Assistant coach Rong Ma begins his first season with the Rainbow Wahine tennis program in the fall of 2016. Ma comes to UH after serving as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at his alma mater, Brigham Young University-Hawai‘i from 2012-14.
Ma earned several awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) during his four year playing career at BYU-Hawai‘i (2008-11), earning national recognition both as a player and a coach. As sophomore in 2009, Ma earned ITA DII All-America honors. The following season as a junior, he was recognized as the ITA’s winner of the DII West Region’s Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, which takes into account a player’s tennis accomplishments, scholastic achievements and extracurricular endeavors. This award—which dates back to 1984—recognizes players who have excelled on and off the court during their college careers. In his final year playing for the Seasiders, Ma was named the ITA’s DII Senior Player of the Year award for the West Region.
The following year, Ma was voted the ITA’s Assistant Coach of the Year for the DII West Region in 2012. Ma earned his degree in exercise sports science from BYU-Hawai‘i in 2012.
Prior to playing at BYU-Hawai‘i Ma attended Jinan University in Guangzhou, China from 2004-09 where he received his degree in economics. After graduating from BYU-H, Ma earned his Master’s of Science in kinesiology from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
Ma, who resides in Honolulu, has been an elite tennis coach for several years and is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association. He enjoys surfing, reading and is currently learning Spanish. He also serves as a writer for the Chinese Tennis Magazine.
