PYSK: Philip Baillos
Name: Philip Baillos
Title and company/organization: Tennis director, Country Club of Missouri
Age: 42
Job description: I oversee all tennis activities at the Country Club of Missouri.
Years lived in Columbia/Mid-Missouri: Six
Original hometown: Mason City, Iowa
Education: B.A. in accounting from the University of Northern Iowa
Community involvement: I also organize local tennis tournaments for youths in the area.
Professional background: U.S. Professional Tennis Association P1 rating, USTA High Performance Coach
A favorite recent project: Putting together our adults programming this summer. We had a mixed doubles night, a ladies member/guest and a drill and grill; all had great participation and were a lot of fun.
A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: Rick Means is one of our past presidents. I was impressed that he has been with Shelter Insurance for so long and started fairly low at the company and worked his way up to CEO. That’s impressive!
Why I’m passionate about my job: I’ve had some pretty good results helping players improve their tennis skills, so I have enjoyed seeing players progress and have more fun and success.
If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: Be playing tennis tournaments and traveling around the country/world.
What people should know about this profession: There are a lot of long hours, and you need to be very organized when working with tennis players.
What I do for fun: I spend time with my wife and daughters.
Family: I’m married to Sarah Baillos and have two daughters: Sophia, 8, and Heidi, 5.
Favorite place in Columbia: We enjoy going to Shelter’s “Flower Park” off of Broadway and Stadium. I have met my family there many times for lunches and have an enjoyable time.
Accomplishment I’m most proud of: The junior development at CCMO. It takes time to develop a junior player, and we are having some great results from the players who have been involved with us over the long term: national rankings, sectional tournament titles and a high level of players going on to participate in high school tennis.
Most people don’t know that I: I’m a big Dateline and 48 Hours buff. I know it is not always accurate and sometimes one sided, but I enjoy the stories.