Hi, I am currently a freshmen at a university in NJ and was interested in transferring to a d1 school such as a georgetown and villanova to play tennis. My current school does not have a tennis program.Is this possible? I just started to play tennis my junior yr of high school. I started playing usta tournaments at the end of my junior yr achieved a sectional(northeast) ranking of around 100 at the end of my senior yr. I am interested in transferring for my junior yr. So I am dedicating this summer to getting better. How much would I have to improve to have a shot to play d1 tennis at villanova/georgetown? And do coaches normally take transfers on a d1 team?
possible to play d1 tennis
- Thread starter fedfan123
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TennisNinja
Hall of Fame
Unless you are extremely talented, probably not given that you started so late.
goran_ace
Hall of Fame
If you want to transfer to Georgetown or Villanova for academic reasons that's great, those are good schools, but you are an adult now and maybe it's time to let go of the DI tennis pipe dream. You probably won't even get a response from the coaches at Georgetown or Villanova. Junior/Senior year transfers are heavily scrutinized because they are typically expected to be experienced players who you can insert in the lineup and can contribute right away. No matter what you do in the next year, you would still be a project because you have so little competitive experience and time is not on your side.
Maybe find out if they have a walk-on tournament, but even if you do win the walk-on tournament outright that's still not a guarantee that you've made the roster or will ever see playing time. Have you looked into club tennis or USTA Tennis on Campus at your school or those schools? That might be a better fit for you.
If you insist on holding on to the college tennis dream then one guy you might want to connect with on here is tennisjon. He's a DIII coach in NJ and he seems to be open minded about talking to or taking a look at players with unconventional backgrounds. Best of luck to you. If college tennis doesn't work out, you can still play and enjoy the sport for the rest of your life.
Maybe find out if they have a walk-on tournament, but even if you do win the walk-on tournament outright that's still not a guarantee that you've made the roster or will ever see playing time. Have you looked into club tennis or USTA Tennis on Campus at your school or those schools? That might be a better fit for you.
If you insist on holding on to the college tennis dream then one guy you might want to connect with on here is tennisjon. He's a DIII coach in NJ and he seems to be open minded about talking to or taking a look at players with unconventional backgrounds. Best of luck to you. If college tennis doesn't work out, you can still play and enjoy the sport for the rest of your life.
These kind of post always are curious to me. Do former H.S. football players think the same like this sometimes about playing DI ball as a walk on (Rudy)? I wonder if these post are real and if folks are just baiting the conversation. But at the same time know kids (goron ace would say young adults) have dreams. Kids should pursue their dreams for a number of reasons. For many dreams to come true it takes hard work. Going after your dreams teaches reality. Those who go about pursuing their dreams learn to plan, set goals, persistence and fortitude.
I know a kid who successfully played DIII tennis, transfered to DI school to play on their tennis team. The coaches were ok with him being a walk on because he was a good player and worked hard. He even won a summer college doubles tournament and many matches during the fall seasons, during the spring, I don't recall him ever playing a dual match or traveling with the team in the spring.
If you can play, and really want to walk on, work hard on your game and fitness now and though the summer. Take the advice here an play tournaments. Then let us know how it goes next fall.
I know a kid who successfully played DIII tennis, transfered to DI school to play on their tennis team. The coaches were ok with him being a walk on because he was a good player and worked hard. He even won a summer college doubles tournament and many matches during the fall seasons, during the spring, I don't recall him ever playing a dual match or traveling with the team in the spring.
If you can play, and really want to walk on, work hard on your game and fitness now and though the summer. Take the advice here an play tournaments. Then let us know how it goes next fall.
Villanova's team is very weak. Many of their players were unranked juniors and played only high school tennis. You will find that to be the case at most Catholic institutions in the the East. The #1 or #2 player may have been ranked and/or recruited using limited athletic scholarship funding, but if you have strokes and some talent, you would have a good shot at playing. G-town's team is better, as all of their players had junior rankings, and most would have been an AVERAGE of 2-3 star recruits. St John's and Marist are also better, but anyone could play for St Peter's, St. Francis-Brooklyn, Sienna, Sacred Heart, Fairfield, etc. Good luck!
Nova mens team has one 4-star and seven 3-star recruits on the team.
http://tennisrecruiting.net/team.asp?id=53
goran_ace
Hall of Fame
Play both. Men's open draws tend to be small or you get a mixed bag of players. You might get an easy first round match against an ambitious 4.0/4.5 weekend warrior then in the next round get whipped by teaching pro 3 years removed from his college tennis days. Playing 18's concurrently will give you a chance to fill out your calendar and get more matches under your belt. Obviously you should expect to go deep into the draw in any 18's event otherwise no need to ask about whether you have what it takes to play college ball.
Coach Carter
Rookie
And you need to sign up for the 4 summer ITA tournaments in your region. That is where you can really figure it all out. You will truly see if you can do anything sufficient. You may get a crappy draw, but if you play all 4...and the back draws then surely you can get some decent matches in and learn through the process. Getting hammered by some studs can be okay if you can mentally handle it...plus it sounds like you may be looking to network and find a team.
ok..but does anyone know if coaches would even consider a transfer (particularly georgetown and villanova) to be on their team..and I didn't play hs tennis since I started so late..but I did get a USTA sectional eastern ranking between 95-105(I played during my senior yr of hs)...i'm just trying to gauge if this is a realistic goal
goran_ace
Hall of Fame
My honest opinion: perhaps you should look into club tennis...
Georgetown club tennis
http://www.tennisoncampus.com/Page198.aspx
Villanova club tennis
http://www.athletics.villanova.edu/tennisclub/
http://www.tennisoncampus.com/Page223.aspx
Georgetown club tennis
http://www.tennisoncampus.com/Page198.aspx
Villanova club tennis
http://www.athletics.villanova.edu/tennisclub/
http://www.tennisoncampus.com/Page223.aspx
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is there really no hope? do colleges not consider transfers? what about smaller schools like emory, tufts? In general I am looking for a school that is good in business/economics..and has a tennis team (doesn't have to be d1), but I would like to play varsity. When I played usta tournaments during my senior yr of high school I beat all the 1 star I played and probably had around a .500 record against 2 stars.
My assumption would be a coach would have you on the team if you are better than some of the players already on the team, and you are eligible to play. There are rules you must meet when you transfer from one school to another before you are eligible by NCAA rules. In your case your best bet would probably be to look at schools playing DIII, or lower DII. It's not that a coach would not consider a transfer, but there is going to have to be something about you that makes the coach think you will be at least as good as the players he has now, and as I said, you would be eligible to play. If you are good, go out and beat good players in tournaments, are better than some of the guys on the team, and are elgible to play, there could be hope. My guess is all that is not likely though. Players have a tendency to over estimate their ability levels when they are not out playing tournaments against good players all the time.
Art Rust Jr
Rookie
There's always hope, but frankly, if you only started playing jr year in high school, I'd doubt you'd be able to make the team at a place like Villanova. If you're that interested, and you go to school in NJ, why not make the short trip to Philly and check out one of their matches. That should give you a decent idea of where you stand. By the way, Villanova has an excellent club tennis program. It's coed, and they competed in nationals last year.
The two D3 programs you mentioned are probably both stronger than Villanova, certainly Emory is.
If you're good enough, I'm sure the coach would welcome you onto the team. You're not talking about a top D1 program, or even an Ivy League school, for that matter.
The two D3 programs you mentioned are probably both stronger than Villanova, certainly Emory is.
If you're good enough, I'm sure the coach would welcome you onto the team. You're not talking about a top D1 program, or even an Ivy League school, for that matter.
TennisNinja
Hall of Fame
Dude. Just stop. Seriously.
tennisjon
Professional
I coach tennis at Drew University in Madison, NJ. It is a D3 school. To give you an idea of D3 players, one of my current players was top 10 in New England last year. About 10 years ago, we played Villanova and lost 5-2 (old scoring system). There is certainly overlap between D1-D3 as we only regionally ranked that year. Players of your ranking can play at any level since there are bad to great schools in each division. Since you lack experience, if tennis is a priority, I would focus on a school that matches your academic needs while having a coach that knows tennis. Being a D1 coach doesn't mean that the coach can teach and/or coach you to improve. I have a friend who has a similar experience level to you and he played his freshman year at Rutgers before they dropped the team. The coach did nothing to teach him how to play and he had very minimal training as a player. It was the wrong fit tennis-wise. Find the right match regardless of division. Just because they are D1 or D2 doesn't mean they will have scholarships. Many schools do not have tryouts for walk-ons at all.
