Sports
Amoni Returns to Oak Forest as Coach ... With Help from Dad
What is she doing now? A 1995 Oak Forest graduate, Erica Amoni became the school's varsity girls tennis coach in 2001 with John Amoni, her father and tennis mentor, serving as her assistant. Erica also has been the varsity girls head track coach since 200
When Jim Keeney retired as ’s girls tennis coach after the 2000 season, assistant coach John Amoni knew someone who might be interested in the job opening.
His daughter, 1995 Oak Forest and 1999 DePauw University graduate Erica Amoni, had been a tennis and track star for the Bengals.
Erica said she originally thought she was being hired as the assistant coach, but she soon learned she would be the head coach.
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“That was a little bit of a shock because my dad taught me how to play tennis, and then I was head coach and he was the assistant,” she said. “I enjoy coaching with my father. I think we make a good team. I think the girls enjoy having us as coaches.”
Amoni, who was primarily a middle-distance runner at DePauw, also joined Oak Forest’s girls track coaching staff as an assistant. Head coach since 2004, Amoni still oversees distance runners, but she makes it a point every meet to support her athletes in all events.
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John Amoni said the tennis coaching situation at Oak Forest may have been difficult if he hadn’t known the new head coach.
“I always say I still know more (than Erica),” he said with a smile. “She’s learned a lot, I think. That’s helped her a lot, too, being a head coach in track. She’s very organized and tries to keep it as fun as she can for the kids and still try to win.”
The Amonis, especially John, are known for wearing sunglasses, even in some tennis team photos. Erica recalls when some tennis parents asked how the Amonis were related, because their daughter wasn’t sure. Maybe they were married?
“(I told them), ‘I’m sorry I’m laughing, but I do call him ‘Dad’ at practice,’ ” Erica said.
“I think he has influenced me,” she continued. “Having him teaching me internalized things that were good skills, and that’s what I try to pass on to the athletes. Working together has helped me kind of learn the ropes. We bounce ideas off each other. Talking to your parent comes into play, as well as two colleagues.
“It’s a unique relationship that we have.”
Erica been coaching so long now that some of the grade-school children she taught are now her athletes at Oak Forest.
“Obviously, they grow up and get taller and I don’t recognize them at first,” she said. “But you get the feeling like you know them.”
