Why did Justin Toler start playing tennis? The same reason most of us started any sport.
“I saw my dad play when I was little and I always wanted to play with him,” Toler said. “He told me I had to hit the ball first before going to the court. So he gave me a racket and a foam ball and said, ‘Once you can get some spin on it, you can come on the court.’ So I would sit outside and hit against the garage. I don’t really remember how long it took me … probably months.”
The investment proved sound. Toler got to play with his dad. He worked his way up the junior rankings in New England. And he’s been Concord High’s No. 1 player for three seasons.
Last year, as a junior, he led the Crimson Tide to the Division I finals, won the state doubles title and finished runner-up in the singles tournament. He just capped a 14-0 singles season for Concord, which went 13-1 and will be the No. 2 or 3 seed when the D-I tournament starts Tuesday.
“Justin has played the best tennis of his career this year,” Concord Coach Dave Page said. “Equally important has been his evolution as a team leader. We lost three great players from last year’s team who were also strong personalities, and Justin has really stepped up to fill that void.”
He has a throw-back game – an all-court mix of spins, pace, angles and shot-making that makes him deadly in doubles and confounding in singles. He’s not big – 5-foot-10 and thin – but he can whip his arm and racket into a blur of point-ending precision. It’s the kind of game that will translate to the next level, and next year he’ll play at Endicott College, a D-III school in Beverly, Mass.
Those are the shiny prizes Toler earned for his years of practice, the glossy top layer of his tennis story. At the heart of this story, like it is for so many others, is the tale of a father and son.
Todd Toler had only been playing the sport for a year when he gave his son, then 9-year-old Justin, that foam ball and told him to practice against the garage door. When dad saw son show an interest and develop a passion, he upped his own involvement in the game. The two of them fell in love with the sport together.
There were hours and hours spent traveling to USTA junior events along with Justin’s mother, Kelly, who was actually the first Toler to pick up a racket. Todd and Justin spent hours playing mini-tennis in the driveway. They both took lessons with local teaching pro Alan Chandronnait, who, as usual, is a guiding figure in this New Hampshire tennis story.
Todd plays competitive tennis himself and has reached the district level of USTA team play for nine straight years. He also coached the Bow High boys’ team for three years, 2008-10.
Before Justin’s freshman season at Concord, he asked his dad if he would coach the Crimson Tide. The elder Toler and Page have been friends for years, so it was an easy move for Todd to slide in as Concord’s assistant coach.
“If Todd hadn’t been part of our program we wouldn’t have had anywhere near the success that we’ve had the past four years (52-10, three straight semifinals and one final),” Page said. “He’s a terrific coach who combines technical expertise, tactical savvy positive energy and confidence. He connects very well with the kids.”
Parents coaching children is a familiar sight at Memorial Field. During Justin’s freshman season, the top player was Greg Cistulli, who went on to play D-I college tennis at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, and whose father, P.J., was the boys’ assistant coach. Now P.J. is an assistant with the girls’ team, where his daughter, Becky, is the top player. And the other assistant for the Tide girls is Rebecca Killinger, who has coached both of her daughters – Alex, a junior and the current No. 2, and Gabriella, who graduated last year after spending three years as Concord’s No. 1.
“As the last few days are winding down, it’s bittersweet,” Todd said. “It’s been a great season, but I’m going to miss it, totally. I remember when I coached at Bow and he was there, he was little, just 10 or 11, and it was just the beginning … and it’s a lot of fun to coach all of them, they’re a great group of kids.
“But what has it done for our relationship as a father and son? It’s been priceless, that’s the answer.”
It hasn’t always been easy, which won’t be a surprise to any parent. After Justin showed such promise at an early age – cracking topspin forehands when he was no taller than the net and the racket was as big as his head – he and his parents agreed he would fully commit to the sport. But the multiple practices per day quickly burnt him out and everyone saw it was time to step back.
The game lost its fun again after his freshman season and he didn’t pick up a racket for months. There have been emotional outbursts on the court, including one that led to a three-match suspension from the team in 2014. Even when he first began trying to put topspin on that foam ball against the garage, “I’d get pissed sometimes and hit the ball so it would miss the whole garage,” he said.
But Toler has grown from these experiences, turning tough times into lessons.
“You wonder if it was a calling. Wouldn’t it just be – the sport he picks is giving him his biggest life lesson in one of the things that he knows he needs to work on, which is patience,” Todd said. “He chose a sport that tests him every day and boy has he made strides. From where he was as a freshman and sophomore to where he is now, it’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.”
The final strides may be winning the individual singles title in early June and repeating as doubles champion with a new partner (last year Justin won it with Thomas Bengtson and this year he’s playing with Aidan Connor). But the younger Toler isn’t thinking about those tournaments just yet.
“I’m not going to worry about it until we get there. Right now, it’s just about the team,” he said. “I mean, it’s coming up and it has crept in a couple times thinking about it, but I’m still working with the team.”
Which means he’s still working with his dad, and that’s a happy ending to any sports story.
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)