Our History

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Matz Claesson and Vince Pulupa co-founded OSSA Tennis Academy in 2006, but OSSA's roots can be traced back to more than 25 years ago. The "OSSA" mentality and coaching style originated in 1991 at Lakewood Country Club when Matz took on coaching in the Mid-Atlantic area and quickly established himself as the premier junior coach in the DC Metropolitan area.

Joining forces in 2006 was an easy decision and we have continued to learn about coaching while working side-by-side ever since then. With more than 40 years of coaching experience between us, we wanted to provide high performance coaching in a boutique-style environment. We are original in our player development and we think outside the box when it comes to our coaching vision-- all while achieving this with an old school approach.

With 17 Gold Balls, 2 ATP Tour players, 7 NCAA Champions, dozens of #1-ranked junior players in the Mid-Atlantic region, and dozens of USTA Top 10 nationally-ranked players, OSSA has proven to be one of the finest training centers in the DC area for the past two decades.

In 2020, OSSA Tennis Academy was named an adidas National Academy, becoming the 6th academy in the United States to earn that honor.  In 2016, OSSA was named an Exclusive Babolat National Academy in the United States, becoming one of 10 academies to earn  that distinction. OSSA is proud to partner with two of the biggest sporting brands in the world!

As of 2022, OSSA also has the distinction of coaching the #1-ranked junior girl in G16s and/or G18s for 17 straight years-- and counting!

In recent years, OSSA players have gone on to play for the following Division I, III and III colleges: Stanford University, University of Florida, University of Virginia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Notre Dame, Villanova, Virginia Tech, University of Richmond, University of Chicago, Baylor University, Duke University, University of Tennessee, New York University, University of Delaware, Lander University, University of Maryland, Hamilton, Bucknell, and many others.

What is OSSA?

More than 25 years ago, young tennis players who were coached by Matz Claesson were running around yelling, "OSSA!" instead of the common "C'mon!" "Vamos!" or "Allez!" It's a slang word that originated in the 1970's and '80's and was used by the Swedish Table Tennis National Team that challenged China as the world's greatest nation in table tennis. The slang caught on in Sweden and Swedish athletes began using it in all sports-- and Matz helped bring the phrase to the US in the 1980's and '90's! You won't find the term in a Swedish dictionary but you will on the competitive fields and arenas around the world. Matz and Vince decided to pay homage to their junior paths and to name the group OSSA Tennis Academy.

OSSA Tennis Academy underwent a major shift away from the original lineup in September 2019. One of the Co-Founders, Matz, decided to step away in semi-retirement to South Carolina. OSSA was left to Vince and he assembled a new coaching staff: Coaches Mateo Cevallos, Matt Lennox, Dasha Panova, and David Martin.

A renewed team culture has been established that is centered around accountability and responsibility-- from players and coaches. One of the many mantras of OSSA is, "The standard is the standard."

"Our job is to help these athletes understand themselves as people. We teach life lessons through tennis and maybe the formula looks a little bit different for each one... maybe the process even gets a little uncomfortable... but once these athletes learn how to cope with adversity on a tennis court, those problem solving skills will translate in their lives as well."

--Vince Pulupa