GEORGE F. LEE/GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Amy Jing Sun has never lost a collegiate singles match to anyone except Seasiders teammate Adrienne Hegedus.
Shining Sun Brigham Young-Hawaii tennis coach David Porter's every move is being watched.
By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comAlthough he has earned the right to make decisions without being questioned, there is someone very close to him who is monitoring his every move, analyzing his every decision with the hope that someday she will understand what goes on in the head of a tennis mastermind.
The spy isn't out to hurt Porter -- she has helped make him who he is -- she only wants to become better at what he does than she is at what she does.
And that is not going to be easy.
Jing Sun, known as Amy to her teammates, has contributed 124 wins to Porter's program in her three years on the North Shore and has never lost a collegiate singles match to anyone but a teammate. That is why Porter brought her in, to give him wins that he would repay with a free education.
Only Porter didn't know that Sun's primary education would be found on the tennis courts.
"My dream is to be a tennis coach for the Chinese national team," Sun said. "So I transferred here to learn coaching from my coach. I could come to BYU because it is a church school, and safer because there is no smoking, no drinking or drugs."
Sun, joined Porter and immediately threw all of her effort into learning English so that she could unravel the mysteries that an architect of national championships holds deep inside. After that, it was open season on Porter, throwing herself into his care and trying not to question his methods when he began doing things completely different from the way she had been doing them on her rise up the ladder of tennis in China, making it as far as the national team.
"Sometimes (Porter) tells me to do something and I don't understand why," Sun said. "But I believe he is right, then I think and think trying to understand."
She thought that the differences between the American way of tennis and the Chinese way of doing things would be subtle, something that would give her an edge over other applicants for coaching positions. She soon found out that the two countries' philosophies on tennis are as different as their ideas on when to celebrate the new year.
GEORGE F. LEE/GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Amy Jing Sun
"It is very different," Sun said. "In China, our coach gave us a plan to work on basic skills over and over all day. When I came here I was a little uncomfortable because coach Porter doesn't do that, he said 'You practice those things by playing games.' If I feel uncomfortable with my forehand, I realized it is my responsibility to work on that on my own."
The mix of teachings has made Sun the No. 16 player in the nation, even if she is only the third best on her team. Her only losses in a Seasider uniform have come to Adrienne Hegedus in the finals of the national championship tournament in successive years. Because she is surrounded by the best practice partners in the nation, Sun has no idea how good she really is. Porter likes to believe it is because Sun is as humble as she is good.
"My coach likes to say I play good because he is encouraging, but I am really not good," Sun said. "We have Adrienne on our team, she is No. 1, Judy (Weng) is in the top rankings. They are good."
Sun tells herself that she is no match for her talented teammates because it fits into her grand scheme of things. She works tirelessly on her weaknesses, hoping that someday she will encounter someone with the same flaws.
"I am lucky that I am not very good. It's easy for me to understand someone who can't do something because I have the same problems. I can understand why and try to help them."
Sun passed the second level test to become a coach last year and became a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association, but she will be the first to say that she still doesn't know it all. She is talented enough that her game rarely frustrates her -- she has never been pushed to a third set by an opponent. At least her game has never frustrated her the way Porter does.
Sun breaks down Porter's teachings at the end of each day, searching for the reason behind his latest lesson. But just when she thinks she has it all figured out, Porter will throw something at her that makes her feel like a common rookie.
"I don't know how to fix all of the problems," Sun said. "Last year I went to a camp with him to teach children and I was so frustrated because I had to tell my coach I didn't know how to fix a problem. He fixed it with one little adjustment and I wondered what is wrong with me."
Figuring out how much impact Porter has had on Sun's game isn't easy. She walked onto the campus good enough to go undefeated through her collegiate career. She may not have been prepared to sustain that excellence as age began to catch up with her skills, though.
"I had more skills before, but it is difficult to compare. Before, someone would hit a shot and I would say 'I can run fast.' Now I am getting older and can't run fast or I get tired so I have to think about my next shot. I have to be smarter than before."
Porter has given Sun a lot of things, but the most important to her is that he sparked her passion for the game again.
"Before I went (to the national team), it was my dream. But then I got there and it was very tiring, practicing all day every day. Tennis just wasn't fun anymore. I don't think I loved tennis before, I would have to ask myself 'Do I love tennis?' and every time I didn't know the answer. Now I know the answer: I love tennis."
BYUH Athletics
