Not long after Westlake High School opened its doors for the first time, Connie Flanderka impacted the school’s athletic program. Months into that first 1978-79 school year, Westlake had its first CIF-Southern Section sports championship.
Flanderka had melded Westlake’s first girls tennis team all the way to the 1978 Division 1A team championship. Under her direction, Westlake appeared in seven Section Finals and won three additional team titles in 1984, 1990 and 1991.
By the end of her 39-year career as the longest tenured female varsity head coach in Ventura County history, Flanderka’s teams had won 20 Marmonte League championships and reached post-season playoffs in 38 of 39 seasons. Flanderka’s team won 601 times—the most by any female coach in section history at the time of her retirement in 2017.
That wasn’t all to Flanderka’s coaching resume. From 2002-2017, she was also the Westlake boys’ tennis coach. In that 15-year span, the Westlake boys won six Marmonte League titles and had 217 wins.
All together, Flanderka’s teams won 26 league titles and four section championships, and had an amazing 818 wins. Only legendary Santa Clara coach Lou Cvijanovich, who guided three sports teams, won more in county history with more than 1,000. It was no wonder that Flanderka was inducted into the CIF-Southern Section Hall of Fame in 2019.
In 2012, Westlake High School honored Flanderka by dedicating the school’s tennis courts as the “Coach Connie Flandeka Tribute Courts.”
Flanderka enjoys collecting Early American antiques, gardening, reading and spending time with her family. She and husband Peter reside in Brookings, Oregon. Son Kegan lives in Portland, Oregon.