Daniel Island tennis players recognized by USTA South Carolina

Barker, Arnold and Minton earn top honors

The Daniel Island area is well represented among the USTA South Carolina award winners for 2015. Diane Barker is the Adult Female Player of the year, Bryan Minton is the John Newcomb Pro of the year and Kristin Fleming Arnold is the coach of the year.

More than 20 organizations and individuals from across the state will be awarded for their efforts at a banquet, which is scheduled for Dec. 5 during the USTA South Carolina Annual Meeting on Isle of Palms.

“These recipients have done more for the sport than we can quantify,” said Graham Cox, executive director of USTA South Carolina, the state office of the U.S. Tennis Association. “We’re honored to be able to celebrate their accomplishments and what they’ve achieved with tennis in 2015.”

Barker has enjoyed an illustrious tennis career, and is currently the No. 1-ranked woman in the state in the women’s 55-and-over singles division. She is also the No. 3-ranked woman nationally in the same division.
Barker has represented the U.S. at international competitions, including earlier this year at the 2015 International Tennis Federation Super-Seniors World Team Championships in Croatia.

Minton, the co-owner of the MWTennis Academy at the Family Circle Tennis Center, has taught tennis in the Charleston area for more than 20 years. His players have won more than 50 state titles at the Palmetto Championships in Belton. They’ve also reached No. 1 in the South and won national, international and professional events.

The pro award is named after Newcomb, who died in 1996. Newcomb was a star athlete at Winthrop University in the early 1980s, playing soccer and tennis. He later made growing tennis his full-time job by becoming the director of tennis at the Longcreek Plantation Club in Blythewood.

Arnold graduated from Bishop England and is now in her seventh year of coaching the girls’ team at Bishop England. She has led the program to four state championships and started the Bishop England Fall Invitational, which attracts 16 teams from across the state compete.

Arnold is also in her fourth year as head coach of the Bishop England boys program. The team won the state championship in May, the program’s first state title since 1998. Arnold also has earned numerous coaching accolades during her time at Bishop England.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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