Bobcats celebrate winning Boys’ Doubles #1 and #2 and Boys’ Singles #4 at the largest high school tennis tournament in the state of Idaho. All five Bobcats taught by Lary Duque since elementary school.
About Lary Duque
Lary Duque is an Elite Tennis Professional with the United States Professional Tennis Association. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California in Anthropology of Education and retired as a professor at BYU-Idaho in the Department of Elementary, Early, and Special Education.
Lary grew up playing tennis in Northern California where he trained with Tom Stow. Mr. Stow had developed top players in the 1940s and 1950s like Don Budge, Margaret Osborne Dupont, and Sarah Palfrey, who won several individual Grand Slam titles.
He apprenticed with Hall of Fame tennis coach, Phil Cello. In 1978, Lary realized he needed help in his tennis teaching and sought out Steve Stefanki (USTA Junior Davis Cup Captain from 1980-1985 and coach of the US Olympic team, 1984). For the next 25 years, Duque worked and trained with Stefanki, a student of Stow, to learn to play and teach the all-court forcing game and help his students develop the strokes and movement skills to play tennis beautifully. Lary Duque promotes the development of the whole athlete with a careful balance of mental, spiritual, technical, tactical, and physical training.
Duque has over 45 years of tennis teaching and coaching experience. Before moving to Rexburg, ID, Lary taught elementary school and owned and operated the Duque Tennis Academy in Davis, CA. Duque was the head tennis coach for the Davis High School Blue Devils, perennial league and sectional champions in Northern California. Lary was the head coach of the Madison High School Bobcats, leading his team to multiple district and state academic championships. He was the personal coach of many Bobcat tennis players, mentoring them since elementary school before playing varsity tennis.
Additionally, Duque taught and coached varsity tennis players who attended Sugar-Salem High School, Rigby High School, Ririe High School, Bonneville High School, Idaho Falls High School, Hillcrest High School, and Skyline High School who have won district and state titles for their schools.
Some Achievements
Steve Stefanki (US Olympic and USTA Jr Davis Cup coach and mentor/coach of Lary Duque), Lukas Burger (former student of Lary Duque and D1 college coach), and Kevin O’Neil (WTA coach and friend and training partner of Lary Duque).
Bobcats win another district team title! Bobcats won singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles as well as finalist in all three events. It was a sea of red in the finals!