For 13 years, April heading into May was a busy and stressful – yet the most exciting – time of the year for Dianne Matias as an NCAA Division I women’s tennis coach.

But a little over two and a half years ago, Matias decided to turn in the clipboard and leave the sidelines, choosing an entirely different path and becoming the Director of Junior Tennis for one of the nation’s top sections at the USTA Southern California.

“I wasn’t planning on leaving college tennis and I was at a program that I helped turn around from the bottom that was consistently at the top of our conference. It was difficult to walk away from that,” said Matias, who spent the past eight seasons at Cal State Fullerton with stops at Maryland and UC Irvine before that. “This opportunity came up and I figured, ‘Why not?’ What a great opportunity to learn and give back to the section I grew up in.”

On a recent drive to set up a site at the Claremont Country Club for a junior Competitive Training Center event, Matias rattled off just a few things that will keep her and her dedicated team busy over the next two months. Much like the springtime she spent as a college coach getting her team ready for end-of-the-year conference finals and NCAAs Regionals.

“We have Maze Cup May 3rd-5th at the Kramer Club, CTC which will include a Jamboree, Friendship Cup, a Section Camp, Junior Team Tennis Sectionals and then our Junior Sectionals in June,” Matias said. “It feels never-ending but it’s an exciting time of the year helping to educate parents and juniors about the different competition pathways and providing play opportunities.”

Matias said it is a similar competitive pathway she guides juniors on that helped her become one of the nation’s top players 25 years ago growing up in the Torrance area.

She recalled past USTA Southern California junior directors like Jim Hillman, Darren Potkey and John Lansville as instrumental to her success and playing such a large role in her development as a top Division I player as she played at USC for four years, including playing as high as No. 3 singles her junior year. 

“There wasn’t an easy tournament back then in the Section,” said Matias. “The new pathway has more national tournaments, players travel more, and there are more ITFs in the U.S. Back then it was nice that players didn’t have to travel as much and could get great competition at home. Once Nationals did roll around you didn’t want to play the other SoCal players because you knew it would be a challenging match.”

Matias also credited her college coaches at USC, Richard Gallien and Howard Joffe, who brought her to Maryland for two years back in 2009 as an assistant and recommended her elevation to head coach in 2011 after he left for Texas A&M.

“I really enjoyed playing for them and I grew as a player under their leadership,” said Matias, who was ranked in the top 25 in singles and reached No. 17 with doubles partner Lindsey Nelson at USC.

Matias’ closest friend on the USC team was her high school teammate at Carson High School Judy DeVera. The pairing won the CIF-City Section doubles title and reached the Easter Bowl doubles final in 2000, the same year Matias won the Girls’ 16s singles.

Like Matias, DeVera is from the Philippines and Matias said the month of May’s observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is important to her. Matias was born in the Philippines and moved to America when she was six years old.

“I think it’s important to recognize the different cultures because it helps us understand and interact with people more positively. The great part about living in SoCal is that it’s a very diverse community,” said Matias, who speaks her native language and visits her country often. “I love that I was born there, but able to move to America and grow up here. It really was the best of both worlds.”

Matias comes from a tennis family as her father still coaches, and mother still actively plays. Her younger brothers were Division I players.

“My dad was the one who introduced us into tennis, he was our main coach,” Matias said. “I started a little later around 8, but if I didn’t move to the U.S. I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to play this sport and develop into the player I was.”

Every year for her father’s birthday the family still hosts a tennis tournament at Banning Park in Wilmington for his students, friends, and family.

Matias has goals and a vision for the future of junior tennis for hundreds of Southern California players. Parent webinars with leading coaches and subject matter experts in the field of psychology and nutrition, for example, have been held and Matias said a library of those will soon appear online.

“We want to make sure we are helping new parents and players navigate through the tournaments and are available to help guide them,” she said. “We want to provide additional resources and ensure our tournaments are up to the best standards. Fair play and sportsmanship are important, and we will keep striving towards making the junior tennis journey and experience the best that it can be.”