."
FOR MORE "50 FOR 50 KSHSAA TITLE IX STORIES" CLICK HERE
"I can speak more to his success as a coach and mentor in forming young people. He's always fun, always upbeat. But he really zeroes in on each kid. This was my experience, which was when Collegiate wasn't performing off the charts at any level."
Hawley was four or five years into teaching at Collegiate when he took over the girls tennis team. The Spartans had two talented freshmen, but only 10 or 12 players.
"There was a decent heritage before, but nothing like, 'I can hardly wait for tennis season. I'm going to work all summer long,' " Hawley said.
Collegiate did OK that year, then his two standouts transferred. His second year, the Spartans finished last in seven of eight tournaments.
In his third season, though, there were three outstanding freshmen, including Laurie (Cusick) Newton, who finished 104-1. She helped get other students interested in the sport, and then more and more started playing summer tennis.
Newton won state as a junior and senior in 1984 and '85, the first two years Collegiate was part of the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
"His methods are simple," Newton said. "It was all about connections with us and making us feel like the best we can be. He made you feel that you could do it, always…. No matter what, he had your back, and I still feel that.
Vanderpool added: "When kids feel valued and loved and enjoyed, and then you couple that with high expectations and a role model, that's a recipe for success.
"I wasn't a great tennis player … but you didn't have to be a star player to have the same level of attention, affection, care. He is very generous with everyone."
When Collegiate won its first team title in 1987 and then won 12 more in a row, it shocked Hawley.
"I wasn't a scoreboard watcher," he said. "I was busy watching my kids. It was a great state championship, but we never saw it coming. The next year we had everyone back, and we won it a little easier."
Hawley, who is in five halls of fame, also patterned his program after two of the best women's college basketball programs -- Tennessee and Connecticut.
Collegiate plays the best teams, goes to the best tournaments, all with the goal of getting better.
The expectations are high, but they never talk about winning state titles.
The increase in athletes playing summer tennis made a huge difference as they played tougher competition, played more and gained valuable experience. The start of the middle school program also led to more athletes entering the high school with previous knowledge.
"Two things that led to us having this staying power: One was that I did coach some middle school, and the second was that I talked it up in the hall," Hawley said. "I got to know the kids in the lower school, got them into our summer program.
"But the biggest thing ever is that we don't cut."
It's a fair guess that current athletes aren't hyper knowledgeable about Title IX or even the early years of Collegiate's program.
There's no doubt, though, that Hawley played a critical role in increasing the focus on girls sports.
"In the 1990s, girls had not been treasured as athletes," Hawley said. "I was working with kids who just needed, first of all, to be treated differently, but to also be treated the same."
Bunny Hill has watched Hawley's entire career. She started at Collegiate in 1972, a few years before Hawley, and went from teaching into administration, where she retired in 2014 after 42 years in education.
According to Hill, Hawley came around at an excellent time for girls sports.
"As an administrator through the years, it's hard to find just the right combination of coaching for girls to get from them what is the best about sports," Hill said. "He always understood how to motivate girls, how to enjoy the journey with the girls, how to make the most of their hearts, the emotional part of the game for them.
"Whether it was the girls team or boys team, whatever he coaches or teaches, what he brings is he has high expectations and high nurture. When you put those two things together, you have something that is very special.
"That is Dave Hawley. That has always been. It will always be."
We are grateful to partner with WIN for KC, an organization with the mission to empower the lives of girls and women by advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports through opportunities for participation and leadership development. WIN for KC and the KSHSAA believe involvement in activities and sports lay the ground work for supporting well-rounded citizens in our communities and beyond. For more on WIN for KC visit: https://www.sportkc.org/win-for-kc