Member Spotlight: Jan Kirkland Cochran
Jan Kirkland Cochran
Jan Kirkland Cochran got started in tennis relatively late compared to most of the ladies against whom she now competes. She says, “First of all, I probably would have never played tennis had I not started flying with Delta Air Lines as a flight attendant. I actually started my career with Delta as a secretary in 1972. I still played basketball and softball on adult traveling teams until 1976 when I decided a desk job was not for me and started training to be a stewardess. A fellow stewardess--now called flight attendant--introduced me to tennis. I was on reserve my first 3 years of flying and on-call 24 hours a day 5 days a week. Since I never knew when I would be flying, I gave up my basketball and softball teams. At this point, I would occasionally hit balls with my friend who I later realized didn't know any more about tennis than I.”
Jan reports that for the first 10 years, she was just a good athlete chasing down balls and getting them back over the net the best way she could. She played only singles as she loved running and exercise. “My very first tournament was the Annual Delta Employee Tennis Tournament. Playing in the novice division, I made it to the finals. More importantly, I met a tennis teacher who also introduced me to ALTA--Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association--which was and is the largest local tennis organization in the country.” (She has played ALTA for almost 40 years; the next year, playing in the intermediate division in the Delta tournament, she defeated the player to whom she had lost the previous year 6-0, 6-0.) In her 35's, she started playing some southern tournaments, meeting a lot of other tennis players, and even bidding trips around layovers in the southern states so she could meet and play with them. A key experience was playing in a tournament in Memphis, TN where she met Dodo Cheney. “Unbeknownst to me, she had watched me play a match and later came over to me and asked how long I had been playing. She said that I was very quick and feisty on the court and that I could win some of the tournaments one day if I kept playing.” Jan was encouraged to keep working on her game since Dodo herself started winning mostly after turning 50. Jan took that to heart and coincidentally won her first national tournament in her 50's.
Jan’s mother was a do-it-yourselfer which led Jan into home remodeling. After buying her first house in 1979, Jan went to a barn-building class at a local Jr College two nights a week for a quarter; basically learning the basics of home building by building a barn (which is like building a house) including floor system, walls, roofs, doors and windows. Long before HGTV, she would ride around, find new houses being built, and ask to help. She learned to lay tile, put up and repair sheetrock, and paint. Also, like her mom, she loved working in the yard and landscaping. She flipped her first house for more than double in three years after doing a lot of landscaping outside and mostly cosmetic changes inside. “Since then I have lived in and remodeled six homes, my first three doing all the work inside and out and later contracting subs for some of the more extensive work. My yards and landscaping had so much curb appeal that they attracted buyers pretty quickly anytime I decided to sell and upgrade. My mom and older sister would always come and help me out on my remodeling. We called ourselves Three Women with a Broom.” Although I made money, I did not remodel these homes for that purpose; it was a hobby for me and personalized our homes while saving money. I love watching HGTV---if tennis is not on, that's the channel I have on. I like all the shows and am always learning new techniques or ideas.” (Pictures below show before and after bathroom remodel.)
“Needless to say my tennis was also just a hobby and squeezed in around my "real" job at Delta and my house remodeling. My first 15 years of flying I flew all-night turnarounds, meaning I went to work at around 7 pm and got home the next morning at 8 am. I would possibly go to bed a couple of hours and then have a full day of house projects and tennis. Landscaping and hardscaping were continuous. My largest yard was 5 acres, and I landscaped 3 acres of it with large planting beds with brick borders and large islands of azaleas, rhododendrons, and many varieties of hostas and mostly perennials as well as walking paths and areas for sun-loving plants. I also constructed a large barn to house my yard equipment.”
Jan’s favorite project was building a 4-hole artificial turf putting green for her husband after getting an astronomical price for getting one installed. She says that many of her projects were driven by having a high-dollar wine taste with a cheap beer budget. One of the companies agreed to sell her the artificial turf as well as directions and a video that she watched numerous times. Since her husband was an electrical contractor, she had access to the heavy equipment needed to grade and prepare the site. She already knew how to use the Bobcat and gas-powered soil tamper so was not intimidated when they arrived. After building the putting green base and stacked stone wall and landscaping, even the putting green contractor was impressed.
Jan notes that both her home remodeling and landscaping and her tennis have been built on the "monkey see monkey do" philosophy. After watching and playing all kinds of players, she would try to emulate certain styles and types of games. In 2005, she retired from Delta after 33 years of flying and truly got to play all the tennis she wanted and travel to all the national tournaments--using her travel benefits. She still loves to do drills and try new strokes--she is working on a one-handed slice backhand now. “I feel you can learn something new from everyone if you listen and are willing to change, and let's face it, we are all having to make so many changes in every facet of our lives as we go forward.”
“I think that the NWTO (as well as NSMTA) are on the right track in trying to attract more players and get the word out that these tournaments are a lot of fun and have a lot to offer. We need to keep working on ways to get more match play in for those that lose in the first couple rounds in the main draw. “
