Ian Baek is in his tenth season as an assistant coach with the Christopher Newport tennis program in 2024-25. He joined the athletic department in 2015 and is responsible for coaching, instructing, and conducting practice, as well as traveling to competitions and recruiting potential student-athletes. During his tenure, CNU has made the NCAA Championships once and the Conference Final four times.Â
Baek, a member of the South Korea Junior National Team, came to CNU after a successful playing career at Division I Hampton University. He played with the Pirates from 2006-10 where he was Team Captain of both the men's and women's teams. He earned first team All-Conference honors as he helped lead Hampton to a conference championship and appearance in the NCAA National Championship Round of 32.Â
He is originally from Pusan, South Korea, and was a member of the Junior National Team of South Korea for Tennis. Ian also achieved a ranking of 333 in the ITF World Ranking.
In his junior career, Baek was ranked as high as eighth nationally in singles of 16 & under and as highly as 16th of 18 & under in South Korea. In his college career, he was a two time captain of both the men's and women’s tennis team. As a freshman he was named the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player after helping the team to the NCAA Division I round of 32. In his sophomore and junior years, Baek was semi-finalist of Flight A Singles and the Champion of Flight A doubles at the HBCU Tournament.
Baek previously worked as the Tennis Pro/ Head Junior Coordinator at the RWFC Tennis Center as well as Head Pro at the Hampton Tennis Center. While the Head Pro of CTA (Captains Tennis Academy), Ian was responsible for teaching all ages and ability levels, as well as teaching and traveling to tournaments with National Level Juniors.
Ian graduated from Hampton in 2010 and currently resides in Newport News with his wife, Annabel.
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