<p>Hi I got into Johns Hopkins (not athletically recruited).</p>
<p>I love tennis, I play varsity in high school, but I am not good enough to get recruited.</p>
<p>Since I already got in JHU and JHU is Division 3, can I just walk on the team? Do I still have to try out? How does it work if I still want to play tennis competitively in college?</p>
<p>Yes they will have tryouts. Depending on the school and the conference they may field a JV team. If you don’t make the team, maybe you can be team manager and practice with the team. Also, many schools have club teams outside of the varsity sports so that might be an option. If they don’t have one, look into starting one.</p>
<p>mandoggy,</p>
<p>Congrats on JHU! Yes, you can request “an opportunity to walk-on” from the tennis coach. I’d try to make contact with the coach after hs graduation to see where he stands on the issue. If he gives you the go ahead, I suggest you play many challenge matches over the summer and get in the best shape you can for late summer/early fall tryouts. Ask the coach what the current team members are doing to improve their games over the summer.</p>
<p>In casually looking at JHU’s current roster they only have 3 seniors out of 17 roster spots. They are 15-2 with a 3-2 record against nationally ranked teams. They look to be pretty good. The coach will be interested if you can add depth to his team and push his existing players to be better. If the walk-on situation doesn’t work out this year, stay with the sport and join the club team (as SteveMA suggests) to stay engaged for possible future tryouts. Be persistent if this is something you really want. I was a D2 walk-on as a freshmen “a hundred years” ago, and worked my way up to #2 singles as a soph. I worked my tookus off to get there and stay there until I graduated. The advantage of tennis is that it is a lifetime sport, so anything you can do to improve your game in the present can be carried forward as you get older.</p>
<p>Good luck and enjoy!</p>
<p>Congratulations on getting into a great college. Unfortunately for you JHU has very very strong varsity tennis teams (both M and W) ranked in the top 10 in D3. The players recruited this year were national level recruits ranked around 100-300 in the country. The JHU tennis teams can probably beat many D1 teams. The good part is that there should be many good recreational players on campus and you should have no problem finding tennis opportunities including competitive opportunities (club, intramurals, etc.).</p>
<p>Congrats! </p>
<p>Now for tennis, unless you won state championships, I would say doubtful.<br>
They have a pretty strong team.</p>
<p>Better to play club, where you would actually play.</p>
<p>^ all that said - D3 coaches love to get emails from students that have already been admitted and want to compete. By all means contact the coach and see where it leads</p>
<p>I am intimately familiar with JHU as my son was recruited there this year (he is not attending). As mentioned above, Hopkins is quite strong. They are ranked 8 in D3 this year, and they are bringing 4 strong recruits next year. They do carry a large team, and the coach does play the lower level kids against weaker teams. However, everyone on the team is very strong - they are very deep. If you cannot hang with them in practice, I doubt the coach will keep you.</p>
<p>However, there is perhaps a better alternative. The USTA has a program called tennis on campus. It is a club team that travels to play matches against other schools. Not a lot of pressure to practice. There are regional and national tournaments in the spring. Everyone I know who participates in it really likes it. It is specifically targeted at kids like you that played in HS and want to continue playing in college.</p>
<p>Good luck and congrats on getting into JHU.</p>