Constance Peters Jones shared this update and reflections with us:  

“It was great to come back to the campus recently for an alumni event. I attended Dwight from 4th grade to graduation. I played in 3 sports: Field Hockey, where I was All-State (first team) all four years; Varsity Basketball; and Varsity Tennis. Then . I’d play my tennis match, then when finished would run into the gym and change into lacrosse gear and go out and play for lacrosse. Buses were going to the same school for competition of both spring sports. So, I lettered in 4 sports, which had never been done at Dwight or ESB (now Dwight-Englewood) before.

Since graduating I have been involved in many sports at a National Level. 

Tennis: I played Tennis at Rollins College (when it was D1), all 4 years varsity level. Half the team went pro upon graduation. I also started playing pre-qualifying tournaments, then qualifying for the Virginia Slims tour, got USPTA certified with the famous Dennis Van der Meer, and I have been a tennis pro all around the tristate (NJ, NY and CT) area since 1978. I have won 16 National Championships, traveling all over the US to compete. My first Gold Ball was won on the first grass court at Forest Hills Westside Tennis.

Platform Tennis:  , invented in 1937 by two guys dying to play tennis during a harsh winter. In 1997 I was one of the 12 to meet to grow the sport to create a certification process,  professional teachers in the sport. I ran preseason 3-hour camps all over the country, creating one of the first instructional videos. I won 18 National titles starting in 1978 to the present day. I have been the Director of Paddle also at many clubs in the tristate area. I interviewed the late great Bowie Kuhn, commissioner of Baseball, on how he got Baseball into the Olympics, hoping to get Platform tennis into the Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City in 2002.

: I was the national coach for the Eastern Tennis Association, traveling all over the US to coach,  from Waco, TX in July where it was 103 degrees on the court, the Nike Junior tour at Stanford University, to the Girls’ National 14’s and 16’s in Boca Raton, FLA, on the clay court… to name just a few.

I coached Boys Varsity Tennis at Greenwich High School 1997-2010. Many of the top 20 national ranked players were playing in the 3 conferences we were competing in, ,  James Blake was playing for Fairfield H.S. had 103 boys show up for tryouts in 2002 so made a presentation to the Board of Education, Greenwich, with reason to expand the program, and successfully received the grant to make 4 teams. I was coaching a Varsity A and B together, JV and what prep schools call Thirds so upperclassmen can play. Then had a program with 70 boys participating. Won 11 out of 13 State titles, was inducted into The National Hall Of Fame Of High School Coaches in 2009.

I am now playing and teaching Pickleball. have also competed in what is known as Beach Tennis.

I am so grateful for all my years at Dwight to be able to explore the challenges of learning, getting better, and experiencing what I call the Team Concept- working together to set up goals and then striving to attain them.”