Anita Murphy with Lewiston Rec summer staff

Lewiston Director of Recreation Maggie Chisholm was bursting with pride upon recently learning that Anita Murphy, the Rec Department’s Tennis Director, has won the National High School Girls Tennis Coach of the Year Award.

The National High School Coaches Association, which bestowed Murphy with the award, is a service organization founded in 1989 to provide support and leadership programs for the nation’s 500,000 high school coaches.

“Anita is known for her unwavering ability to build teams of collaboration and championships,” said Chisholm. “Although her award reflects her high school involvement, Lewiston Rec benefits from the amazing instruction, leadership, and skills that she brings to our youth and adult tennis programs. Lewiston Rec clearly has the best of the best when it comes to tennis!”

Murphy has worked for Lewiston Recreation for 30-plus years.

Chisholm notes that over the years, Murphy has become a known quantity when it comes to her athletic expertise. In 2011, she received the Unsung Heroines in Maine Sports Award from the Maine Principals Association; in 2010, the Maine Tennis Family of the Year Award; in 2008, the National Federation of High Schools Coaches Association National Coach of the Year Award and the Portland Press Herald Coach of the Year Award.

She has also received nine Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame Presidential Awards, including one in 2011.

“Anita’s list of awards and championship wins is nothing short of extraordinary,” said Chisholm. Her awards include numerous championships for Doubles, Southern Maine Athletic Association Western Regionals, Eastern Regionals, Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, States, and United States Tennis Association.

Besides high school and Lewiston Rec instruction, Murphy also shares her tennis abilities through an intramural after-school fall tennis program at the middle school level, has assisted in a tennis clinic for special education students/adults, and has served as Assistant Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of Southern Maine.