SAN DIEGO – San Diego State head women's tennis coach Peter Mattera has red and black running through his veins.
Mattera embodies what it means to be an Aztec for Life, earning both of his degrees from San Diego State and spending his entire professional career on The Mesa working with the Aztecs' tennis program. From assistant coaching right out of college to his almost 20 years at the helm of SDSU's women's tennis program, Mattera has a unique view of San Diego State athletics and has seen the university and athletic department mold and change throughout his incredibly successful tenure.
GoAztecs.com caught up with Mattera to discuss his time on The Mesa, how he manages his unique blend of international and domestic student-athletes and got his take on the unique situation SDSU and the world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
GoAztecs.com: You are not only one of the longest-tenured coaches on The Mesa but have spent your entire professional coaching career at San Diego State. What has driven you to stay at San Diego State for so long? What makes San Diego State special to you?
Peter Mattera: "The reason I stayed is that I thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere here at San Diego State. I was lucky enough to get two degrees from San Diego State, and to land into a job that I thought I was originally going to try for a year because I had just graduated from college and didn't know what to do. I was asked by my friend who was the women's coach at the time, Carol Plunkett, if I would like to be the strength and conditioning/assistant coach for women's tennis, and I thought that it sounded like a great find for you until I figure out what I'm going to do. And then one year bled into about 13 years, and when Carol (Plunkett) had to resign in mid-year in 1993, I was named the interim head coach for the spring of 1994. I then convinced our Dr. Fred Miller, our athletic director at the time, what a great hire I would be for a bunch of reasons and he graciously took me up on that offer. It's just been a dream trip for me. I have a great job, I'm surrounded and get to work with both great student-athletes and wonderful people in the department, and this is an inspirational university so I feel very, very lucky. Why would I leave?"
GoAztecs.com: What has it been like working for your alma mater?
Mattera: "There are very few stories (in collegiate athletics) where coaches get to spend their entire working life at the places they graduated from. For me, I enjoy so many things about San Diego State and I feel very connected to the university in all kinds of ways. It's been just a great, great trip. And there's no one else I would rather work."
GoAztecs.com: Do you have any memories during your time coaching here that stick out to you?
Mattera: "I have so many stories that I have threatened a few times to write a book. Some stories I can share, some probably are best kept secret, but you experience so many different things when you are fortunate enough to get to work with young people who are between ages 18 and 22. There's been some unique people come through (the program), people that I enjoy very much, and that is the best part for me. One of my favorite stories—we've won many conference championships over the time that I've been at San Diego State—but one of my favorites was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were playing in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) championship in Tulsa and went in (to the competition) as the favorite. We were within a point or two of getting knocked out (of the tournament) in the first round by a team that we had already beaten handily just a couple of weeks earlier. I was thinking in my head as I was watching this unfold, 'oh man. How fast can I get us out of Tulsa, Oklahoma?' yet somehow we staged a miracle rally. We came from 5-0 down in the second set, about to lose the entire team match, and came back and won that one match and went onto win (the overall team) quarterfinal match as well. But, that morning, we'd eaten breakfast at a place that somebody had recommended to us. We all sat at a big wooden picnic-style table. And (at breakfast), the team and coaches all sat around together and we had our breakfast, and then went and played this match that I was describing to you, and came back from the dead and won. And so, leaning on a little bit of a superstitious side as most coaches (like to do), we went back to that restaurant every day (for) three more days in a row (throughout the rest of the conference tournament). And not only did everyone have to sit in the same spot at that same table, they had to order the same breakfast. And it worked (the team won the conference tournament). That was one of my favorite conference championships just because it was so close to being an early exit and we came back and pulled through. That (trip and experience) was a whole lot of fun and something out I will never forget."
GoAztecs.com: What is it like having so many student-athletes that are not originally from the United States and how is that a different dynamic coaching-wise than those who are from the United States?
Mattera: "People touch on the fact that tennis, college tennis, is such a global sport. Tennis is played at a very high level throughout the whole world so having an international flavor on a team is a cool thing and it adds to the college experience (for the entire team). You learn about other people from different backgrounds than yours, how they look at life, how they eat, how they dress, and what they think is important. (Experiencing people from other cultures) adds to a person—it makes them more well-rounded. We try with our group to encourage the girls to have team meals (together) and it's worked out well over the years. They'll have a team meal where each person has to bring something from where they're from. If someone's from Germany, they bring something familiar to them like strudel or spätzle. (Through that experience) you learn a lot of things (about other cultures), not only about the basics, but also what these people eat, and that's I think a really interesting thing. We try to take the fact that we are a global sport and the fact that our team is a bit of an international team and we try to make it into a real positive (part of the student-athletes college experience). As long as you recruit the right student-athletes, both internationally and domestically, you can put these different parts together and form a cohesive team that's something special. The US is the only place in the world where you can combine high-level education and excellence in sports in one college experience. No one else can do that and that's why the international kids that come to San Diego State and are part of our program are so appreciative of the opportunity because they know this is the one spot where you can do that (earn both an excellent education and compete at the highest level of athletics)."
GoAztecs.com: Do you think having a coach that is an international transplant (Nico Vinel, Associate Head Coach is originally from France) helps with your team's unique dynamic?
Mattera: "Nico (Vinel) has been such a wonderful addition to the program. Nico grew up in a European (tennis) system that is quite different from our (tennis) system here in the US, so Nico and I have been able over our time together to blend (the two systems) and create a cohesive coach-to- student-athlete environment. We're almost always on the same page. We also have a very similar temperament. (Those similarities create) a nice mix and combination (between the two of us). Additionally, having someone who grew up in a different system not unlike what I described with the differences between domestic and international student-athletes, where Nico might look at life and life in the US in one way and I might look at it differently but at the end, we both want the same thing and were able to come together and respect each other. We enjoy each other and work for the common good, which is San Diego State Athletic Department and women's tennis excellence."
GoAztecs.com: Have you ever experienced something like coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, shaking up not only your team's schedule and ability to compete, but also their daily lives?
Mattera: "(The COVID-19 pandemic) is such a unique situation. I'm so appreciative of everyone that's working so hard to get us to flatten the curve, but globally, this is such a unique thing. San Diego has experienced some horrendous wildfires which have shut us down for a week, maybe a week and a half a couple of times, but never anything to this scale. It's unprecedented in my life, the amount of change this pandemic has caused, and to most of us that are alive right now (this situation), we have never seen something like this in our life. It's such a challenging time for everyone. San Diego State as a University has done a great job of handling it in as the situation is very fluid -- (the university's administration is) trying their absolute very best to do right by students and their individual college experiences. On a smaller scale, Nico and I are trying to do right by our team and make sure that they stay focused on their academics to the best of their ability. We want to make sure that they're safe and we're checking in with them several times a week. We're going to have once a week calls on Zoom so we can see everybody's face and (the team) can interact with each other, and just try to deal with it together because the answer is no, I have never seen anything like what is going on in the world right now."
GoAztecs.com: What was it like when you learned about the extent to which the pandemic would affect the team and the university? With so many international athletes, what was the experience of getting them to a safe environment like?
Mattera: "We've been in this mode now for three weeks even though it seems like it's been going on for months instead of weeks here in our part of the US. We went from playing what turned out to be our last dual match of the year on Wednesday, March 11, where everything was relatively fine and normal, and within 48 hours, the ball started rolling down the hill. (The COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary response) was so fluid at the beginning, we went from thinking that this is just going to be a temporary halt of sporting events and that the university will stay open to students to it becoming a necessity to get the students to social distance and immediately get to a safe place away from campus. It was very unique for our team, especially having people spread out all over the globe. There were certainly some travel challenges as you want to do right by the students, number one, to make sure that they were safe, and you wanted to make sure you could help them in whatever way possible to get home to their families because these people are somebody's daughters, and we wanted to make sure that their mother and their father could get their daughter home so that they could keep an eye on and make sure that they were safe. It presented a lot of logistical challenges, some psychological challenges. It (The COVID-19 pandemic) was and continues to be a very trying and unique situation, but as they keep saying on television, we're all in this together. It's not just a US problem or any other country's problem, it's a global problem (referring to the spread of the virus). Hopefully, everybody will continue to do the right thing and we can get through this hard period. I've tried my best to think of (this situation) as the universe hitting the reset button, telling us all, 'okay, we are going to do this for a few months and then we'll come back and let's see where you are and what you now see as important'."
GoAztecs.com: Has this unique situation changed your mindset towards coaching, how to communicate and relate to your student-athletes? Has it shifted the way you plan to coach in the future?
Mattera: "I don't think it necessarily changed the way that I coach because I've always been a glass-half-full kind of guy. But I think I'll have a whole new appreciation for every player that is on my team and they'll probably have a whole new appreciation for the little things. It's going to change all of us, teaching us not to take the small things for granted.
I told the kids this morning that I felt bad that they hadn't been able to complete their spring semester (on campus) even though it's really out of our hands. I told them how much I appreciated the fact that the NCAA has granted the spring sports' student-athletes, no matter their year in school, the opportunity to get that (athletic) year back and have an additional year of eligibility. We were halfway through what looked like it was going to be an exciting and fun successful season. We are lucky that we have almost an entire team coming back next year, and I think that these kids have gone through this (pandemic and its surrounding experiences) as a unit will both appreciate everything San Diego State is doing for them and will appreciate each other a little bit more too."