From Grenada to the Big Ten: How Coach Developer Lois Arterberry Is Shaping the Future of Coaching

When you ask University of Minnesota Head Coach Lois Arterberry how she found tennis, she laughs and says, “The sport chose me.”

 

Arterberry grew up on the small Caribbean island of Grenada, where tennis wasn’t the obvious path for a young girl. The national head coach, working with the ITF, brought an introductory tennis program into local primary schools. Twenty girls picked up a racquet in that program. Only one of them kept going all the way to NCAA Division I tennis and a collegiate coaching career. That one was Arterberry.

 

In 2009, she earned a scholarship to Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she spent five years completing her undergraduate and master’s degrees, winning conference championships and competing at the NCAA tournament. Along the way, something else clicked: the drive not just to play, but to teach.

 

At 16, back home in Grenada, she had already run her first tennis camp with her brother. “I was always passionate about coaching,” Arterberry says. “I knew I wanted to be involved in tennis in some capacity.” That early curiosity about how players learn would eventually evolve into a new role: coach developer.

For many coaches, the question about any course or workshop is the same: Does this actually change what I do on court Monday morning? For Lois, the answer is yes.

 

Two ideas in particular have reshaped the way she runs practices:

 

1. Planning backwards from game day

Instead of building sessions around random drills or whatever she did last year, Arterberry now starts with the end in mind. “What’s your game going to be?” she asks. From there, she plans backwards – choosing activities, progressions and constraints that connect directly to match-day demands. 

 

2. “Stop, show, and go” with more silence

Like most coaches, Arterberry realized she could easily over-talk. In the coach developer courses, she revisited the basics of effective demo: stop, show and go. The twist for her was consciously building in silence.

 

“I caught myself the other day feeding balls and saying something after every feed,” she recalls. “I had to remind myself – give her a moment to figure things out, to process it.”

 

Now she’s quicker to demonstrate, then step back and let the player solve. It’s a small shift, but one she sees as essential for developing independent thinkers on court. 

Growing up, Arterberry saw Serena and Venus Williams as proof that players who looked like her could belong at the highest level of the sport. Today, as a Black female head coach at a major university, she understands that she now plays that same role for others.

 

“I’m still surprising people on a daily basis,” she says. “You go through the airport in Minnesota tennis gear and people ask, ‘Oh, you play tennis?’ And when you say, ‘I’m the head coach,’ it’s like, ‘Wow.’”

 

There are still not many Black female head coaches in college tennis. That’s one reason the Level 2 Diverse Coach Program was so meaningful for her. She valued the coursework, but also the chance to share space with other coaches who are committed to growing the game in all communities.

 

For Arterberry, representation is inseparable from recruitment and outreach. At Minnesota, she and her staff invite local families to matches and host “Kids Day” events with USTA Northern. They think intentionally about how to show young people, especially those who don’t traditionally see themselves in tennis, that the sport is for them. “The more you can see yourself in it, the more likely you are to want to get involved,” she says.

Ask Arterberry what she loves most about coaching, and she doesn’t start with wins and losses.

 

She talks about people. She talks about the shy first-year student-athlete who walks into the facility on day one, unsure of herself, and the confident graduate who leaves four years later having grown as a person first, and a tennis player second.

 

“It’s important for us that each of our athletes gets better as a person, and then as a tennis player,” she says. “Watching that transition over four years is really exciting.”

 

That philosophy shapes how she handles feedback as well. Arterberry sees herself as a learner, not a finished product. She regularly asks her team for input on what’s working, what isn’t and how the staff can grow. “I’m big on learning. If you think you’re there, you’re not,” she says. “I allow myself to grow from my student-athletes’ feedback.”

 

For coach developers and experienced coaches alike, her approach is a reminder: we’re not just designing sessions; we’re shaping environments where athletes can become better people.

On paper, Arterberry’s job is demanding: recruiting across states and countries, navigating the academic and emotional load on student-athletes and managing a challenging schedule in a major conference. But she loves the challenge.

 

Looking ahead to future seasons, her goals are simple and ambitious at the same time: have a good year, keep improving the program and keep learning. Last year, Minnesota had six new players and four returners; now the full group is back with a year of experience together, and she’s eager to build on that continuity.

 

Arterberry's staff is equally committed to growth. Her assistant coach is currently attending workshops through USTA to continue developing as a coach – and, by extension, as a coach of coaches. “For us, it’s about becoming the best coaches we can be,” she says, “and then translating that into our program.”

For coach developers and professional coaches, Arterberry’s story carries a few clear takeaways:

 

• Pathways matter. A single introductory school program in Grenada launched a journey from mini-tennis to Division I coaching. Well-designed entry points can change lives and communities.

• Courses must connect to the court. Planning backwards, simplifying demos and allowing silence are all simple, actionable changes Lois took directly from the Coach Developer Pathway into her daily work.

• Representation is a coaching tool. As a Black female head coach, Lois is not only leading a team – she’s expanding what’s possible in the minds of young players and aspiring coaches who see her on court.

• Coach developers are culture shapers. By focusing on people first, inviting community in and modeling continuous learning, Lois reminds us that developing coaches is ultimately about creating supportive environments.

 

Tennis, she says, is “an awesome, welcoming sport, something you can do at any age, any race, any gender.” As a coach developer, she’s working to ensure that those leading the sport reflect its broad appeal.

 

Learn more about USTA Coaching’s personalized learning journeys, certifications and badges.