Milos Vasovic Gets Space Coast Residents Hooked on Tennis
When Milos Vasovic was just a young boy growing up in Serbia, he came face to face with his future one day in the city square. “I saw this big tennis banner when I was walking with my mom,” he recalls. “And I said ‘I want to try that. I want to play tennis.’” Milos picked up a racket for the first time in 1985 at the age of 7, and tennis quickly became a lifelong passion. The sport would open many doors for Milos, eventually landing him the role of Director of Tennis and Fitness at Eau Gallie Yacht Club, in Indian Harbour Beach.
In his youth, Milos was ranked as high as 6th in his country for tennis, and he always saw his competitive success as a ticket to chasing one of his biggest dreams: a college tennis scholarship in the United States. Milos realized that goal in 2000, when he was recruited by Southeastern Louisiana University to play NCAA Division I tennis. He was his team’s top player, making the All-Louisiana and All-Conference teams three times, and serving as team captain for two years.
Whenever he wasn’t hitting the courts, Milos was hitting the books, studying for his international business degree and then an MBA. During graduate school, he also took to coaching, leading the Southeastern Louisiana University women’s tennis team to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance as assistant coach. After college, he worked for a few months training adults and competitive juniors at the world famous Harry Hopman Tennis Academy near Tampa before being recruited by Eau Gallie Yacht Club in 2006.
These days, as the Director of Tennis and Fitness at Eau Gallie Yacht Club, Milos combines his coaching experience and business background to grow the club’s membership by introducing Space Coast residents to tennis. He hopes that first-time tennis players on his courts will discover a new passion, just as he did in that town square back home in Serbia all those years ago.
“My first goal is for people to enjoy their experience here,” said Milos.
“Tennis is a sport for life, once you get hooked on it. We have players here in their mid-80s that still enjoy it, and that’s my goal: to get people to love and enjoy tennis and keep playing for as long as they can.”
Since Milos’s promotion to Director of Tennis and Fitness at Eau Gallie Yacht Club in 2008, the club has begun attracting a valuable younger demographic and overall tennis membership has grown by 20 percent. Milos is quick to attribute those changes to an upswing in economic trends, but the club also benefits from having a leader with so much experience and credibility. Even with his busy work schedule, Milos continues to be a competitive standout, having claimed two USPTA Grand Prix wins, two Florida Division Player Of The Year titles, and a USPTA National Clay Court Championship all since 2012.
“I love everything about tennis,” he said. “I call it a chess game with living pieces. You’re always trying to outsmart your opponent, and you have to earn every point, from the first to the last.”
That’s why one of the most rewarding aspects of Milos’s work is passing on his competitive knowledge through tennis lessons. “I like to say that I’m more technical than some of the other pros in this area,” he says of his instruction style. “I like to go into the small details and try to really make players get the most out of their game.”
And, as for Milos, he definitely feels like he’s getting the most out of the life tennis has provided for him. “I’ve really enjoyed my experience here at Eau Gallie Yacht Club, especially because of the members,” he said. “They’ve been so supportive and gracious. This has become home for me. I couldn’t pick a better place to live if I tried.”
For more information about tennis at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club visit EauGallieYachtClub.com or call (321) 773-2600
This article appears in the December 2014 issue of SpaceCoast Living.
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