Assistant coach brings CrossFit, love of game to women’s tennis

It had been years since Giancarlo Cava stepped on a tennis court as nervous as he was that day in the summer of 2014.

He wasn’t naive. He knew if his session with then-UCLA senior Robin Anderson didn’t go well, he wouldn’t be given the job.

He was worried. His tennis skills weren’t refined and he wasn’t in peak physical condition for the sport. Anderson at the time was a top-ranked player in the nation, the leader of the UCLA women’s tennis team and Pac-12 Player of the Year. The odds didn’t seem to be in Cava’s favor.

But then the situation took a 180-degree turn when Anderson first spoke to Cava.

“She said she was going to summer school, so she hadn’t played tennis a whole lot,” Cava said. “It immediately alleviated the whole process for me.”

The session proceeded casually with personal conversation and rhythm drills, rather than an intense match between the two. Cava felt good after the meeting had concluded, but it didn’t matter how he felt. What truly mattered was whether Anderson believed he would be a good fit in UCLA’s storied program.

Cava was thankful that she did.

“He was being really open with me, and I was being open with him,” Anderson said. “After I hit with him, I went to the coaches and told them I think he is going to be great.”

It’s 2016, and Giancarlo “GC” Cava is now in his second season as the volunteer assistant coach for the women’s tennis team.

The Southern California native has dedicated most of his life to tennis. He played as a child in the USTA junior leagues and in high school before representing UC Riverside from 2003 to 2006.

But after he realized he did not want to continue playing tennis, Cava decided to pursue a different path in the world of tennis: coaching.

“My last year (at Riverside) we didn’t have an assistant coach, so our coach would tell the referees that I would be the assistant coach for us,” Cava said. “A lot of the matches after doubles I would be (coaching), which is so strange to me because it was so long ago.”

Cava returned from his college career to coach at the Riviera Country Club. As adults and children practiced their basic tennis strokes, Cava stood by on the court, monitoring them and sharing his knowledge and passion with those willing to learn from him.

“Aside from being a great coach, he has such good standards for himself and his players,” said Debbie Mahdessian, whose sons practiced under Cava at Riviera Country Club. “He is a great role model, and he balances expectations of players with making it enjoyable.”

After settling down with his instructing position, Cava was unaware as to what would come next on his career agenda.

“I was in a bubble at a country club and I was like ‘What’s next?'” Cava said. “I can only express how fortunate and how lucky I am to be here.”

UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster then reached out to Cava in 2014 for a chance to bring his tennis expertise and intensity to a program that had won two NCAA titles since 2008.

“I admire the humility, work ethic and passion he has for the game and I thought he would be a great fit,” Sampras Webster said. “It is a volunteer role so he’s got to really love tennis and that was one thing that was so evident talking to GC.”

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While Cava may be known for his background in tennis around Westwood and at Riviera, to other LA locals he is not a racket-wielding wise tennis coach. To them, Cava is a CrossFitter.

“It’s not something that I kind of broadcast, but it’s kept me more well-rounded off the court,” Cava said.

Cava was introduced to the fitness regimen at UC Riverside, where his strength and conditioning coach was renowned CrossFit enthusiast Josh Everett. At UC Riverside, Cava experienced grueling fitness protocols administered into the tennis program by Everett.

“I remember there was a workout which was 100 pull-ups and and I’m just like ‘How in the world are we going to do this?’” Cava said. “Beforehand, it seemed a little nutty, but then when you see results you start to buy into it.”

Despite being skeptical of the program’s intentions at first, Cava continued to train in the sport and now serves as one of just 11 class coaches at the local CrossFit Los Angeles gym.

“He’s an exceptional Sherpa who really drives through the character of physical practice,” said Kenny Kane, owner of CrossFit Los Angeles. “He is just a monster of energy and is so beloved by the community.”

Although not technically a strength and conditioning coach for the UCLA team, Cava still acts as a fitness general on the court, where he guides players through a series of drills combining common CrossFit workouts with tennis techniques.

“It just started to be like, well, let’s slow down and break down the movement and get more qualitative than quantitative, on top of also applying the mental toughness of things,” Cava said. “I am always looking across other sports to find something that is similar to what these athletes are doing, and CrossFit was one of those things that did.”

The players have not complained about the increased physical activities, but instead have embraced them.

“The other day I was on court three and I would do a burpee (a squat-jump workout), run out and hit a forehand, do 30-second wall sits, then 10 forehands,” said senior Catherine Harrison. “They are all really good drills. He’s really brought a lot to our team in terms of on-court and the aspect of fitness.”

As players run across the court and endure some of the strict exercises Cava experienced when he was in college, he is by their side, encouraging them and lightening the mood as he always does.

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Harrison led USC’s Sabrina Santamaria 6-2 in the round of 16 in the Pac-12 Championships singles tournament as Cava watched from the sidelines. Harrison began to succumb to pressure and ceded two consecutive games, bringing the second set to 5-4.

Before the next set, Cava walked over to Harrison and attempted to revive her focus. But rather than sounding worried or frustrated, he took a more unusual route to reach Harrison. He told her a joke.

“He comes over and says, ‘It’s okay, we didn’t want those two games,’” Harrison said. “It was so jarring that I just died laughing. After that he just said, ‘Hey, cut the ball off, let’s go.’”

The next game, Harrison won four straight points and clinched her advancement into the next round of the tournament.

“A lot of the time he just brings humor and fun,” said senior Kyle McPhillips. “Sometimes it’s not even about tennis, but if he can make us laugh or tell a joke, it brings us back to ourselves, which makes it easier to be out there in a stressful experience.”

Cava may have never walked on a court donning one of his classic blue-and-gold polo shirts had Anderson believed he was not fit for his position back in 2014. But with the intensity, knowledge of fitness and love of tennis that Cava has offered the women’s tennis team, Sampras Webster is glad to see him as part of the program.

“He cares about everyone on this team,” Sampras Webster said. “I got really lucky in getting him, and we hope to keep him as long as we can.”