Hi- My son has the option of playing high level tennis and we are looking at tennis academies in Florida for tennis and school (IMG, Evert, Sanchez-Casal, Saddlebrook). I want to know how colleges view these academies vs a more traditional boarding school on the East Coast. Thank you
Good question. Married to a tennis fiend who played back when those academies were first getting going. I’ve picked up from him that their reputation is they are more about the tennis and not so much about the academics.
We knew a HS students locally who left her HS to do a regional tennis academy but then she burned out and dropped out. The dad of another top junior player at our local tennis club told my husband that a lot of the top junior players in our state are homeschooled these days so they can have more time on the court.
From all this I surmise that elite junior players need to devote a tremendous amount of time and have top notch coaching to stay on top. My impression is academics often take a back seat. At this level not sure if the goal is going to college or get on the circuit.
I hope someone with direct experience or knowledge of those academies weighs in, however, as my info is peripheral.
Academically selective colleges will not view them the same as a good prep school. They are just not as academic as the prep schools. However if your son is a tennis superstar, that may not matter. Coaches want to get the best players they can.
I have known more than one tennis player who went to a big-name full-time academy and came back a worse player than when they left. I think these kids would have been much better off - both academically and tennis-wise- finding a local tennis coach to hit with on a daily basis and getting a lot of match play.
Traditional boarding school is not an option for a high-level junior tennis career because of the logistics of a such an endeavor. Your son has 3 options:
- Attend a local public or private day school and practice locally
- Attend an on-line school and practice/compete whereever. This may include local tennis academies that have programs for homeschoolers
- Attend a boarding tennis academy and attend associated private or on-line school. If parent follows the child to an academy then the child can stay with the parent and be a non-boarder.
If the child becomes a recruited athlete the colleges do not care about the school that the child attended. If you target academically elite colleges then make sure that the child’s education is not compromised and he has appropriate scores/GPA to be admitted. Make sure the child attends a good online/offline school.
Unless you target the very top college tennis programs your child does not have to attend any “tennis academies” (to hit the ball for 6 hours every day). If you live in a “tennis desert” without good training and competitive opportunities then you may have no choice but to relocate or to ship your child to some academy.
A lot depends on the talent and desire of the child. The fact that you have money to spend on tennis does not mean that you should or will get any kind of return on your investment. This is a long road, there are opportunity costs and boys tennis is very competitive. Time spent on the tennis court and travelling to tournaments could be spend on something else. You need to be realistic and pragmatic at all times.
On the other hand tennis is a great side door to be accepted to an elite college if the stars align. Good luck.
Also, don’t think that tennis is going to pay the full cost of a college education for a D1 player. There is normally 10 players on a team. The NCAA limits the number of scholarships to 4.5 per team. Getting a 1.0 scholarship is highly unlikely. If the coach has the money available and really wants you (i.e. #1) you man get an 0.8. If you don’t already, you need to become familiar with the term Equivalency Sport.
A tennis player might not get the full scholarship but tennis can get the student into the school and that may be the more important hurdle.
I think the colleges look at these academies as non-traditional schools and evaluate the students as they would home schooled students, or online students (many of the students do take online classes while in Florida because the schools aren’t big enough to offer all the classes). They’ll look at the classes and assess the rigor just like they would for any school in the country. There are a lot of really smart student athletes, and some may end up at a tennis academy or a basketball academy or at a small public school in Oklahoma. The AO will want to see that the student took the most rigorous courses, has high test scores, is somehow and academic fit for the school.