Meet our New Valkyries Tennis Coach: Alex Poda

Converse College Athletic Director Jenn Bell is pleased to announce the hiring of Alex Poda as the next head coach of the Valkyries tennis team. Poda will coach both the women and the recently announced men’s team.

“We are very excited to have Alex join our staff,” said Bell. “He brings a wealth of knowledge to the program, and we are confident he will help our women’s program continue to grow and improve. In addition, his experience in starting new programs will be extremely beneficial, as we begin recruiting for the men’s program this summer. We look forward to the future of Converse tennis.”

Poda comes to Converse after a successful stint at USC Sumter. During his time with the Fire Ants, Poda led USCS to a national ranking in each of his three seasons at the helm. He was named Region X Coach of the Year on two occasions while winning the region twice.

Prior to arriving in Sumter, Poda was the assistant tennis coach at Coker University from August 2016 to August 2017. While at Coker, Alex organized practices aiding in the betterment of student-athletes, budgeted and handled financial statements for the team operations account, organized, wrote, and taught team workouts for better strength, flexibility, and durability, and arranged charity events involving the team within the community.

For the past seven-plus years, Poda has worked for Chuck Kriese’s Total Tennis Training Camps. In this role, Poda was responsible for creating and teaching drill court in a tennis training environment and designing drills that effectively and efficiently aided tennis development. Alex was also a motivational and instructional speaker to the campers in attendance.

“It is a great honor to be selected as the next Converse tennis coach; it will be an honor to be a part of such a historic time in the school’s history.” – Alex Poda

“It is a great honor to be selected as the next Converse tennis coach,” said Poda. “With everything the school is doing to move forward, it will be an honor to be a part of such a historic time in the school’s history. Working with the great young women in the program and setting out to bring in an inaugural men’s class is an opportunity that I am very much looking forward to. I am blessed to be a part of Converse’s future and vision moving forward.”

Originally from Aiken, South Carolina, Poda played at Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina where he was a 3-time captain and graduated with his degree in Economics. He received his Masters of Science in College Athletic Administration from Coker College.