Guidance requested. Playing college tennis

Hi Guys! I'm new to this forum ... looking for your help and knowledge of the US college tennis scholarship scene.

I'm a Brit, hoping to come to any US college in Fall 2008. Good SAT results, but trying to get my tennis up to standard. Currently I'm a 5.0 on the NTRP, and spending this academic year getting my tennis up to a 5.5 if possible.

Here's my questions:

1. When do most coaches recruit for the next academic year?
2. Realistically I know that I'm not good enough yet for a ranked D1 school, but where should my sights be set? Unranked D1? Should I be looking at D2 ranked schools? Or even worse than that?
3. What % scholarship is average?

Thanks so much for reading this ... any other comments or web links etc that can help me get through the college maze.

Cheers
 
If you are merely a 5.0 (merely being used lossely because that is still a very good tennis player), you should avoid the ranked D I teams. Even the lower ranked D I teams are loaded with 5.5 players. You might catch on at a lower D I team but you could be very strong in DII.

Good Luck
 
Another ignorant college tennis question!

Looking at NCAA tennis results online.... the amount of tennis matches played by colleges vary vastly. Some college teams are competing more than 30 matches in the year, while others barely make 10 matches.

Why such a low match play?

Is this just plain apathy?
Like of players committing to the team?
Like of funds to travel?

Or is there something obvious I'm missing. It's hard from this side of the pond to understand what's going on!
 
Sorry about the spelling mistake

"Is this just plain apathy?
Like of players committing to the team?
Like of funds to travel?"

Should read..........

Is this just plain apathy?
Lack of players committing to the team?
Lack of funds to travel?

Didn't engage brain. Don't forget to visit weblink below. Guaranteed laughs!:p
 

AndrewD

Legend
daniel,

If you want to use tennis to get an education in the States you should also investigate NAIA schools. The do give out scholarships and, going on the make-up of the teams, they don't attract or target the top American players.

You should also work out what is the most important thing for you - being able to play tennis throughout college, getting the best possible education or a combination of the two. If you just want to play, you can go anywhere. If you want a great education you can use academic rankings to narrow down your choices (although, in truth, you'll get a better education in the UK than in the USA). Also, remember that a full scholarship isn't easy to come by. The men's teams are limited in how many they have to offer (4.5 Div I and II) so will often break that number up to award more partial, rather than full, scholarships.

When you have a list of potential schools, I would suggest checking via TennisRecruiting to see who has committed to play at that school over the past few years. You might notice a trend whereby a school is struggling to attract players of a certain calibre and only getting the lower rated ones (1 or 2 stars). That could be your cue. You should also be checking the team's roster to see how many seniors (final year) and freshmen (first year) they have. Too many of the latter would weaken your position while too many of the former could indicate a school that will need to be recruiting.
 
Andrew ... you've been so helpful.

I've not got into tennisrecruiting.net yet. Will have a look over the weekend.

Have been looking at the rosters though, and noticing the number of seniors on the team.

I really want my cake and eat it! I'd like both academic and tennis ... that's what my CPOA blurb says. Had about 15 colleges showing interest last year, if I was willing to be out in 2007. None of them were good at both academics and tennis .... always one or the other!

Cheers mate:D
 

AndrewD

Legend
I really want my cake and eat it! I'd like both academic and tennis ... that's what my CPOA blurb says. Had about 15 colleges showing interest last year, if I was willing to be out in 2007. None of them were good at both academics and tennis .... always one or the other!

Going on the academic rating issued by US News, the top rated schools that also have a tennis team are places like Georgia, Stanford, UVA, Harvard, etc, and I think it might be somewhat over-optimistic to look at them. Only Fordham University and Lehigh University, of the Division I schools, might be worth looking at (top 100 academically,poor results lately). Of course, if they are good at tennis they're less likely to have an opening for you: at least, not one that comes with a scholarship.

On what did you base your assessment of the schools that showed interest?
 

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Daniel,
I think you should try and get your ranking as high as possible while still
in the UK. Also, if you could get some decent results/wins in some
futures qualifying tournaments that could help (if you're ranking isn't high
enough).

I would also focus and getting higher test scores and start looking at the
applications so that if you do not get a tennis scholarship to a school you
like you can still maximize your chances of getting into top school (academically).

Personally, I would rather go to a school that's good for academics
and just so-so for tennis unless I had the serious potential to go pro.
 
Daniel,
I think you should try and get your ranking as high as possible while still
in the UK. Also, if you could get some decent results/wins in some
futures qualifying tournaments that could help (if you're ranking isn't high
enough).

I would also focus and getting higher test scores and start looking at the
applications so that if you do not get a tennis scholarship to a school you
like you can still maximize your chances of getting into top school (academically).

Personally, I would rather go to a school that's good for academics
and just so-so for tennis unless I had the serious potential to go pro.

I got 650 Math, 600 CR & 590 Writing. Are you suggesting that I should re-sit and aim higher again? My UK national exam results (A levels) were better than my SAT.

To get one or two wins in the future qualies in the UK would generally mean a 6.0 rating.

Interested in your response to these comments
 

johnkidd

Semi-Pro
I would look at a Division III school. They are usually your small liberal arts schools, but the academics are very good. Here is an example:

http://www.oac.org/

They have a very strong conference tennis wise and all the schools are very good academically. I played against many of these schools back in my playing days.
 
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