by Austin Horng, Social Media Director
Judy Dean, or, as students and volunteers would call her, Coach Judy, was recently featured by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Southern California section for her contributions within SoCal tennis! Coming from experience as an avid athlete who played tennis at the collegiate level for Wellesley all four years and continues to compete today, Coach Judy has created an atmosphere where students and volunteers alike can shine.
Within Serving Advantage, Coach Judy’s involvement dates years back. In conjunction with her daughter, Mira, one of Serving Advantage’s current and exceptional youth coaches, Coach Judy decided to get involved with Serving Advantage after searching for year-round opportunities to continue her work with the intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) community.
After being exposed to Serving Advantage’s bimonthly clinics and year-round camps, Coach Judy and Coach Mira had an idea that would change the landscape of Serving Advantage’s classes for the foreseeable future. In her interview with USTA SoCal, Coach Judy revealed, “...we’d met a lot of really talented students who could hit well, keep track of scores, and play matches. We wanted to develop the more advanced players so they could play in competitions and tournaments”.
Her solution? A competitive pathway course where advanced students could train for Unified Doubles tournaments. Paired with a neurotypical player, these athletes could enhance their foundational skills built from Serving Advantage’s bimonthly clinics while continuing to reach their full potential in tennis.
Fast forward to today, the class has made significant strides competitively! After coaching nine teams to compete at the USTA Unified Doubles qualifying tournament at the Peninsula Racquet Club in Rancho Palos Verdes in October of 2025, two of Serving Advantage’s teams placed in the top three. As a result, adaptive athletes and their respective Serving Advantage Doubles Partners had the opportunity to compete at USTA’s National Campus in Orlando, Florida for the National USTA Unified Doubles tournament.
Beyond her work with Competitive Pathways, Coach Judy continues her work in the community through her position as an official for USTA. In March 2026, she decided to umpire for Serving Advantage’s annual “Share the Love” Level 6 junior charity tournament at the Anaheim Tennis Center. There, she helped facilitate numerous ongoing matches between youth competitive tennis players. Invested as a coach, parent of a tennis player, and an athlete herself, Coach Judy continues to foster inclusion and accessibility both on and off court, one student at a time.