Tennis/Pickleball

Meet Jonathan Shemper born and raised in Hattiesburg with a passion for competition and teaching all ages his first “love”, tennis. He began playing competitively at the age of 8 years old and has not looked back since. As a junior he won his first State Title in 1987, and received the George Wilkinson Memorial Award for sportsmanship. His hard work and determination led him to play in division one level collegiate tennis as a freshman for UAB and later transferred home again and became a three year lettermen with The University of Southern Mississippi. In 1992, at Mississippi State while competing in team play in doubles with partner Fernando Pereira, they defeated their number 1 team of Laurent Miquelard, a former NCAA doubles champion and Daniel Courcol former four time collegiate grand slam winner in singles and doubles. While still attending USM, he helped instruct the first National Junior Tennis League local program for kids at Hattiesburg High School. Upon graduation, he assisted the Southern Miss women’s tennis team and co-coached them in New Orleans during conference tournament competition. Throughout his successful career as a tennis player Jonathan also qualified for prestigious Maccabi games in Israel at Chris Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida. In the height of the COVID pandemic of 2020, he helped lead the first Regional Junior tennis tournament at Tatum Park with over 250 players participating. One of his proudest achievements to date has been the 2022 recognition of “Family of the Year” Award by the Mississippi Tennis Association. As the current Junior Team Tennis coordinator for the Pinebelt and an experienced USPTA professional, Jonathan is ready to share his knowledge and love of the game at our new state of the art facility to help empower both juniors and adult players to develop their full potential and create an environment of fun competition, smart playing, and good sportsmanship.