“My real interest for tennis started only after I realized I could be a coach,” says Lya Kuschnirovich, the new coach for the Brooklyn College women’s tennis team, whose season will start anew in mid-September. “I always thought the coach has the best job.”
     Although she didn’t train at school to become a coach, Lya was the captain of her tennis team at Binghamton University, where she received a bachelor of arts in psychology.
     “I’m preparing to apply to medical school, to study psychiatry,” she says, adding that she has done research on the Mozart Effect, about using music as a stimulus to treat several learning disorders.
     She will have to wait for a year to take the exam, submit her applications, and wait to schedule interviews with the schools that accept her. In the meantime, she’s been coaching individuals of all ages in Brooklyn. “This is my first opportunity to coach a team.”
     The BC team achieved an enviable 10-4 record last season and qualified for the final round. Although Baruch College prevailed in the semifinals, the Brooklyn players showed extraordinary resilience and forced several games to a tie-breaker.
     “I’m very excited about working with this team,” says Lya, who vows to bring the things she learned from her coach at Binghamton and those she has developed on her own. In addition to practicing consistency drills, game practice, tie-breakers, match points, and footwork, having a positive attitude is high on the list. “But endurance and discipline are at the top of the agenda,” she clarifies. “I need to make sure that our players are in top shape at crunch time.”