Tennis became an important part of Tom Anderson’s life, and he began to share it. He got his family involved and then many others, leading to a special honor.

The United States Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic Section Virginia District named the Andersons the Family of the Year.

“It was quite a surprise in that it wasn’t anything we were trying to achieve,” Tom Anderson said.

The USTA Mid-Atlantic Section website described the award as being presented to a family that resides in the section and has been outstanding in its promotion of tennis and demonstrates a true love of the game.

Anderson said six years ago he took over coaching the Western Branch High School boys’ team and tennis has “just been kind of a growing passion ever since.”

He said the athletes he has had the last few years are amazing on and off the court, exercising discipline and getting good grades.

“The more I did for them, the more they gave back to me, and it’s just been a virtuous circle ever since,” Anderson said.

He said they equaled the best performance in school history this year, making it to the state semifinals.

But he noticed many youths in the area had not begun playing tennis until they were older, and he wanted to change that.

His own children would come to matches, and he said he had not even thought about getting them started early, but he eventually got more involved in youth tennis for 5- to 8-year olds.

“It’s been just an amazing experience,” he said, adding he has a 7-year-old son who is obsessed with the sport and a 6-year-old daughter that is just now starting to come along and has caught the tennis bug.

Anderson said he has noticed that playing tennis has a positive impact on a players’ off-court behavior, including their academic performance.

“There’s so many ancillary benefits to tennis,” he said, and he wanted other youths to experience them.

He helped put together the USTA Play Day at the Marlin Club in Chesapeake back in May, designed to help children 12 and under learn to serve, rally and keep score as they play.

The event ended up having more than 50 participants, most ranging from 5- to 12-years old.

Anderson helped get a program established at the Marlin Club.

He has also explored other tennis avenues, including helping Old Dominion University men’s tennis coach Aljosa Piric with the Junior Monarch Tennis Club.

The club is a program designed to grow the sport of tennis in the Norfolk area, while also allowing for meaningful interaction between young players and ODU men’s tennis student-athletes, according to a description on ODUSports.com

Anderson, who also received a USTA MAS Virginia District Community Outreach award, made a point to emphasize how his helping to bring tennis to so many youths, as well as his own children, could not have happened without the support of his wife, Alison Dodson Anderson.

And he expects his family’s involvement in tennis endeavors to continue.

“I don’t see any signs of it slowing down,” he said. “We just have plans to do more and more and more.”