Inspiring Conversations with Cole Spivey of Big NC Tennis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cole Spivey.

Hi Cole, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today. 
My story starts with my mom; her father, “my grandfather,” taught his entire family how to play tennis after reading it in a book. Some of my earliest memories were with my Ma, aunts, and uncles, watching them play tennis and my mom taking me to the tennis courts. As I got more advanced, my Ma took me to Raleigh Racket Club, and I was fortunate to be surrounded by amazing coaches led by Mike Leonard. There was Coach Dan, Dean, Edwin, and many more. They taught me tennis, but Coach Dean especially instilled life lessons that have stayed with me till today. 

I played high school tennis at Leesville Road but quit in my Sophomore Year, got more into boxing and backyard mma where I had a few severe knee injuries. While working as a waiter an old tennis friend of mine asked if I would be interested in a side gig of coaching tennis. Despite not playing for years, I decided to give it a shot. 

After about 6 months, I remember sitting down at my notebook and figuring that if I started doing private lessons for $20 an hour and I did enough of them, I could make tennis my main job. So, I began coaching private lessons every day, on the weekends, driving from Wake Forest to Morrisville, Raleigh, Cary, etc. I would go from morning till night to random courts in Wake County, building up experience. Eventually, getting to the point where I built up a Ting Park into a massive program. Seeing the success I had in building programs, I decided to start my own company and have built a very popular program in Fuquay-Varina. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it has not. I struggled with self-inflicted poverty during my early 20s, when I first started coaching tennis, I was borderline homeless and couch surfing during that time I lost many friends to heroin overdoses and suicide, it was very difficult watching people you grew up with pass away at a young age. 

When Covid started, I had just moved to Holly Springs to start Ting Park Programming and had sold the couch I was sleeping on along with most my furniture so I wouldn’t have to rent a U-Haul. I had expected to sleep on a floor for a week and stay at my then girlfriend’s (now wife’s) house. 

However, when Covid started I was stuck sleeping on the floor of an unfinished apartment for months until I finally was able to build up enough private lessons to pay for rent and start furnishing my apartment. In the first year of starting my business, my business partner left, and I had to work through plantar fasciitis in both feet and a bulging disc. 

I appreciate these struggles very much as it helped me tremendously with my coaching. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a tennis management company. We try to teach character through tennis, we constantly talk about hardwork, honesty, and the life lessons that only sports can teach. I also try to encourage our students to talk and become friends, it is the job of a society to raise the next generation and I am trying to do my part to create a community of good people. 

As far as a brand, we run an exceptionally low student coach ratio, a lot of my former students start as assistant coach running simple drills and some of them have now worked for me for years. 

I am most proud of seeing the growth in a number of students, not just in tennis but as people as well. 

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I made John McEnroe look like the beacon of mental calmness and stability. I was an absolute hothead on the court. I loved tennis. I would have played it every day if I could, and I tried, but I never had the mental game down. 

With my family, I was fortunate to have a strong Spanish cultural influence on my Ma’s side. Chess was a big deal in our family, and all my uncles and cousins played; my grandmother on my Ma’s side, “Nana,” lived with us and helped raise me and my sister, so we always had a pot of rice, fried banana, and pork chops or other amazing homecooked meals from her. 

My dad was a police officer and taught me a lot about what it meant to be a good man; while it took me a while to listen to what he taught me, he was the most important person in teaching me to be a who I am today, 

The most influential person in my life, and the person whom I credit for getting me into coaching, is my grandma from my dad’s side, “Mema” she was an accomplished elementary school teacher and Principal, and I remember when I was a kid random people would always come up and say “Mrs. Spivey is that you?” and they would thank her for teaching them when they were a kid and how much they appreciated that, I saw how much it warmed my Mema’s heart and I hope to be able to be able to be the kind of influence in my students lives that my Mema was for so many. 

Contact Info:

• Website: bignctennis.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bignctennis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bigtennisnorthcarolina