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  • Help with College Tennis, please?

    I have an 18 year old kid at the club who instead of going to an academy in Spain wants to do the college tennis thing over there in the US. He is a very good player who has won futures tournaments and bagged his first ATP point last month. He is UK based.

    How does it work over there? Which colleges are the best option for a good player like him? Do they develop the player or simply use them as they are to strengthen teams? It's the development side of things that worries me.

    The kid went to the US a few months ago to play a tournament, and the father was swamped by coaches in the car park wanting to sign his son up. The father got the impression coaches aren't allowed to approach players/parents directly at tournaments...is this true?...how odd. He said coaches quickly found ways to approach him about his son despite this.

    Any advice...names of decent colleges...would be most welcome as I know nothing about the college system over there in the US.
    Last edited by stotty; 09-17-2013, 01:27 PM.
    Stotty

  • #2
    Brown, Wake Forest, Georgia, Michigan, Wayne State.

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    • #3
      Pacific 12

      Stanford, Cal, UCLA I know a west coast bias!

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      • #4
        I am assuming you can't just walk into these colleges on the back of tennis? Don't you have to have the grades too? There's a pecking order over here when it comes to universities. Loughborough (in the UK) has a tennis pedigree, and great facilities....but you must have good grades to get in! It's grades first....tennis second.

        I thought Stanford was for top academics? Can any dumb tennis player walk in?
        Stotty

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        • #5
          Stotty,

          Sadly, it really depends how good the player is. The better the player, the more "flexible" they are into getting them on the team. The top players will get athletic scholarships, not academic scholarships. Unless its Ivy League

          Many schools will have a minimum score on the SAT or ACT that they will require for their top athletes. These scores are lower than the ones desired for general admission. I have a 2nd job as a SAT/ACT tutor, I worked with one young junior player who was interested in going to Duke. Duke is a good academic school but the head coach told my student she only needed "x" score on her SAT's. The score was ridiculously low relative to the average college board scores received by most Duke students. The desired score was met and she found a spot on the team.

          The best thing for your player to do is make contact with these schools. All these schools have contact info of the coach or a prospective student athlete application. Good luck.

          Kyle LaCroix USPTA
          Boca Raton

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          • #6
            Very good information and advice. I'm impressed. Much better than I could have done.
            Last edited by bottle; 09-18-2013, 08:16 AM.

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            • #7
              I have had contact with some of the "best" American college tennis coaches. Do not expect Americsn college coaches to improve your son's game technically. However, in college, your son will have opportunities for daily high-level practices, many official match experiences, & access to college fitness coach.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by licensedcoach View Post
                I have an 18 year old kid at the club who instead of going to an academy in Spain wants to do the college tennis thing over there in the US. He is a very good player who has won futures tournaments and bagged his first ATP point last month. He is UK based.

                How does it work over there? Which colleges are the best option for a good player like him? Do they develop the player or simply use them as they are to strengthen teams? It's the development side of things that worries me.

                The kid went to the US a few months ago to play a tournament, and the father was swamped by coaches in the car park wanting to sign his son up. The father got the impression coaches aren't allowed to approach players/parents directly at tournaments...is this true?...how odd. He said coaches quickly found ways to approach him about his son despite this.

                Any advice...names of decent colleges...would be most welcome as I know nothing about the college system over there in the US.
                Lots of factors. Some of the colleges below are quite random.
                1. Academics. What are his SATs, ACTs, grades, courses. This will be a limiting factor for the better academic schools (e.g, Stanford, Harvard, Duke).
                2. Level of play (doubles potential too) and coach's interpretation/vision will also make an impact since the coach needs to see potential. This will be important regarding which schools might seek him. He should be looking at the better Division I schools.
                3. Yes, coaches are not allowed to speak directly at events, rather on campus.
                4. It's a choice...he can look at lesser programs or top programs. Any program ranked in the top 75 (ITA rankings, go to itatennis.com, rankings) should be reasonable for him. Coming in as a freshman, he'd probably play #1-2 for a team ranked #60-75, #2-5 for a team ranked 30-60, #3-6 for a team ranked #10-30...this is an inexact estimate since teams vary in strength and I don't know exactly how good he is. For example, it is not unusual for a junior player being ranked ITF #35 with ATP ranking maybe 900 playing #3-4 for a team (in his first year) ranked #10-15. It sounds like he's slightly behind that level.

                Below are end of last seasons top 40 teams. He can look up the rosters since he might recognize some names of opponents he has played against to get an idea of the level of play.

                His academics will determine if he can get into some schools, but the majority, if reasonable, he can get in. Even some good academic schools will allow him because the conference rules don't restrict him. Ivy League is the most restrictive Division I conference. Generally he will need to fulfill the Ivy Index to be eligible.

                As Kyle said, many schools offer athletic scholarships but a few Division I schools don't. Most notably are Ivy League where he'd get financial/academic scholarship
                based on need (if he doesn't have enough money to pay his way) which is given to him if he gets in (it's better than an athletic scholarship since it is unrelated to playing). Some schools have had success and don't have either financial support.

                He also needs to complete NCAA Clearinghouse paperwork.


                Rank Avg School Previous
                1 95.40 University of Virginia 3
                2 92.09 UCLA 1
                3 78.87 University of Georgia 2
                4 76.29 Ohio State University 5
                5 71.72 University of Southern California 4
                6 63.56 University of Tennessee 6
                7 59.79 Duke University 9
                8 58.28 Pepperdine 12
                9 56.86 University of Kentucky 8
                10 56.47 University of Mississippi 7
                11 54.72 Mississippi State University 10
                12 54.72 Baylor University 13
                13 54.54 University of Oklahoma 14
                14 54.51 Texas A&M University 11
                15 47.92 Vanderbilt University 16
                16 43.72 University of Florida 15
                17 43.57 California 18
                18 40.02 University of South Carolina 17
                19 37.55 Wake Forest University 19
                20 36.48 University of Memphis 32
                21 35.32 Clemson University 23
                22 34.95 Louisiana State University 20
                23 34.22 University of Texas 21
                24 33.93 University of Illinois 26
                25 33.31 University of Tulsa 25
                26 33.12 University of Michigan 22
                27 32.27 Drake University 31
                28 31.40 Harvard University 27
                29 29.83 Auburn University 24
                30 28.85 Virginia Commonwealth University 30
                31 28.49 University of Notre Dame 28
                32 28.24 Northwestern University 36
                33 27.91 University of Minnesota 35
                34 26.51 University of Alabama 29
                35 26.15 North Carolina State 39
                36 25.54 University of Washington 37
                37 24.53 Florida State University 33
                38 24.19 TCU 34
                39 22.36 Virginia Tech 41
                40 22.15 University of San Diego 44
                Last edited by DougEng; 10-03-2013, 07:28 PM.

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