Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Pazahanick.
Amy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
-Started Agape Tennis Academy in 2012 on 4 rundown courts with no players
-ATA went from 1 coach to a staff of 12, 10 coaches and two office staff
-2018 – Agape manages DeKalb Tennis Center which has 17 courts in a very active and dense area of Atlanta
-Built from 0 to serving thousands of tennis players across metro Atlanta of all ages and ability levels
-ATA ( Agape Tennis Academy) now serves over 1,500 people on a regular basis and thousands more annually
-Had over 100 teams playing with Agape Tennis Academy in 2017
-Voted Community Outreach Program of the Year in 2016 by the Georgia Professional Tennis Association
-Voted Tennis Director of the Year in 2017 by the Georgia Professional Tennis Association
Here is a small exert from a book I was published in on the very beginnings of the company for context.
“I decide the best place to begin is to write down the core values I want my tennis business to embody. One by one, I write down different words that are absolute musts to me. Excellence is the first word that comes to mind. I firmly believe in doing my best and giving my full effort in all that I undertake. Teamwork is the next word I write down. Teamwork is paramount to success. My staff and students must work together. I write a few more words on the paper; attitude, honesty, and responsibility. I scan the paper to see the five words I wrote.
As I gaze down at the words, it hits me like a ton of bricks! “Holy S@%$!” The five words put in order, using the first letter of each word spell out heart. Honesty, Excellence, Attitude, Responsibility, and Teamwork. I can’t believe my eyes! Moments earlier, I was uncertain whether I had made the right decision to follow my heart and start this new venture. I take this “coincidence” as a direct sign that I am on the right track. A couple weeks prior to this moment, I decided to call my business, Agape Academy. I chose Agape because the word means unconditional love in Greek. Agape also fit well with my newly established core values. It is my desire that each and every student who participates in Agape Academy feels unconditional love and support. This was a defining moment in the founding of Agape Academy because it gave me a feeling of certainty that I was meant to do this work. ”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not at all!
-Went from 4 really cracked run down courts and zero players
-Moved to a 7 court facility called White Columns… had 4 different owners
-The owners in 2016 wanted to buy out ATA into theirs and forced us to do so
-ATA soon left and re-opened at a 17 court facility in February of 2017 at DeKalb Tennis Center
Then started at DeKalb Tennis Center from 0 and today have hundreds of players, over a hundred teams, and won Director of the Year in 2017.. and started from nothing, again just ten months previous
When we moved into DTC the wifi had been cut, things broken and facility not cared for… we brought it back to live, painted it, cleaned it, and changed the energy completely.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We cater to our customers 247. We respond to phone calls and emails within four hours as a policy. We all believe philosophically that tennis is merely a vehicle through which we get to shape and change lives for the better. We know that we have a positive impact on so many people and we recognize the larger vision in this. This greatly changes how we interact and respond to our costumers. We serve a very diverse group of people in the City of Atlanta and in a very dense area so we are able to affect a large part of the community. We served 101 ALTA teams alone this year.
We are also very different from most staffs because of our unique culture. Every person on the staff is mission-driven and there is no sense of competition amongst the pros. Again, everyone is invested in the larger vision of the company so there is no negative energy or jealousy. This has created an amazing environment where the team wants to be at work and our customers want to be in our space. We are always happy and playing upbeat music. We make sure our tennis center feels positive, fun, and that it is also aesthetically very clean and appealing as well. We all know and believe that all the details matter. It is very rare to work in this type of positive environment and we know we are lucky to have it, but we were also very intentional about creating it. Our customers comment on it often.
We go above and beyond the call of duty. We have touched and shaped the lives of so many adults and youth in the Atlanta community. We have created a work culture and climate that is 100% for each other and we are all working together toward a common goal. We recognize that tennis is merely the vehicle though which we get to change peoples lives for the better and we recognize this as a serious responsibility and know that we have an impact in our community. Our team has participated in community service events. We raised food and money for the local homeless shelter, we host acing autism, special pops, and other disadvantaged groups of people. It is not about how many of our students win a trophy but about how many people we can inspire and empower to help make our world a better place.
The only reason we teach tennis is because we directly get to shape people lives, specifically children. It is massively important to me that we teach children how to thrive in this world. Every single day that we teach tennis to children we are incorporating, making analogies, preaching, and showing the children how to work hard, do their best, not be scared of failure and have a positive attitude. We want to know that every kid who has ever been a part of Agape Tennis Academy has a greater likelihood of thriving in the world and we know that they do. This one aspect of obsession over making sure these children will succeed/thrive is the greatest differentiator. The children know how much we care and because they know this, we are able to get them to push themselves and work harder and recognize new capabilities in themselves.
What were you like growing up?
-Worked very hard at athletics.-Would play all day on my own, run sprints in the yard, run to the tennis courts, hit balls on the house for hours
-Very intense always about everything
-Leader
-Always moved to my own drum, never a follower, always did things my own way
-Stubborn
-Always looking for a better way
-Read a lot as a young adult.. self-improvement
-Driven, motivated, idealistic
Contact Info:
- Address: 1400 McConnell Drive Decatur, Georgia 30033
- Website: www.agapetennisacademy.com
- Phone: 678-333-5934
- Email: amy@agapetennisacademy.com
- Instagram: agapetennis or apazahanick
- Facebook: Agape Tennis Academy
- Twitter: apazahanick or agapetennis
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