Coach Randall King by David King

Motivation is something that keeps people doing what they love no matter how hard it may be on them or just simply doing what they love. Without motivation we will have a harder time accomplishing simple and easy tasks that usually don’t take that long.

For Coach Randall King having love, passion, and motivation has helped his players and him accomplish things like winning state championships in team and individual tennis. If King hadn’t had the motivation when he picked up his first racquet in middle school, he would have never wanted to coach tennis and accomplish the things that his players and he have. 

“When I first started coaching, my focus was all about winning, and I think as I evolved and grew as a person, it became more about creating better people who have a better sense about what life is going to be like in the real world and how to prepare for that,” King said. “Winning kind of comes wIth that discipline of being prepared for life.”

King has coached at Fredericksburg High School for 28 years and has never moved from Fredericksburg since starting his job here.

“I definitely think I’ve been able to affect some students’ lives and help them to grow to be better people,” King said. “I think it comes with the territory, and I think that they have changed my life in that I am more patient and mature and that goes into what I do to help them do too.”

King has changed over the years as he’s taken on different generations and learned how to deal with these differences in students and taught them how to take on the world. 

“One of the things I’ve been focused on for many years is just making sure that students that graduate high school and move on to better things or different things in life,” King said. “Tennis is an important part of getting students to mature and start to look at their future, and my part is coaching and teaching tennis to help them prepare for things that life will throw at them.”

King loves to see his students have the motivation to graduate and to accomplish many more things in their life. When they come back for an occasional reunion, they always include him because they respect him so much, which makes him happy at what he has done for them.

“Tennis can teach you about life, and athletics, in general, can teach you a lot about life,” King said. “There are a lot of ups and downs in life and how you deal with those situations can reflect on the lessons you learned from coaches and the sport you love to play.”