UCSC Men's Tennis

[youngfolks]

Hello, my name is Steven and I live in So-Cal as a senior. I have been waiting for a long time to post something about UCSC tennis because I have absolutely no clue of how good I have to be to play on the team. Also, I have no idea how to email the coach and what to include. I really, really, hope someone who is knowledgeable to help me- I don’t know who else to ask. I’m sorry for the long post.

My credentials for highschool would be Coach’s Award freshman year, Co-MVP sophomore year, MVP Junior year, and I held the best record at my school three years in a row. My highschool plays hard teams such as University, CDM and maybe considered as a D1 league. For USTA team tennis, I went to nationals in freshman year and finished 11th in the nation (14 advance) and held the best record on my team (4-1). In freshman summer I played as the number one seed for USTA Glenney Cup (14 advance) and I have been in USTA since 6th grade and each time I went to sectionals.

The problem is I quit practicing tennis my junior year to do well in school to get up my GPA. My UC gpa is a 3.75. So, now as a senior, I am trying to get back my rhythm, and I know I can do well if I put my heart into my work. I feel that I was better as a freshman that I am now because I haven’t won anything major. The problem that I am facing is that I have played tennis for 7 years and it’s my senior year and its either I go big, or I quit tennis for a while to enjoy senior year. I love the feeling of being a part of the team, that’s why I have been in USTA for so long. The idea that you form bonds on and off the court is truly amazing. I know tennis will teach me not only how to become a better player, but also- a better person. What is the time commitment for UCSC tennis?

The reason why I didn’t email the coach is because I wanted to get into UCSC academically so I know I could handle it and then have a walk on. I fear that the coach would run out of spots and not allow me to try out.
Can someone please give me some tips on how to tackle my situation, it would mean so much. Most importantly, am I good enough to play on the team? I play around a 4.5 level. Thank you!

 

[ClarkC]

I know nothing about UCSC in particular. In general, to answer this kind of question:

1) Go to the UCSC tennis web pages and look at their Statistics document from last spring. Find out who the bottom 2-3 players were who ever got playing time. You need to be comparable to these guys to ever see playing time.

2) Go to tennisrecruiting.net and look up those players. See what kind of tournament results they achieved and ask yourself if you could do that within the next 6 months if you worked at it.

The above assumes that you want to have a shot at playing time.

The UCSC players look pretty good to me at tennisrecruiting.net.

 

[Bash and Crash]

Guess you are talking about the Banana Slugs, pretty strong D3 school, 7 national championships I think. They are not like some D3's that are pretty weak at the back end. I would contact coach since this is his first year the former coach Bob Hansen went to Middlebury I think, but see what they look for ranking wise and look up the players and their junior background on TRN and USTA. I looked up a couple, freshman is two star, another sophomore is 3 star so could be possible.

 

[youngfolks]

Thank you both for your responses! I have took your advice and most of the kids are 2 to 3 stars. Yes, UCSC is a D3 but they are 6th in the nation. I feel they could compete with D2.
What do you recommend I say to the coach? I dont have a ranking. Once again, Thank you both!

 

[USERNAME]

Thank you both for your responses! I have took your advice and most of the kids are 2 to 3 stars. Yes, UCSC is a D3 but they are 6th in the nation. I feel they could compete with D2.
What do you recommend I say to the coach? I dont have a ranking. Once again, Thank you both!

Ask the coach if they accept walkons to tryout and ask him if theres a walkon tournament. Tell him how much you practice and who with (if its a good player), who your coach(s) is/are, give him contact numbers to your coach, send a vid of competitive hitting as in point play with a good player who is TRYING.

 

[Coach Carter]

Thank you both for your responses! I have took your advice and most of the kids are 2 to 3 stars. Yes, UCSC is a D3 but they are 6th in the nation. I feel they could compete with D2.
What do you recommend I say to the coach? I dont have a ranking. Once again, Thank you both!

ha, they could beat nearly 50% of D1's...too many people discount the strength of these real good D3 teams

 

[Coach Carter]

Thank you both for your responses! I have took your advice and most of the kids are 2 to 3 stars. Yes, UCSC is a D3 but they are 6th in the nation. I feel they could compete with D2.
What do you recommend I say to the coach? I dont have a ranking. Once again, Thank you both!

I don't say this to be ugly in any way, but these teams like UCSC are top notch. if YOU aren't top notch now and haven't been building a big time national game before now...then the odds are STACKED horrendously against you. I see inexperienced kids come on here unprepared and post questions daily that haven't done simple research on the ROSTER of the teams they are interested in being a part of and haven't been working on their rankings. I am far from saying you can not play college tennis. What I am saying to you and to many that hopefully will read this...

STOP PIGEON-HOLING YOURSELF BY SAYING I WANT TO GO HERE OR THERE (ESPECIALLY IF IT'S A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM OR A BIG TIME NATIONAL POWER AT ANY LEVEL)...IF YOU WANT TO PLAY, THEN SEEK OUT ONE OF THOSE SCHOOLS THAT NEED AND WANT PLAYERS SIMILAR TO YOUR LEVEL, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN DOING THE HEAVY DUTY WORK IT TAKES TO BE "EMPLOYED" AS A TENNIS PLAYER (THAT'S WHAT COLLEGE TENNIS TENDS TO BE). PEOPLE WHO SAY I WANT TO GO ___________, TEND TO END UP VERY FRUSTRATED. THOSE PEOPLE NEED TO BE PREPARED TO JUST BE A STUDENT.

That being said, there are so many opportunities out there to play college tennis if people are open minded about where they live and do a little work (God bless us all now...there's internet to help). Find a school (be open minded - look outside your area or state) that has the major that you want to go into. Look over the roster and do a little research to see how you'd fit with the kids there. How many kids do they carry or keep as part of the team? If you see that their lower guys are far higher than your ability, again it may lead to serious frustration! Put yourself in a positive spot. Look at their schedules and see where and how much they play...that will show if they (the school and coach) take the tennis program serious. Start playing as many tournaments as possible...to see varieties of opponents...different match styles. Start communicating with coaches early (email addresses or recruitment forms on nearly 100% of school athletic websites). Go for visits...spend a weekend with team members (they may be total turds that you'd hate to be a part of). Those can be unofficial visits...by making friends with players on the team thru facebook, etc. Tell them, "hey I'm interested in the team and would love to come hang out one weekend"...bang...a little tennis vacation and a real insiders view of the school and team.

 

[JLyon]

you will need to be a strong 5.0 to 5.5 player to crack the line-up of most Top 20 DIII schools, I have seen Trinity, DePauw and Rhodes in person the past 3 years and they are not even near UCSC, but all of their Top 6-8 are 5.0 level players.

 

[AverageJoe]

I have been waiting for a long time to post something about UCSC tennis because I have absolutely no clue of how good I have to be to play on the team. Also, I have no idea how to email the coach and what to include. I really, really, hope someone who is knowledgeable to help me- I don’t know who else to ask. I’m sorry for the long post.

When Hansen was there I know he took most walk-ons so long as they had a good attitude and strong work ethic. Even if they weren't good enough as practice partners he allowed guys to be apart of the team, helping with logistics, management, ball feeding etc.

Matt Seeberger, the current assistant coach, is a good buddy of mine and someone I train with a lot. He told me (as I think mentioned here), to start you're going to have to be around a 3 star recruit, or an exceptional 2 star. And at that level you'll be fighting for the 5-6 spot

What is the time commitment for UCSC tennis?

It's around 3hrs a day 5-6 days a week in season with matches and 3-5 hrs of weights a week, but you should verify with Parmelly

The reason why I didn’t email the coach is because I wanted to get into UCSC academically so I know I could handle it and then have a walk on. I fear that the coach would run out of spots and not allow me to try out.
Can someone please give me some tips on how to tackle my situation, it would mean so much. Most importantly, am I good enough to play on the team? I play around a 4.5 level. Thank you!

Like I said, I'm not sure what the current policy is, but I know Matt credits a lot of his success (8 time NCAA DIII National champion-2 team, 3 singles, 3 doubles titles) to Hansen, and he, himself is trying as much as possible to keep Hansen's "spirit" alive at UCSC so they may still take the majority of try outs. This being said, there are budget cuts going on, a long with the Title IX bs, so your best bet is to email Parmelly and ask what his current policy is. Explain your credentials and give him an estimate of your current level (4.5 as you said). And I would try as much as possible to play as many junior open and possibly championships as you can this season and subsequent summer to be as match tough as possible when try outs come round.

 

[dennis10is]

When Hansen was there I know he took most walk-ons so long as they had a good attitude and strong work ethic. Even if they weren't good enough as practice partners he allowed guys to be apart of the team, helping with logistics, management, ball feeding etc.

Matt Seeberger, the current assistant coach, is a good buddy of mine and someone I train with a lot. He told me (as I think mentioned here), to start you're going to have to be around a 3 star recruit, or an exceptional 2 star. And at that level you'll be fighting for the 5-6 spot



It's around 3hrs a day 5-6 days a week in season with matches and 3-5 hrs of weights a week, but you should verify with Parmelly



Like I said, I'm not sure what the current policy is, but I know Matt credits a lot of his success (8 time NCAA DIII National champion-2 team, 3 singles, 3 doubles titles) to Hansen, and he, himself is trying as much as possible to keep Hansen's "spirit" alive at UCSC so they may still take the majority of try outs. This being said, there are budget cuts going on, a long with the Title IX bs, so your best bet is to email Parmelly and ask what his current policy is. Explain your credentials and give him an estimate of your current level (4.5 as you said). And I would try as much as possible to play as many junior open and possibly championships as you can this season and subsequent summer to be as match tough as possible when try outs come round.

Title IX BS indeed. How could we have allowed females to vote, go to school or work outside the house. I give my son 90 percent of the food and resources, what is left over I give to my three girls. There is no such thing as equal opportunity in my house, that I can promise you. The thought that female college students actually taking athletic scholarship away from a man is just so unfair.

I lay the blame squarely on the Hemophrodite Illegal Mexican Muslims (HIMM)

Wait, UCSC is Div III, they don't give out scholarships. Regardless, women shouldn't be going to colleges. After all, the Founding Fathers didn't envisioned such a thing. We have to stop these activist judges from liberally interpretting the Constitution.

 

[JoelDali]

Title IX BS indeed. How could we have allowed females to vote, go to school or work outside the house. I give my son 90 percent of the food and resources, what is left over I give to my three girls. There is no such thing as equal opportunity in my house, that I can promise you. The thought that female college students actually taking athletic scholarship away from a man is just so unfair.

I lay the blame squarely on the Hemophrodite Illegal Mexican Muslims (HIMM)

Wait, UCSC is Div III, they don't give out scholarships. Regardless, women shouldn't be going to colleges. After all, the Founding Fathers didn't envisioned such a thing. We have to stop these activist judges from liberally interpretting the Constitution.

Oh no, ban hammer cometh.

 

[AverageJoe]

Title IX BS indeed. How could we have allowed females to vote, go to school or work outside the house. I give my son 90 percent of the food and resources, what is left over I give to my three girls. There is no such thing as equal opportunity in my house, that I can promise you. The thought that female college students actually taking athletic scholarship away from a man is just so unfair.

I lay the blame squarely on the Hemophrodite Illegal Mexican Muslims (HIMM)

Wait, UCSC is Div III, they don't give out scholarships. Regardless, women shouldn't be going to colleges. After all, the Founding Fathers didn't envisioned such a thing. We have to stop these activist judges from liberally interpretting the Constitution.

Damn that's cold. I feel really sorry for your girls...

The reality is, title IX was great in theory. It was meant to promote female athleticism through equal scholarship opportunity, which is fantastic, but as a side effect it ended up cutting a lot of sporting opportunities for males. It didnt just apply to scholarships, if it had, I would have been all for it. The reality is, a lot of male programs had to cut the size of their teams because of title IX. Guys who werent on scholarships who had worked really hard to get where they were, were forced to be cut. That's what happened me at Cal. Title IX was supposed to promote athletics instead it ended up minimizing a lot of programs.

But thanks for taking what I said in the worst possible way and blowing it way out of proportion.

 

[Dream_On]

Title IX has stopped any difference in scholarships between men and woman, but made an even bigger divide between men which play am. football or baseball and men which play sports such as tennis or something else "not as important"

 

[frunk]

Completely off topic, but to the OP; I played with the UCSC guys this summer - I'm a sophomore in high school - and I also play with the University tennis kids. Guys weren't too spectacular, but Coach Hansen is quite a nice guy, and I'm sure you could get in touch with him and explain your situation.

 

[treeman10]

but Coach Hansen is quite a nice guy, and I'm sure you could get in touch with him and explain your situation.

Contact him if you want to go to Middlebury, he is not the coach anymore at UCSC as mentioned above...

 

[AverageJoe]

Completely off topic, but to the OP; I played with the UCSC guys this summer - I'm a sophomore in high school - and I also play with the University tennis kids. Guys weren't too spectacular, but Coach Hansen is quite a nice guy, and I'm sure you could get in touch with him and explain your situation.

Bob Hansen was a lot of why that program was so good. He's not there anymore, he left to head coach Middlebury and Parmelly took over. And title IX is completely relevant to the OP if it affects UCSC tennis like it did Cal, cause in that case there would be a lot fewer slots for guys to try out for.

 

[youngfolks]

Thank you guys so much, honestly.
Username: I will take your advice and email him soon.
Coach Carter: I thank you for your honest opinion, and I prefer someone not to sugarcoat it, and just tell me the hard truth. And this was my very first post I have ever done about college tennis.
AverageJoe: thank you! it was nice seeing someone who actually came from UCSC tennis. I am going to email Parmelly soon. Do you know how good the club tennis is at UCSC? Just in case I don't make the team, I still want to play tennis. 3 stars is really good, I guess i just have to put myself out there and work my ass off to either catch up and just hope for the best.
Frunk: what is your rank ? and I am in the University league for Varsity tennis with CDM and so forth.

 

[dennis10is]

Damn that's cold. I feel really sorry for your girls...

The reality is, title IX was great in theory. It was meant to promote female athleticism through equal scholarship opportunity, which is fantastic, but as a side effect it ended up cutting a lot of sporting opportunities for males. It didnt just apply to scholarships, if it had, I would have been all for it. The reality is, a lot of male programs had to cut the size of their teams because of title IX. Guys who werent on scholarships who had worked really hard to get where they were, were forced to be cut. That's what happened me at Cal. Title IX was supposed to promote athletics instead it ended up minimizing a lot of programs.

But thanks for taking what I said in the worst possible way and blowing it way out of proportion.

For XMas, I will give each of my girls and extra spoon of chicken broth for dinner. I'm a kind father. My children loves me.

My eyes are getting worse, so I may allow my youngest daughter to learn how to read and type so that she can read the posts and type replies for me.

I'm just concerned that she'll get uppity and she has to fall down the stairs often because of it.


Advice anyone?

 

[dennis10is]

Oh no, ban hammer cometh.

Joel,

Looking for to meeting you at Ville de Rock You can't make it to the NTC tourney this year?

I'm resigned to getting banned. The Hemaphrodite Illegal Mexican Muslims are out to get me.

 

[AverageJoe]

AverageJoe: thank you! it was nice seeing someone who actually came from UCSC tennis. I am going to email Parmelly soon. Do you know how good the club tennis is at UCSC? Just in case I don't make the team, I still want to play tennis. 3 stars is really good, I guess i just have to put myself out there and work my ass off to either catch up and just hope for the best.

I played for Cal, but train a lot with Matt their current assistant coach. Club tennis fluctuates because there is no recruiting and it's more just for fun. You can form similar team bonds on a club team but it wont be nearly as competitive and time consuming but I doubt it will make you a much better player. When I was at Cal, I dated a girl who played club and from what she told me UCSC club wasnt very good. I dont think they made nationals once through my time at Cal but that can easily change with one year (it depends greatly on the girls). If you end up playing club there will probably be a couple guys who are pretty good. A lot of time schools have guys and girls on their club teams that 1. were recruited to "lesser" schools but chose to pursue their education instead 2. played a lot of juniors but got burned out and didnt want to play collegiate tennis or 3. got cut for whatever reason from the varsity and are just playing for fun now. At most schools, there will be a couple guys and girls that probably could have played varsity but are not for whatever reason. A couple guys I played with at Cal ended up getting cut and playing club (the year Cal won the club national championship) and I know a guy who played club for two years at UCLA and eventually made it up to their varsity team (although he was fairly exceptional). So no guarantee but more than likely there will be guys who are better than you playing club that you can train with.

At the end of the day it's really what you want. Tennis at any school is a huge commitment, worth it for some, not so much for others. If you get the opportunity to play for UCSC it will be a lot more work than you're probably used to but you'll be apart of a team that will most likely be a big contender for a national title while you're there. I have trained with guys who are in the top 150, worked with coaches who coached Blake, Roddick, Genepri, etc and I've never met anyone who thinks about the game as intensely as Matt does. He is a great guy but he is an exceptional coach and you'd be very very lucky to play under him. Very few see and appreciate the game like he does.

 

[AverageJoe]

For XMas, I will give each of my girls and extra spoon of chicken broth for dinner. I'm a kind father. My children loves me.

My eyes are getting worse, so I may allow my youngest daughter to learn how to read and type so that she can read the posts and type replies for me.

I'm just concerned that she'll get uppity and she has to fall down the stairs often because of it.


Advice anyone?

That is kind of you, I dont feel so sorry for them anymore.

I wouldnt allow her to learn to read and type, cause then she might wanna go to college and god forbid, play a sport.

 

[frunk]

Frunk: what is your rank ? and I am in the University league for Varsity tennis with CDM and so forth.

I'm not ranked but I play with gage and drew and tyler...

Contact him if you want to go to Middlebury, he is not the coach anymore at UCSC as mentioned above...

I could've sworn he was there this summer...Did he leave just now?

 

[AverageJoe]

I could've sworn he was there this summer...Did he leave just now?

Hansen made that the Nike Tennis Camp at UCSC one of the most successful and sought after Nike camps around. I wouldn't doubt if he was there this past year running it.

 

[treeman10]

.......................

 

[JoelDali]

Joel,

Looking for to meeting you at Ville de Rock You can't make it to the NTC tourney this year?

I'm resigned to getting banned. The Hemaphrodite Illegal Mexican Muslims are out to get me.

I'm short on time for tourneys in LI these days, no NTC for me, gotta work...Gotta grind that pole.

 

[youngfolks]

Average Joe: All of the reasons apply to me for the club tennis. Club tennis isn't a bad idea. I guess I'm just going to play some tournaments and just hope for the best.
Thank you everyone for their input.

 

[frunk]

Hansen made that the Nike Tennis Camp at UCSC one of the most successful and sought after Nike camps around. I wouldn't doubt if he was there this past year running it.

Yes! He was there, and so were his assistant coaches. I played with two of the guys on the team - a really muscular guy, a scrawny lefty who was apparently a new recruit, and one of the camp directors who had the forehand of a god. I didn't partake in the Nike Camp though, the kids sucked there. I did get a chance to play with the councilors though.

 

[AverageJoe]

Average Joe: All of the reasons apply to me for the club tennis. Club tennis isn't a bad idea. I guess I'm just going to play some tournaments and just hope for the best.
Thank you everyone for their input.

Absolutely not bad at all. Playing club you get to really focus on school without the "grind" of varsity tennis. All while still getting to play relatively competitive tennis. And you still get to do some of the things youd do on a varsity team like travel and practice. I know the ucsc team travels to up to Stanford for regionals and to southern California some years for the California cup and to places like Davis and cal poly for their tournaments. And if your team makes nationals who knows where you'll go. When my ex girl friend played she went to North Carolina and Arizona. And I know most club teams have big get togethers like bowling night or something to help everyone bond. Club can be a lot of fun and a great way to keep hitting post high school but if I were you I'd keep playing as much and as hard as I could to at least give yourself the opportunity to choose varsity or club cause at the end of the day you wanna be able to say "I worked as hard as I could" Good luck dude