Take a glance at the up-tempo practices at the Falbo Knows Tennis Academy, and you’ll see a who’s who of local prep tennis standouts.

Free State’s Rachel and Andrea Koch. Lawrence High’s top singles player, Tommy Johnson. LHS junior-to-be A.K. Woolsey. Each shows up several times a week to work on skills, strength, speed, agility and stamina.

But sprinkled among them are several Seabury Academy students, a hint that a tennis program at Seabury could be on the way.

With the cooperation of several members of the Seabury family, John Falbo moved his academy headquarters to the tennis courts at Seabury, just west of the building which formerly was Alvamar Racquet Club on Clinton Parkway.

He previously had taught at Lawrence Country Club and still runs the LCC instructional program.

Now, the opportunity to do lessons at Seabury makes reaching out to potential tennis players that much easier, and, at the same time, gives Seabury a little publicity. It’s an everyone-benefits situation, according to both parties.

“I felt we could have a good program, and it could reflect positively on the school,” Falbo said. “I have students from Kansas City and Topeka that are now exposed to Seabury. It’s exposure they wouldn’t normally have.”

Falbo, a former Kansas University standout, had an accomplished tennis career. He won a USTA Junior National Championship playing doubles with current tennis power Andre Agassi. He also played on the Junior Davis Cup team with Pete Sampras and Jim Courier before heading to KU, where he was an All-American during his playing days from 1987 to 1990.

After a brief professional stint, Falbo turned his knowledge to budding tennis players. He now runs the Falbo Knows Tennis Academy year-round at Seabury and, when the winter comes around, indoors at Sport 2 Sport.

Tennis pro John Falbo instructs a group of students. Falbo, a former Kansas University tennis All-American, has moved his Falbo Knows Tennis Academy to the courts at the new Seabury Academy on Clinton Parkway.

Seabury’s agreement with Falbo, along with the undeniable representation of Seahawks at Falbo’s academy, brings to surface the future of a tennis team at Seabury.

It seems the interest is plentiful.

“Several of them did work at the country club before,” Falbo said, “and a few have come on since.”

Seabury is a Class 1A school with minimal enrollment and enormous academic expectations, but athletic opportunities still are plentiful. The school has boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, volleyball and cross country. According to athletic director Brian Clyne, tennis and golf are slated to begin play next spring.

“I’ve got a lot of kids who want to play,” said Clyne, adding that approximately 13 tennis players and 11 golfers had expressed interest.

Tennis pro John Falbo works with students at his academy at Seabury Academy. Falbo moved his school from Lawrence Country Club to Seabury, which is on the site of the old Alvamar Racquet Club.

The preliminary outlook is that the teams will be coed and play a boys schedule the first year, a common theme for up-and-coming programs. Eudora, for example, fields a coed soccer team that plays a boys schedule in the fall.

The easiest thing for Clyne, besides the fact that several of his future tennis players already are getting top-notch private lessons, is that facilities aren’t an issue. Though they aren’t perfectly manicured at this point, Seabury has six tennis courts to work with on campus — more than Free State High, a Class 6A school with just four courts.

When Alvamar Racquet Club shut down, the courts were abandoned and aren’t in the best shape. But a little work can get them respectable again — something for which Falbo has pushed.

“I want the facilities to get used,” Clyne said. “We’ve been renting and loaning out our gymnasium like crazy, and the same with the tennis courts. A school our size, we don’t get a lot of use out of it.

“And, from a purely maintenance standpoint, John helps take care of the courts. That’s why this whole situation is really a win-win.”