Harnett Dispatch

USPTA Elite Professional Jay James

USPTA Elite Professional Jay James owns and operates Jay\’s Sales & Tennis Services in the Harnett County area in North Carolina and is available for private and group lessons, junior and adult clinics, racquet stringing, as well as all of your tennis equipment needs.  Previous places of employment include Highland Country Club, Dark Branch Racquet & Swim Club, Walnut Creek Country Club, and Greensboro College.  Outside of tennis, he was a sportswriter for the Goldsboro News Argus for four years while also working as an Assistant Tennis Pro at Walnut Creek Country Club.  This valuable experience gave him a greater knowledge of writing, statistics, and the media in general.
Jay began playing tennis at age 14 and went on to obtain both North Carolina and Southern junior rankings in the 16s and 18s divisions during his junior playing career.  He also played four years of high school tennis for both Rosewood and Charles B Aycock and had an (85-19) singles record as well as a (62-15) doubles record playing mostly at #1 or #2 seed.  After High School Jay was fortunate enough to receive a full scholarship to play tennis and basketball for Mount Olive College where he played #1 singles and #1 doubles for one season.  He finished with an (8-6) singles record and an (8-6) doubles record for the Trojans.  After a series of serious ankle injuries just before his Sophomore season and a few years away from the game, Jay transferred to Greensboro College and accepted a grant-in-aid to play both tennis and basketball for the Pride.  While at Greensboro College he held the #1 through #3 positions in both singles and doubles as the Pride Men\’s Tennis Teams achieved regional rankings for the first time in school history and the team finished with a (34-14) record during this stretch.  Jay completed a very successful 3-year tennis career at Greensboro College with an impressive (44-16) record in singles and a (38-13) record in doubles!  As of January 2014, he holds 9 of the 16 Men\’s Tennis records at Greensboro College in both singles and doubles.  Since college he has obtained singles rankings as high as 13th in the North Carolina Men\’s Open Division, 4th in the North Carolina NTRP 5.0 division, and 2nd in the North Carolina NTRP 4.5 division.
\”I have loved the game of tennis ever since being introduced to it by my cousin Louis Crow the summer before my ninth-grade year,\” Jay says. \”Tennis is a great game that can be played for an entire lifetime.  I would love to be a part of tennis, both in my career path and as a player throughout my life.  I enjoy meeting new people and working individually and in groups with both junior and adult players.\”
Jay\’s areas of expertise are in the business aspect of tennis, development of junior and adult tournament players, and teaching the serve.  He would list as his greatest accomplishments in tennis as his playing career at Greensboro College, developing several junior and adult players into highly ranked tournament players, and being a Christian influence.  Outside of tennis, Jay is proud of earning his two college degrees and for being selected by the Alabama Theater Producers during a singing audition held in Myrtle Beach, S.C., as a performer in their variety show.
Jay is married to his wife of 11 years, Amber Cook James, and has three children, Brayden (7), Makayla (5), and Dalton (3).  They live in Lillington, North Carolina and are very involved in their local church, Neill\’s Creek Baptist in Angier, North Carolina.  Other than his love for tennis he enjoys golf, basketball, softball, singing, and spending time with his family and friends.  Jay earned his Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Greensboro College in 2001, and also earned an Associates Degree in Accounting in 2007.  Along with his work as a Tennis Pro he currently works as a part-time Staff Accountant/Human Resource Manager for Southern Landscape Professionals, and as the part-time Church Accountant for Neill\’s Creek Baptist Church.  As you can see, Jay stays very busy but his love for teaching and playing tennis drives him to continue to follow his dream of one day opening and running a Tennis Club in Harnett County! http://jayjames.usptapro.com/