The road of life is filled with ups, downs and unexpected outcomes. For tennis coach Dave Pence this is no different, but through it all he has found what he loves to do and enjoys every second of it.
Pence has been Sinclair Community College’s tennis coach since 1998, but growing up the thought of him having a career in athletics never crossed his mind. He didn’t think he would ever attend college.
“Growing up, I played a lot of sports and was named to the city all-star baseball game as a child,” Pence said. “But when I was younger, education was not a big deal. A lot of people in Dayton would try to work for the City of Dayton, GM, or some other factory so that is where I always believed I would end up.”
Although Pence was athletic at a young age, he gave up organized sports around age 12 and began working as a newspaper delivery boy.
Pence delivered papers until 16 when he begun working full-time jobs. He had a car and was paying his own bills but it was around this time he started to have thoughts that would steer him to his future.
A lot of Pence’s family was sickly while he grew up, and he would always wonder what he could do to help.
“I just wanted to know what was the cause of people getting sick in my family and how we could try and stop it,” Pence said. “I didn’t understand it.”
While Pence jumped from job to job, he began to start having thoughts of attending college. He said he was working hard and making good money, but when he was laid off one time, he realized something had to change.
“I didn’t want to live bouncing around jobs and worrying about layoffs,” Pence said. “I wanted to put myself in a better position and I realized the only way I could do that is with education.”
At age 22, Pence enrolled at Sinclair to pursue a Liberal Arts degree. He was attending part time while he still worked full time.
While attending school, Pence felt he was getting too heavy and began looking for something to do that would help him get back in shape; that’s how he began playing tennis.
“When I first started I was 25 and weighed about 50 pounds heavier than I do now,” Pence said. “I was looking for something to play that I could have fun and lose weight with, but did not have the same hazards like football or other contact sports.”
Pence began playing tennis four hours a day, every day and after a couple of years eventually decided to try out for Sinclair’s tennis team just to work out with them. He made the team, and said his knowledge and talent for the game blossomed.
In the 1993-94 school year, Pence’s first season on the team, he was named to the All-American team and won the regional singles tournament.
“Our team had three All-Americans, and was ranked fifth in the nation,” Pence said. “We were a solid team in every aspect.”
When the 1994-95 season began, Pence said he was ready and excited. He expected to do well because of his success the prior season. But because of a knee injury, he could not duplicate his own individual accomplishments.
Due to the injury, Pence could not play and be successful in singles matches, but he did win regional tournament in doubles.
Pence graduated with his Associates in Liberal Arts. But through athletics and his own personal struggles with weight and his family’s health history, he envisioned himself becoming a trainer to try and help others.
With this in mind, Pence enrolled back into Sinclair to pursue a degree in exercise science, and after receiving his Associates he transferred to the University of Dayton for his Bachelors. It was there he would fall into teaching.
“I would play racquetball recreationally, and one day one of the people I played against happened to be full-time faculty at UD,” Pence said “Afterwards the school asked me to teach the racquetball class on his recommendation because he saw that I could teach others how to play the game.”
Pence would receive his Bachelors at UD and move on to the Miami University for his Master’s. While at Miami he was a trainer for various sports teams on campus and still saw himself being a full time trainer even though he was still teaching at UD.
But when Pence was informed of an opening for a tennis instructor at Sinclair, he applied and got the job and has held the position since then.
“I honestly believe that I’m a case of perfect timing,” Pence said “I have been very lucky to have things fall into my lap the way they have.”
With everything that happened, Pence main goal has not changed, he wants to help people physically and personally.
“If you eat right, stay active and positive you would be surprised to how everything can change,” Pence said. “Everything is connected in one big puzzle, it’s just finding out which piece fits where.”