
Alumna Profile: Alexandra Poorta BA ‘11
As an undergraduate student, she was passionate about health and human performance and all of its intricacies, particularly as manifested in and through the sport of tennis. Her personal interests included the topic of cramping and nutrition, which she explored in-depth through a capstone experience. She states “Thanks to the boundless connections our program offered, I was fortunate to converse with many specialists and experts such as sports psychologists, nutritionists, and physiologists. These exchanges along with my anatomy, biomechanics, and injury prevention classes helped lay the foundation for my future career as a coach and my personal interests in player development.” Shortly afterwards, Ms. Poorta obtained her Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS) license from the International Tennis Performance Association (ITPA).
In addition to academics, she accumulated an extensive list of achievements as a college tennis player. Highlights of Alex’s college career include a West Coast Conference (WCC) title in 2010 and, in 2011, being named WCC Player of the Year and qualifying for the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles Championship. After college, she spent a short time on the professional tennis circuit and even achieved a world ranking before making the transition to coaching. Poorta served as Head Coach for the women’s program at Dominican University in California before returning to SMC as an Assistant Coach. In recent years, her already strong reputation as a coach of junior and collegiate athletes has been validated as many of her players have gone on to succeed in college and on the WTA tour. For example, Daniel Lao is now 203 in the WTA rankings. Michaela Gordon, who had an ITF ranking of 16 while working with Alex, has become a three-time All American at Stanford. Following her success, Alex accepted a position as a USTA National Coach in 2017 which gave her the opportunity to support the development of the top youth players on the world stage.
Coach Poorta is particularly attentive to player development and the importance of creating an ideal environment for players. She emphasizes “Every player is different. Young players especially need to be inspired by not only their private coach, but a wide range of individuals. Their peers, friends, role models, and competitive opponents are some examples. I am passionate about developing players holistically, including attention to game strategy, the technical aspects of the game, mental training, nutrition, and sleep. Perhaps most importantly, the coach/player
relationship must include a high level of trust and openness. This is essential to an individual’s growth as a player on and off the court.”
Due to the grueling thirty weeks of travel annually and coaching all types of players in the last two years or so, Alex has decided to focus on coaching locally in the Bay Area. Specifically, she is mentoring and helping to develop players such as Connie Ma and Katie Volynets. She is a dedicated student of the game and is committed to her own education and development as a coach, regularly listening to podcasts, watching tennis, and learning about positive coaching relationships.