VEEDERSBURG — For the better part of the last 20 years, Chris Webb and David Kight have led the tennis programs at Fountain Central.
Webb coaches the boys’ and is assisted by Kight, while Kight heads up the girls’ and is assisted by Webb.
Last Friday the Mustangs won their third boys’ sectional title in a row with a 4-1 win over Covington, and their fifth in the last eight years.
The boys’ program has always been a flagship program at Fountain Central under Webb, who is now also the assistant principal at FC, but in the last decade the success has continued to grow.
The Mustangs did not win a sectional under Webb until 2012, after coming very close on a number of occasions in the mid 2000s.
“I think to keep yourself loose during the season,” Webb says about the difference now. “And also put yourself in a situation where you are playing some tough competition. And we have kind of beefed up our schedule. We’ve really tried to step up our regular season competition to prepare us for those tough matches and tough situations.”
Kight has seen a development of patience in Webb help separate the Mustangs from other area programs.”
“The biggest difference I’ve noticed in his coaching in the past 10-12 years is a lot more patience,” he said. “I’ll get frustrated pretty easily at kids, and it’s a lot of good cop, bad cop.”
“His knowledge of the game has always been really good,” Kight continued. “He relates so well to the players both boys and girls.”
Fountain Central athletic director Jason Good, who came to Fountain Central as a basketball coach in 2011, before taking over as AD in 2018 says he has always looked up to Webb as a coach.
“I think as a mentor type coach, even from the beginning when I was the basketball coach he was a great idea to bounce ideas off of,” he said “And anyone who has been around him knows he does a lot more than coach tennis.”
Now as the athletic director, Good continues to see the tennis programs standout among other athletic programs at Fountain Central.
“I think both our tennis programs and coaches do a fantastic job of teaching kids to conduct themselves with class,” he said. “And represent our school well, and they’ve really kind of been our shining program since I’ve been here. Not just success wise, but they develop great kids who show great sportsmanship.”
Webb says he has benefited from a good group of kids to help lead to the recent success.
“We’ve got a nice group of competitive kids,” he said. “They don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. So a lot of it has to do with their mentality, and that’s out of my control.”
Kight tends to disagree though, saying Webb deserves all the credit for the program becoming so attractive to Mustang athletes.
“I think anytime you have continuity at a place of this size,” Kight said. “Almost 20 years for us to be out here. We are coaching kids of kids who we have coached, and I think anytime we have that, people feel comfortable with it, and I think people know that our kids have a good time, but at the same time we have high expectations. It’s a very family atmosphere that we try and create, and that’s really on him (Webb), and I think people flock to that.”
