Our History
The Soar Tennis Academy was launched in the summer of 2020 by Coach Matt Swigart with locations in Cottage Grove and at the University of Northwestern. That first season being the COVID summer saw many kids come and give tennis a try for the first time. It was a great experience for all!
Now in year seven, the focus has shifted from running our own locations to creating partnerships with local communities and associations. Soar has become more of a mobile tennis academy where our coaches come and run the kids programming wherever our partnerships call. We celebrate Hudson Tennis Association, St. Anthony Community Ed, Mounds View Community Ed, and South Washington County Community Ed for being our first partners!
Soar continues to draw great coaches and wonderful players to work with! We look forward to moving and making more history!
Meet Matt, Our Founder
Matt Swigart is a USPTA certified teaching pro, and has been coaching and teaching tennis since 2013 as the Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at the University of Northwestern - St. Paul where he has become UNW's all time winningest tennis coach.
Other coaching accomplishments include winning 7 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Championships, earning 6 NCAA National Tournament berths and 3 NCCAA National Tournaments. His teams have won 5 UMAC Sportsmanship Awards. In that time over 85 UNW players have been named UMAC All-Conference, 7 have been named UMAC Player of the Year and 17 have earned NCCAA All-American honors. Finally, he has been named UMAC Coach of the Year 10 times.
Coach Matt loves running the Soar Tennis Academy as it is another avenue to leverage his background as a player, coach and youth pastor and allows him and his team of coaches to effectively leverage teaching the game of tennis to invest in young men and women who grow in skill and character.
Meet Caitlyn Hemric, Director of
Operations & Marketing
Caitlyn Hemric has coached with SOAR since its inception in 2020, and is stepping into a new role as the Director of Operations and Marketing.
Caitlyn graduated from the University of Northwestern St. Paul in 2025 where she played #3 doubles and #5 singles. In her senior year, she led the team in wins and received a First Team All-Conference award. In college, Caitlyn gained a love for media and stories, specifically in sports. She has worked in college athletics for the last five years and is excited to translate those skills to SOAR!
Her favorite part of coaching with SOAR is connecting with players, coaches and families while making memories. Caitlyn is SO excited to play Alligator (or as she calls it, Seven-Headed Shark Attack) and give as many Hi-Fives as possible this summer!