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09/19/2019 12:00 AMWhen Joe Cappetta isn’t on a nearby tennis court, you can find him at Bobby’s Apizza Restaurant in North Branford. Joe bought the business in 1980, but still liked to get out on the tennis court on a recreational basis when he had the chance. In 2005, Joe stepped into the world of coaching.
Joe never had the chance to introduce his daughter Kimberly to tennis when she was growing up due to the demanding hours at the pizza parlor. However, when Kimberly told her dad she wanted to give the sport a try at North Branford High School, Joe was eager to get involved.
“I think it was her sophomore year when she said she and her friends were going to try out for the tennis team, and I perked up and started picking her up at practices,” says Joe, who lives in North Branford. “Mary Philipp was there coaching a large team by herself, and I was sitting in my car, thinking I could offer something.”
After talking with Philipp, Joe got out of his car, grabbed his racquet, and stepped on the court as a volunteer coach. Joe has been in that same role with the Thunderbirds ever since.
“It’s like I got sucked out of my car, because I knew I could help,” Joe says. “We have three coaches now, which is remarkable.”
Joe grew up in Morris Cove in New Haven and went to Notre Dame High School in West Haven. While he didn’t compete for the Green Knights, Joe still played tennis whenever he had the chance.
“We played all over, but it was in the era of [John] McEnroe, where you couldn’t get a court,” says Joe. “Tennis was so popular back then that you had to wait for courts and, when you’d get on, they’d give you an hour to play. Some nights, I remember we drove around and never played.”
Joe is also an avid runner. He likes to get to North Branford’s practices and matches early, so he can hit the track for a bit. Joe says that he’s run on the track at every high school in the Shoreline Conference.
As much as Joe enjoys North Branford’s matches, he actually prefers the practices, because he has more time to interact with the athletes.
“I love practice. During the matches, I can’t do anything. I can’t even speak to the players unless they’re between sets,” Joe says. “I just like being around the kids, watching them grow, and watching them learn. Practice is my thing. I bring experience and a calming influence.”
A self-taught player, Joe’s greatest areas of expertise when it comes to coaching are the serve and the return of the serve. Joe says that T-Birds’ Head Coach Matt Tortora has been a huge help with teaching him about other aspects of tennis in recent years.
“I love to teach the serve. That’s where I’m best,” says Joe. “I learned a lot from Matt the last few years as far as drills go.”
As a business owner in town, Joe knows how important it is to be a part of the North Branford community. That’s one of the reasons why coaching at the high school has been such a pleasant experience for him.
“It’s awesome, because a lot of my customers had girls go through the program. Even though I’m not a teacher, I love being a part of the high school,” Joe says. “We have a good thing going. I can’t work weekends because of the restaurant, but I’m there 90 percent of the time, and they understand and appreciate that.”
One of the challenges for North Branford is that there is no tennis feeder program in town, meaning that many of the T-Birds’ athletes are playing the sport for the first time when they join the team. However, Joe welcomes those players all the same and always looks forward to teaching them the fundamentals on the court.
“We seldom get girls that show up as freshmen that have played the sport before. I tell them, ‘This isn’t gym class. It’s a varsity sport,’ and we have to teach them from the ground up, which I enjoy,” says Joe. “I say, ‘If you stick with us for four years, you’ll be good.’ When I see the girls do something we taught them in practice during a match, and they look at me like I’m John McEnroe, that’s what makes me come back.”