Striking Success: For almost 30 years, jeff olsen has shaped eastview tennis

Jeff Olsen first discovered his love for tennis in the early ‘70s when he won a set of tennis lessons. After playing at Rosemount High School and later in community college, he found his calling in coaching—and for nearly 30 years, he’s led both the Eastview girls and boys tennis programs.

This fall, the Eastview girls wrapped up a standout 2025 season, tying for the conference championship and finishing second in sections. We caught up with Coach Olsen to talk about what made this year’s group so special—and what’s ahead for the boys’ program this spring.

The Eastview girls team had a really successful 2025 season. Tell me a little bit about the team this year and what accomplishments you’re most proud of?

This year’s team was really a terrific group of young ladies that knew how to have fun, but also knew how to put the time in. We set a record on Instagram for a post with over 4.6 million views, which was pretty amazing for a group of kids just going out there playing the game they love. We had a multi-talented group of good athletes—we had golfers, we had softball players, we had hockey players. It was a good mix of overall athletes that just cared about each other and really played for their school each and every day. I couldn’t be more proud of the efforts and the way they represented Eastview High School!

This year, the MSHSL added a third class for girls tennis, and participation seems to only grow. What does that growth mean for Eastview and how does this addition of a third class impact the team?

Adding a third class for tennis this year has really gone over well. It gives more teams that usually never get a chance to make it to state a better opportunity. So it’s been well received throughout the state, and I think this is gonna be the new way for tennis in the future.

Does your whole family play tennis? How often do you get out and play?

I do more coaching these days than playing, but I have turned my efforts to playing some pickleball. My younger son played high school tennis at Rosemont and my younger daughter played four years of tennis at Eastview and one year of tennis at Rosemount. She then played Division II at St. Cloud State University, so it’s been pretty much a family affair for years. My wife played team tennis for over 30 years as well while raising our 4 children and was a very successful player. My son and my daughter both have coached with me at Eastview.

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, what goals do you have for the Eastview boys tennis team?

For the boys’ season, we continue to strive to be competitive in a very tough section 6, which primarily Edina and Blake have owned for the last several years. We just hope to continue to improve on our record from last year and be very competitive in the years to come.

What keeps you coming back to Michael Lynne’s?

I started shopping at Michael Lynne’s Tennis around 30 years ago and what keeps me coming back are the people there—they’re wonderful. And of course getting to talk to Michael and Mimzy all the time is very refreshing and I can’t say enough about Anne, she is an amazing person and they give me the utmost service every single time I come.