OCC's Elmer van Butselaar Returns to the Court after Years of Coaching

For Orange Coast College men's tennis standout, Elmer van Butselaar, the road to Costa Mesa began all the way from Rhenen, The Netherlands, where he began playing tennis at the age of 12.

Fast forward 22 years later and this 34-year-old "freshman" for he Pirates has been not only a strong player for OCC, he's also been a mentor and leader for the younger players.

"He's really been a joy to be around and his teammates love him," OCC head coach Chris Ketcham said of van Butselaar. "You can really see the enthusiasm he brings onto the court day in and day out and the younger players really feed off of it."

As a standout player for The Netherlands, van Butselaar competed nationally for his country before beginning a successful coaching career. Perhaps the most well known player van Butselaar has mentored during his coaching tenure was fellow Dutch player Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, who played 13 years on the WTA tour and reached a No. 9 world ranking. 

With the passion of playing tennis still in his blood, van Butselaar returned to school in the hopes of being a physical therapist, so he came to OCC to do both. "After 10 years of coaching, I began to realize that it was more interesting to me to learn how to keep athletes healthy than it was to teach them how to hit a tennis ball, so I decided to go to college and learn more about it," van Butselaar said. "After spending time in Florida, I thought a change of scenery would be nice so I came to Southern California and found Orange Coast College."

Through the first six matches, van Butselaar has helped lead the Pirates to a perfect 6-0 record, going a combined 11-1 in singles and doubles competition. "This has really been a great experience so far," van Butselaar said. "Chris (Ketcham) has been fantastic and I love spending time with my teammates and traveling to the different matches in the same van with them. It's really been a lot of fun."

As a single, van Butselaar has lost only 12 games through the first six matches, posting victories over Mt. San Antonio's Erik Martinez (6-2, 6-1), El Camino's Joshua Legardy (6-2, 6-0), Palomar's Christian Corse (6-3, 6-0), San Diego City's Logan Rinder (6-0, 6-2) and Victor Valley's Nolan Earl (6-0, 6-2).

In doubles, van Butselaar has teamed up with OCC teammates John Lieu, Peter Hariri, Chris Chiu and Justin Nevins and they have gone 5-1, including three 8-0 shutouts. 

Following his Coast career, van Butselaar would like to continue run to a degree in kinesiology over at Concordia University in Irvine. When not on the tennis court, van Butselaar enjoys soccer, archery and studying health and performance.