The Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association will honor veteran Brandywine girls tennis coach Joe Marazita when he is inducted into its hall of fame on Feb. 3.

Marazita, 60, has coached the Bobcats’ girls tennis team for 20 years, and has amassed an impressive 238-24-12 career record. Overall, he spent 25 years coaching tennis at Brandywine

Over that span, the Bobcats won 10 conference championships, nine regional titles and qualified for the state finals 14 times. Nine of the conference and eight of the regional championship have come in a 12-year span.

In the past four years, Brandywine has been 58-0-1.

The Bobcats’ best finish came in 2008, when they were eighth in the state.

Marazita had been able to accomplish all of this without the benefit of having home tennis courts.

Brandywine practices and plays its matches across town at Plym Park.

Marazita was a No. 1 singles player at Buchanan for four years in high school, and was the Bucks’ varsity quarterback.

He received a tennis scholarship from Northern Michigan University, where he graduated in 1979.

“I have always been competitive, so coaching is a great outlet for me,” he said. “I started playing tennis at age 4 with my dad and two older brothers.”

Marazita credits two men for much of his success — coaches Roger Relich and Ed McKeel.

“I learned from the two best coach’s I had in high school that the key is to get your players to give 100 percent and not focus on winning or losing,” he said. “Challenge yourself to focus on your own potential and not your competition and you will be successful regardless of the outcome. I always tell the players actions, not talk, is how athletes define themselves.

“I also conduct a summer program which has allowed for us to rebuild during the off-season instead of during the season. Kids like to be challenged, and the above has helped offset no courts and crossover players. It also helps that our team has been All-State Academic 19 of the 20 years, as good students make good players.”

Marazita has always been able to rebuild using athletes from other Brandywine sports programs. Although they may have never picked up a racket before or have played in many years, he and assistant coach Richard Robbins have been able to make it work.

“Tennis is an easy sport to learn and improve in,” he said. “So when I get players that play other sports, they usually enjoy success because they already bring good practice habits with them and are able to adapt quickly.

“As a coach, I want my program to be more about the process than the outcome. I actually prefer practices to game day because I can see the improvement in the players as they complete the many drills we do.”

Marazita is honored to have been selected for the hall of game.

“No doubt being inducted into the hall of fame is one of the best things that has ever happened to me,” he said. “But God has probably blessed me with more than I deserve, and this is another example as I was already blessed with great parents, good health, a fantastic wife, kids and grandkids.

“I also want to thank my assistant coach Rich Robbins and Jerry and Cheri Rissman for their contributions, and for sure the players, their parents and all the great people at Brandywine for all their support and putting up with me for [more than] 25 years.”

The hall of fame induction ceremony takes place in Troy.