By John Davis
Community Relations Director
Bo Petro recalled that he was age 8 and living in Greenville when he first picked up a tennis racket and started to play the sport he has turned into a career. Inspired and supported by his mother, tennis became his top sport as he matured and matriculated through grade school.
“I played all the sports, baseball, basketball, a lot of soccer,” Petro said. “But tennis was something that became my favorite sport after I had a little bit of success playing in tournaments when I was 10, 11, 12.”
Petro traveled all over the Southeast qualifying for national tournaments. He made it as far as Kalamazoo, Michigan, home to the US Junior Nationals. Petro eventually earned a scholarship to Ole Miss and then he started his teaching/instructing career at the Jackson Country Club right after graduation. He has worked with very high-level players, and his most recent coaching stop at Delta State, Petro was able to guide the Statesmen to a 15-0 record before Covid 19 spoiled the party.
“I was able to convince everybody of coming back for that extra year,” he said about the 2021 season that saw DSU finish No. 9 in the nation. “We made national indoor tournament out in Oklahoma City two years in a row as one of the top 8 teams in country. We made the regionals for like the first time in 20 years. I really loved coaching college.”
Petro has found a new home at the John Leslie Tennis Courts. The first week of his Oxford Tennis Academy just wrapped up after a great initial response to his first registration. He was attracted to instruct at the Oxford Park Commission in large part to the facility being the largest public court bank in the state, and the number of high level/tournament type players who are looking to improve.
“I really like working with the high-level kids, the tournament players. This is a facility where you can spread out along the courts and really get a lot out of the clinics,” Petro said. “You can get in a lot of live ball stuff. I have a lot of contacts that will help feed balls. Our goal is to have 4 or 5 kids on a court so they’re not waiting in line. I enjoy being a mentor and getting the kids prepared to go out and compete. You need the live ball playing against other kids. There is a lot of mental work in the game of tennis. Playing in a tournament is a grind. The clinics will be about the fitness of tennis, the strokes and the mental game.”
When Petro isn’t on the courts instructing, he will be servicing the community through the tennis pro shop that is scheduled to open on Monday, August 7. Petro plays and instructs Pickleball, and he will be offering paddles along with rackets, bags, grips and the stringing that so many players like.
I play Pickleball a lot in my spare time, and I do offer Diadem Pickleball and tennis equipment in the shop,” Petro said. “I’ve played in a few Pickleball tournaments and I’m getting really close to getting out of qualifying and making a main draw.”
The pro shop will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturday, the shop will be open from 9 a.m.to noon. On Sunday, the hours will be 2 to 5 p.m. Petro does plan to be out on the courts in the mornings some giving lessons, so he may also have the shop open earlier on occasion.
Petro’s OTA will continue through the month and into September after a break for Labor Day. Additional registration for each month will continue at oxfordparkcommission.com