Kennelly is entering his first season as assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at SUNY Oneonta. Kennelly says he “feels blessed to receive the opportunity to coach at his alma mater”. He graduated in May of 2014 from Oneonta with a degree in business economics. During his college years he was involved with many off court activities including an internship at Nationwide Insurance, volunteering in the income tax assistance program, and mentoring underprivileged children at a local magnet school.
Kennelly grew up in Irvington, N.Y. where he graduated from Irvington High School with honors. During his high school years he competed almost every weekend in USTA tournaments and obtained a national ranking in every age group. In addition, he played four years of varsity tennis at Irvington and ran two years of varsity cross country. Although he does not run competitively any longer, running is still a vital part of his training regimen for tennis and lists former Olympian Runner Steve Prefontaine as his idol.
During his collegiate tennis career Kennelly played three years at Oneonta and one year at Division I Hartford University. During his freshman year he led Oneonta to the championship at the Flower City tournament in Rochester. During his sophomore year at Hartford he recorded many wins including victories versus the University of Connecticut.
Despite the initial transfer he came back to Oneonta because he realized that is where his heart was. During his junior and senior years he was team captain and MVP both years. During his three years at Oneonta he was undefeated at home. Kennelly lists as the proudest moment of his tennis career; receiving the “Most Outstanding Single Performance” award chosen by the athletic department for his win over the nationally ranked No. 1 singles player from Rensselaer in his final home match of his career.
As the new assistant coach, Kennelly hopes to stress the importance of academic achievement to the players along with the importance of internships and volunteering within the community. It is his own mantra that limits are self-imposed and through hard work anything is possible. It is his hope that the student athletes on both the men’s and women’s tennis team can learn to play and live without limits.
Kennelly’s parents, Ed and Sharon are both college graduates who went on to pursue law degrees. His father played tennis for Iona College. One of his heroes is his sister Allison whom he looks up to because of her many achievements including playing soccer for Clark (MA) University.
