COLUMBUS — Growing up in Macon, Torean King didn’t have many opportunities to play tennis.
King’s parents, Troy and Tonya, currently the head tennis coaches for Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, would drive him around the Golden Triangle to play wherever he could in leagues and competitive matches. Eventually, that travel extended to tournaments through his high school years, and then at the junior college level.
King, a licensed tennis trainer for the Magnolia Tennis Club in Columbus, is new to coaching himself, but has been around both the sport and instruction since he could walk.
The Mississippi Tennis Association, the state branch of the United States Tennis Association, recently named Torean King as the new Junior Team Tennis Coordinator for the Golden Triangle area.
“I’ve been playing since I was eight years old,” he said. “My dad started playing when I was younger than that, so tennis has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. We played in leagues from the time I was eight until I graduated high school.”
After attending Noxubee County and Starkville High Schools, Torean signed with Itawamba Community College. He played there for two years before transferring to Coastal Alabama in 2021. In his time at both schools, King qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament three times.
“Seeing him grow into tennis, he started when he was young, and to watch him grow was a blessing,” said his father, Troy. “It was just him and one other kid from Macon who pursued tennis, and we were proud that he stuck with it, and what he did in college, making it to nationals.”
It was a lot of travel, a lot of high-level competition, and a lot of tennis for King. But when it ended, he wasn’t quite ready to leave the sport behind.
“After I was done, I came home and had some offers to play at a university, but I was burnt out mentally,” King said. “I decided to stay home and finish up school, and I started coaching lessons on the side. Coaching-wise, I just went from there. I’ve worked with a lot of kids from a lot of different high schools all over the area.”
It started with the odd lesson or two, not uncommon for college athletes finding help to make ends meet, but a comment from one of his own coaches who observed him during a session helped put the idea in his head long term.
“It mostly came naturally,” King said of coaching. “My freshman year of college, I never thought I’d be a coach. It was one of my coaches in Alabama who pointed out that it was a natural ability for me. I thought about it and from there I started to fall in love with it.”
With USTA Mississippi, King’s roles will become a bit more administrative as he organizes teams, leagues and camps for local kids, as well as continuing his own coaching duties and private lessons.
King is gearing up for the summer at Magnolia, preparing schedules for camps and lessons for students who are going off to play at colleges in the fall. He has even courted some potential coaching opportunities for himself at the next level, but for now, King is happy to have found a new path in his lifelong passion, helping to guide the next generation in the game.
“He has some coaching opportunities that may be coming up,” his father, Troy, said. “It’s been good to see him stay with something he loves and has a passion for. A lot of kids lose their passion for what they love, but he stuck with it. It’s paying off, and he just loves it.”
“This is something I want to do for the rest of my life,” King said, embracing the opportunities that have come his way in coaching.
“The main thing that gets me is seeing when a kid gets a love for the game,” he added. “The same game I loved at their age. It makes me love the game even more, because who could think it could take you so far in life? Tennis is a stepping stone, you can use it. It can help you get free schooling, get tuition. You can use that talent to get a degree and learn a trade.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
