Should I play college tennis?

[MonkeyMan123]

I am majoring in exercise science to become a physical therapist, and have got in to a few direct admission physical threrapy schools which are st louis university and the university of sciences in philadelphia. I have to go to one of these schools because they i want to to into the direct admission program since i don't have to reapply to grad school and there it is a much easier pathway towards becoming a physical therapist.

Anyhow, my dream is to go pro at tennis. I realize this is very, very unlikely, so please don't remind me. I just want to give it my best shot i can while attending college.

My question is, since those universities i applied to don't have good tennis teams, should i even play on their team? I was thinking I could just train mostly myself and play as much as possible outside and at a local indoor club until i finally realize i won't be able to go pro. Then i can move on with life. Also, how many hours do college tennis teams typically practice?

I would like to play 5 hours everyday while in college. I am currently playing on average 4 hours a day.
Thanks

 

[charliefedererer]

Why move on with your life?
You can enjoy your tennis as a great sport, stress reliever, and motivation to stay in shape until way after you retire as a pysical therapist.

Definitely play on your team.

Although tennis seems like a solitary game, you'll enjoy life, and be more successful, if you enjoy working with others, and they enjoy working with you.

View the tennis team as a chance to practice working on your people skills as much as you have been on your tennis game, and enjoy the rewards.

 

[Casey10s]

A couple of thoughts:

I would play on the college team. It should be fun to be around other tennis fanatics. Also, it looks good on your resume that you were able to handle college sports and taking classes. You never know, you may want to apply to other grad schools and this will give you another advantage.

As for training 5 hours a day, I would think about this. The important part here is that you are going to college for an education. After classes and said tennis training, there is not much time left to do homework, reading, etc. I think you will be struggling to keep up with your classes if you spend this much time on tennis. This could also affect getting into grad school if your grades are poor. If you want to try going pro, start college later. If you are going to college, you need to balance your time better.

The Div I schools that train at my club have formal practice 3 or 4 times a week at 2 hours per session. I don't see too many of the players coming around outside of those sessions.