<p>I play tennis and I have done for about 10 years now. I'm pretty good but not good enough to think about trying to get onto the USC team.</p>
<p>Are there lots of opportunities for lesser ranked players to get involved with sport (tennis in particular?)</p>
<p>Also, do you think this will help my application at all. I dont mean in an extra curricular way, but like if I got in contact with someone at USC involved with tennis, do you think they would/could put in a good word for me if I demonstrate a serious interest in wanting to get involved in tennis?</p>
<p>This is a bit OT and will not help you with USC, which has big time Div I sports, but many excellent liberal arts colleges have Div III sports, and are unable to attract athletes with Div I abilities. If you look at, for example, the times for Div III school conferences’ track and field or swimming, you can get a good idea of whether you might be a solid competitor for that school. If so, you would want to get in touch with the coaches at the schools you identify as athletic matches asap. If the coaches are interested in you and your stats are viable for their colleges, this can help you a lot with admissions and sometimes with funding. Look at the cc board for athletes and you can get some very specific advice.</p>
<p>Have you searched the USC website to see what club level and intramural tennis opportunities they offer? Maybe they have a tennis association that travels to tournaments but is not a club level sport. Or call the tennis office and ask them what opportunities exist at USC for people like yourself. They are involved in the tennis world and will know what is going on at USC and around LA. See if they need student managers. It always helps an application when a student can pinpoint what they plan to do once on campus because it shows you have thought about the specific school and how you will fit in. Good luck.</p>
<p>There is club tennis. The talent pool ranges from novice to former nationally ranked players. In addition the travelling team can accept a FORMER (one) college varsity player. The tennis talent is quite deep. The club tennis team has gone to Nationals for the last four years and has competed in the gold bracket three out of four times. Last year we beat UCLA for Southern California’s Championship.</p>