Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Swigart.
Hi Matt, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Eleven years ago, I made a significant career transition to where I became primarily donor-fund-based. At that time, I threw my hat in the ring to become the Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul and got the job! Since then I have managed to do both coaching and ministry.
Four years ago, I was going through a challenging season on the funding side and at the same time began having parents contacting me to give their kids tennis lessons. From there the idea to create the Soar Tennis Academy emerged. As a matter of fact, on the first anniversary of losing my father to cancer, I filed all the necessary forms to officially launch.
The first two summers of Soar Tennis we focused on building around Cottage Grove/Woodbury where we live and then up in Roseville at Northwestern where I coach. That first summer, 2020, was an interesting one as it was during COVID. It sure helped that tennis was considered a safe activity! I’m not sure there are too many things out there that launched during the pandemic!
While those two years were great, Soar Tennis took a huge step forward through the paradigm shift to focusing on partnerships with local community education organizations. Our first partner was St. Anthony Community Ed., and then not too far after that, I was contacted by Mike Dunn, the president of the Hudson Tennis Association.
These two partnerships along with shifting our camps in Cottage Grove/Woodbuty to work through Todd Feustal at South Washington County Community Ed. made year 3 significantly greater and have set us on a new and much more exciting trajectory. Add in Matt Riebow and White Bear Lake Community Ed. here in year 4 and we’re rolling! This summer we’re running 20 unique camps through these partnerships!!
Twenty camps is a lot and while at times I try to be a superhero, I, sadly, am not. The backbone of Soar Tennis is my incredible team of coaches! This summer I have 16 coaches working for Soar. There are UNW Tennis Assistant Coaches, current and former players, and many new friends on the team. Personally most exciting about that are my two older children have become key parts of the Soar Tennis team of coaches!
So, what began as a solution to meeting my family’s funding needs has become so life-giving! We are serving communities, making friends, giving my coaches a way to earn some extra income, and overall have added some great friendships to my life. I’m a big vision guy and it’s pretty exciting to project out what Soar Tennis could become if we keep building and growing! “Build it right before building it big” has been a key philosophy for me. So far so good!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While there have been challenges like launching during a pandemic and finding enough coaches, I’d say this has been a pretty smooth and blessed process. The right ideas and connections have come at just the right time! Maybe the coolest story to support that would be about our White Bear Lake partnership. My UNW Tennis teams run an MN State Fair Park & Ride lot as a fundraiser for our spring break trip to Florida.
On one of the shifts I was working, I randomly struck up a conversation with a guy in line waiting for the bus. He asked about my tennis shirt and I told him what I do and what we’re doing here. He asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in coaching summer tennis to which my response was, “I happen to know of something!!”
We had 2 minutes before he got on the bus but we exchanged contact info and a couple of months later we had a partnership in place with White Bear Lake Community Ed which has been outstanding!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I was a youth pastor at a church for 12 years, the transition from which I launched into donor fundraising and coaching at UNW.
These last 11 years, I have continued in ministry working for an organization called LEAD222 where I’ve coached youth pastors all over the country. Along with the coaching, I also oversee all of our short-term mission trips around North America. Person 1-2 weeks of missions here in the Twin Cities and have led trips in Chicago, Portsmouth, VA, Nashville, TN, Indianapolis, IN, and Green Bay, WI.
Currently, I’m transitioning off of a staff with LEAD222 and focusing more on my one non-profit ministry, Enhance Ministries. Enhance has a similar focus as LEAD222 in coaching “healthy leaders who lead healthy, fruitful ministries” but only now focusing on Sr Pastors and churches as a whole.
And, of course, I’m still coaching at UNW! This last season I became the losingest tennis coach of all time at UNW, haha! My best line was, “I’d like to thank all the players that helped me achieve this great milestone!” My players, and kids, are quick to remind me that I’ve been the winningest coach for a long, long time. Coaching college tennis is a grind, but one I love so much. The 20 or so players on my teams become so special to me and I am so grateful for the time and memories we get to create together.
I’m blessed to have so much time with my players and hope that having me as their coach impacts them throughout eternity. It sure helps the memories when we win too! My women have won 6 conference championships and my men have won one in the 10 years we’ve had tournaments (none in 2020). Pretty special to be able to be a part of those memories and lives!
All this to say, I have the great opportunity to do some really cool and impactful things in life and leadership. Sometimes it’s hard to have so many plates spinning but thank God for my wife and kids and their involvement in so much of these. That makes the time and effort more worth it!
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?I’m a coach and a team-builder by wiring. Those have served me well as I’ve built Soar Tennis.
Building relationships that bless each other and creating systems and teams to achieve significant goals is a joy for me. Soar Tennis along with the other things that comprise my career are all built on how I’ve been put together!
Contact Info:
- Website: soartennis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soartennis/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoarTennis
