Is playing tennis in college worth it?

Athletic Recruits
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<p>To: Student Athletes in College or Parents of Student Athletes in College</p>

<p>I'm a female in high school (junior/11th grade) and am intersted in playing women's tennis at a d2 or d3 college. I am ranked top 100 in my state for USTA and only play local tournaments (nothing national). I train 8+ hours a week, have private lessons once a week, and train at an academy. I have no intentions of becoming pro after college. I want to do well in college and maintain a high GPA, but after much thought, I realize that maintaining a high GPA and playing a sport may not be possible. With all the traveling, early practices, missed classes, and such, doing well may not be so easy. </p>

<p>Math and science are my best subjects and I know that I want to do something either in the medical field (genetics, bio-med, etc.) or in business. I am taking the following AP courses: ap calculus ab, ap psychology, and ap biology. I think that I might have good enough grades to maybe recieve a partial academic scholarship to some schools. As of right now (a junior), I have a 3.6+/4.0 (unweighted) and a 3.8+/4.0 (weighted). I plan on taking the SAT/ACT soon. </p>

<p>I take academics seriously, volunteer my time, tutor other students, and participate in various clubs. I want to go to a school with other dedicated students such as myself and do well. But, if playing on a team is going to be so time consuming that I cannot do well in the classroom, then maybe being on a team isn't for me. </p>

<p>Both my parents went to school out of the country, so I will be the first to attend college in the US. They did not participate in athletics while in school. My parents are going to be paying for a majority, if not all, of my college tuition fees. I thought it would be nice to maybe recieve a partial scholarship for athletics in order to lessen the cost. And don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy playing tennis. It's NOT like the only reason I want to play in college is to get a scholarship. I want to play tennis in college because I enjoy being a part of a team, being in the atmosphere of matches, and being able to play tennis and compete. Getting a scholarship would simply be an added bonus. But, wouldn't playing on the club team be just as satisfying? </p>

<p>I'm interested in hearing your opinions on how difficult it is to do well in school, while being on a sports team. And simply if being on a women's tennis team is worth the hard worth and time commitment. And for those of you who just do club tennis at your college, how fun/rigorous is that?</p>

<p>Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! And thanks in advance to those who respond.</p>

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<p>I played junior college tennis and tried to walk on but did not make the team at my state university. I played intramurals there and in grad school. That was fun but intramural tennis was not very competitive. No deep regrets but I often wish I would have gone to a D2 or D3 and played my final two years. I liked what you said, "I want to play tennis in college because I enjoy being a part of a team, being in the atmosphere of matches, and being able to play tennis and compete. Getting a scholarship would simply be an added bonus. " </p>

<p>We learn a great deal from participation in intense activities outside classrooms. Such as NCAA athletics. Go for it.</p>

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<p>My D is a junior playing a Div 1 sport. She is doing well academically, got to study abroad, has an internship for this summer (many recruiters are looking for successful scholar athletes)and loves her sport. She carefully chose her university so that she could balance all of this. Learn as much as you can about services offered to student athletes such as support from profs when missing classes, tutoring services, priority scheduling for classes, on campus housing priority , etc. These kinds of supports make it more likely that you will be a successful student athlete. Good luck!</p>

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<p>tenniswitch,</p>

<p>Interesting and mature post. I’m glad you’re giving this some thought right now. I was a walk-on D2 tennis player many, many moons ago. I love the sport, and still play it competitively today at 51 (2-3 times per week). Tennis was my release in college. The time commitment was not huge, but I know some former D1 players who told me it was a job. It took some of those former D1 players 5-6 years out of college to pick a racquet up again. Not me, I enjoyed my D2 college practices, workouts and the matches. I definetly have a passion for tennis, and I think it helped me with college by managing my time better. I was a business major, so take that into consideration.</p>

<p>My oldest son is a D1 baseball player & engineering major. He is very much the exception to rule. We had some very serious discussions at the dinner table (while he was being recruited) about D1 sports, engineering and time management. He found a situation that would work for him (Ivy school), and he made the choice that he would drop baseball if he wasn’t contributing to the team. He determined that his engineering time was most important. Therefore he would stop playing baseball if it was no longer worth the time investment and affecting his engineering studies. Fast forward 3 years…he is a senior. He is still playing baseball and an engineering major and doing well. He has a job offer at graduation. This may be a strategy you employ or think about. He is as passionate about baseball as I was about tennis. I hope that helps in some way. Good luck.</p>

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<p>I have 2 kids, one is a D1 athlete in his senior year, however he plans on turning pro this summer so his focus was on his sport. He is doing well in school but he is not trying to get straight A’s or anything like that. Math and Sciences are probably tougher to major in for sports with labs. My son was in sciences and he had to switch out because too much missed class with labs. He is very busy but does have free time available. Other players on his team are in frats and they are finding it difficult to manage the 3 things, sport, academics and frat.
Daughter was playing a sport at an NAIA school and she was not the most academic kid going into college however for her playing her sport made her more disciplined with her time and she really got a grasp of what it takes to do well in the classroom. It helped that freshman had mandatory study hall as many sports teams do. She did not have much free time, at least as far as a chunk of days where she could come home and visit etc… It sounds like you have a very healthy attitude about your desires. I think tennis is an equivalency sport meaning probably not a ton of $ for tennis anyway, so if you did it to save your parents money, probably not worth it. If the college has a competitive club program that might be a better option for you.</p>

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<p>Women’s tennis is a headcount sport. D1 allows 8 full scholarships and D2 - 6. Not all teams are fully funded so in this case scholarships can be split. There is a shortage of women tennis players in spite of massive foreign import.
You can absolutely major in Business or Bio and play D3 tennis. There are D1 players who are doing pre-med while playing on a ranked team (top 75 in the country). You can leverage your tennis to get into highly desirable D3 schools or a specialized program at a D3 school or even get a price break. You can probably get athletic money at some less desirable D1/D2 schools. At D3 you can also quit later without repercussions if you feel that tennis interferes with your college experience. Outside of a few highly competitive D3 programs (that you may not qualify for) the rest are just tennis for fun and should not be that demanding. You can narrow your possibilities down based on academic and athletic match and then check the team schedules. Tennis is a minor sport so you need to be mindful regarding the amount of pull the coach may have at these less competitive D3 programs to get you through admissions.</p>

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<p>CCDD14, great comment like tennis fencing has that same dynamic with competitive imports for the top competitive programs and other D1, D2 & D3 desperately looking for talent to field a competitive team…</p>

<p>I’m sure the more selective schools don’t have that problem either.</p>

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<p>The answers to your questions depend on what level you’re able to play (i.e. which schools might want you). </p>

<p>You’re top 100 in your state. Which state? California? Florida? North Dakota? And by “top 100” I assume you don’t mean top 75 or top 50. You’re 75-100? </p>

<p>Also, are you entered in the Tennis Recruiting Network? If so, how many “stars” are you?</p>