BCC’s Greenblatt gaining ground quickly after late start in tennis
PENN TWP — Always an athletic kid, all Cal Greenblatt had to do was find himself a sport.
Easier said than done.
“I feel like I tried them all,” the incoming Pine-Richland High School senior and Butler Country Club member said. “I did soccer for a little while, flag football, golf ... None of them were for me.”
Butler Country Club and tennis were in his family. Former BCC president George Bilowick, a longtime golfer, is Greenblatt’s grandfather. Dana Bilowick, part of current BCC youth tennis director Whitney Snyder’s first class in the sport, is Greenblatt’s mother. She briefly coached tennis at BCC as well.
She talked her son into giving tennis a try.
“I know how competitive he is and figured he might like it,” Bilowick said.
She was right.
Greenblatt began playing tennis his sophomore year in high school. He was on the Rams’ junior varsity team as a junior and played No. 1 singles at that level. He saw some action in doubles on the varsity team.
During the West Penn Inter-Club Mixed Doubles Junior Tennis Championships last week at Butler Country Club, Greenblatt, 17, played on BCC’s varsity doubles unit. He had to win an in-house qualifier to earn that spot.
“I was pretty proud of that,” Greenblatt said. “I’ve only been playing tennis for a couple of years now and a lot of kids here have been playing for 10 or 12 years. I still have a ,lot of catching up to do, a lot to learn.
“My forehand is my biggest strength right now. I have to learn how to place my serve a little better and my backhand is my biggest weakness. But I feel like I can get around the court pretty well.”
Greenblatt figures to start at doubles for Pine-Richland this fall. His goal is to crack the Rams’ lineup in singles and possibly go on to play the sport in college.“
His mother helped his indoctrination into tennis.
“We gave him a crash course, basically,” Bilowick said. “Not only did he get involved in the tennis program here, we came to some adult events during the summer and joined the Oxford Athletic Club last year.”
Bilowick has an extensive tennis background. She played No. 1 singles all four years at Mercersburg Academy, but opted not to play in college. She was an assistant pro under Snyder a decade ago.
She won the BCC women’s club tennis championship years ago and has a sister, Dyane Brockovich, who played at Mars, then at Chatham University.
“My mother helped teach me the game,” Greenblatt said. “It’s an individual sport and I like the responsibility being on me whether I win or lose. It’s a tough sport to get really good at and I’m still working on getting there.”
Snyder said Greenblatt “has learned a lot in a short period of time. He’s made big strides over the past year.”
“He’s still learning, but he’s focused in now,” Bilowick said of her son. “The longer he plays, the better he’ll play — and this is a lifetime sport.”
In Snyder’s view, tennis is a family sport as well.
“I’ve coached his mother, now I’m coaching Cal,” he said. “I get a lot of that here. Building relationships is what it’s about for me. Cal’s progress has been a product of family and those relationships.”
