A&M kicked off it 2018 season today with a 7-0 sweep win over UTRGV and has a second match later this afternoon.

One question, I notice that we have 7 players on our roster: 3 seniors and 4 freshmen. It looks that one of the freshmen, Tatiana Makarova from Russia, did not play in the Fall or in the match today. Is she injured? If so, do we only have 6 players available? And what happens if we have an injury to another player?

If you only have 5 players you lose line 3 doubles and line 6 singles. If you don't win lines 1-2 doubles your down 2-0.

agwarrior said:

---

If you only have 5 players you lose line 3 doubles and line 6 singles. If you don't win lines 1-2 doubles your down 2-0.

---

That would make it extremely difficult to consistently compete in contested matches against the types of teams we would be facing in the SEC.

FWIW - we beat Prairie View 7-0 in the 2nd match of the day. Next match is January 26.

Anyone know the status of Makarova?

Tatiana will play in a few weeks

Gig'Em Ags! Great win

This is apparently going to be a tough SEC season.

ITA rankings (1/17/18):
#2. Vanderbilt
#3. Florida
#4. Georgia
#14. Auburn
#15. South Carolina
#18. Arkansas
#21. Kentucky
#22, LSU
#23 Mississippi

SEC has an incredible array of talented women Tennis teams.

The coaching staff should have open tryouts to put a few more players on the roster.

Doesn't look like a program headed in the right direction.

SA68AG said:

---

Doesn't look like a program headed in the right direction.

---

Yet they have one of the top recruiting classes in the nation next year...

bigfoot10s said:

---

SA68AG said:

---

Doesn't look like a program headed in the right direction.

---

Yet they have one of the top recruiting classes in the nation next year...

---

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that.

This year may be rough. Adding Tatiana in Feb will help.

Next year and the years after should be pretty good. We will have a solid group of freshmen next year that are already pretty darn good and will continue to improve.

I apologize if this is a bit off topic but, I have a 14 year old daughter that is doing very well in tennis. She wants to be an Aggie and go to vet school. She has stated she would love to play tennis for the Ag's as well. What are some of the camps and tourneys she might start getting some college looks at? Does anyone know what the current coaches look for in terms of competitive players?

For her to realistically have a chance to play at A&M, she needs to be very highly ranked in the state and in the nation. In Texas, she would need to be a super champ player, and one of the better ones in the state

Is she currently a super champ player? Is she rated on Tennisrecruiting.net?

Dumbdumb said:

---

I apologize if this is a bit off topic but, I have a 14 year old daughter that is doing very well in tennis. She wants to be an Aggie and go to vet school. She has stated she would love to play tennis for the Ag's as well. What are some of the camps and tourneys she might start getting some college looks at? Does anyone know what the current coaches look for in terms of competitive players?

---

You need to go to https://www.youthtennistexas.com/

Your daughter needs to start out playing Challenger Tournaments.

If she acquires enough points at this level, then she will move up to the Championship Level.

If she acquires enough points at this level, she'll move up to the Super Championship Level.



The odds of being a scholarship player for A&M are next to zero.

If she were top five in Super Champs in Texas with a high national ranking she might get a look but that isn't even a sure thing.

Part of the reason even top Texas or US players don't get scholarship offers is because of the number of top foreign players that come to the US to play college tennis. For the most part they're just better players and athletes than US players. One of my children played on a team with one other US player, 2 Brits, 2 South Africans, and a Swede for example. All really great kids by the way.

Tennis is a great sport and she should certainly take it up for enjoyment but with no expectation of getting a scholarship to a top D1 program. There are, however, a fair amount of scholarship/playing opportunities at D-2 and D-3 schools if she attains Super Champ level and wants to go that route.

Thank you for the info! I'll get her on the right track!

Dumbdumb said:

---

Thank you for the info! I'll get her on the right track!

---

Glad to help. Financially be prepared to pay for at least weekly private lessons and traveling costs to tournaments. Camps and clinics won't get it done if she truly aspires to play high level tennis.

SA68AG has covered a lot of the information you might find useful in his post. I can tell you from personal experience (daughter is playing D-2 tennis), the first step your daughter has to take to get noticed is to qualify for Super Champs play. That is the minimum threshold for high level colleges to start looking at a player. If that junior player has aspirations of D-1, then A-draw Super Champs is the minimum threshold. If you want to see what a Texas product that ends up at A&M looks like, check out Jayci Goldsmith. You can find her profile on tennisrecruiting.net, where your daughter should also set up a profile.

Be ready for a significant financial commitment if she is serious about pursuing top-level tennis. I had a long conversation with one of the directors at ATA a few years ago and his comment regarding pursuing that level of tennis was that combined household income needed to be in the $150k range to be able to afford all the training, camps, academy fees and tournament travel necessary to reach top-flight levels. That is not meant to discourage you or your daughter, rather to give you some insight from people deep in the tennis community on what to expect in your daughter's pursuit of high-level tennis.

Looks like I need to have a talk with her to see how dedicated she is wanting to be. I would think she would rather go to A&M vs. trying to have a college career in tennis. She is a smart one! Thoughts and prayers to my wallet either way haha!

Dumbdumb said:

---

Looks like I need to have a talk with her to see how dedicated she is wanting to be. I would think she would rather go to A&M vs. trying to have a college career in tennis. She is a smart one! Thoughts and prayers to my wallet either way haha!

---

I'd spend some money on lessons and then see how she does in the Challenger level tournaments. I'd also watch some Super Champ matches.

You'll get a feel for the athleticism required to compete and also she'll find out how she feels about competing.
Tennis can be a very tough sport mentally for children. You don't have a built in support group like you have in team sports.When you lose it's pretty much all on you.

Also almost none of the matches have umpires calling the lines. You rely on the "honor" of your opponents calling balls in or out. She'll find some players are simply cheats. This can really bother kids (and parents too.)

If she can become competent, the sport can offer a lifetime of enjoyment and a great social circle.

I'm obviously late to the table here, but read an article today about the women's tennis team in the Eagle and discovered we only have seven players, 3 seniors and 4 freshmen. We go to matches occasionally, but I don't follow recruiting. What happened to the sophomore and junior classes? Transfers, academic casualties? It's encouraging that we have a good class lined up for next year, but man we better avoid the injury bug this season. Appreciate if someone can educate me a bit on this.

Most women's teams only have 8 players that are on scholarship. There are 7 on this team so I don't quite understand the big concern. Walk ons are not good enough to win matches at a high division 1 level especially on the women's side.

Let's look at last year's roster:
Graduated: Rutuja, Saska, Stef, Rachel, Mason
Dom was listed as a soph, but is now a Senior due to Eligibility.
Not sure where Margo went, but she didn't play
Tina was released from the team this summer/fall

This year will have its growing pains. Good thing is, you're gonna have a young core group of girls that Weaver brought in for 3 full years.

Although I am an avid Aggie sports follower, I do not know a lot about tennis in general. Definitely not one of my favorite sports. However, many of the comments on here made me curious and I wanted to learn more.

Dumbdumb, I strongly suggest you go to the following Web sites:
College Tennis Scholarships and Recruiting

How to Get Recruited and Play College Tennis

How Good are College Tennis Players?
Men's Tennis & Women's Tennis at Tier 1 (e.g., SEC) NCAA Division I schools
*All-American
*All-State + Top state tournament finish
*All-Region + Regional Champion
*All-League/District + League Champion
*High School #1 Varsity Singles
*Top 100 USTA Ranking (age group)
*Top 200 ITF Ranking

Some interesting information that I found
% of US High School Tennis Players Competing at NCAA Division I Schools: Men 1.1%; Women 1.0%
Scholarships at Division I schools: Men 4.5; Women 8
Percent of women tennis players in Division I schools who are international players: 50%

Aggie Women Recruiting
Recruiting Rankings - 2017 (#7), 2016 (RV), 2013 (#19)

Wow! Those are some eye opening stats! It really makes one wonder the quality of high school coaching across the U.S. for Tennis. Do the foreign athletes really receive better instruction and have better competition than the U.S.? I realize tennis in other countries has a closer following but it's still very popular here.

Dumbdumb said:

---

Wow! Those are some eye opening stats! It really makes one wonder the quality of high school coaching across the U.S. for Tennis. Do the foreign athletes really receive better instruction and have better competition than the U.S.? I realize tennis in other countries has a closer following but it's still very popular here.

---

High school coaching in the US is across the board bad. Very, very few high school coaches have even the minimal USPTA coaching professional certification. You'll find many of the top players don't even play high school tennis because the coaching and competition is so bad.

It's my observation - and I had two kids play college tennis - that the foreign players are better athletes. There are less sports competing for top athletes in Europe. Additionally the cost of becoming a really good player in the US eliminates a lot of players. Good public playing facilities are pretty scarce in many locations.

SA68AG said:

---

Dumbdumb said:

---

Wow! Those are some eye opening stats! It really makes one wonder the quality of high school coaching across the U.S. for Tennis. Do the foreign athletes really receive better instruction and have better competition than the U.S.? I realize tennis in other countries has a closer following but it's still very popular here.

---

High school coaching in the US is across the board bad. Very, very few high school coaches have even the minimal USPTA coaching professional certification. You'll find many of the top players don't even play high school tennis because the coaching and competition is so bad.

It's my observation - and I had two kids play college tennis - that the foreign players are better athletes. There are less sports competing for top athletes in Europe. Additionally the cost of becoming a really good player in the US eliminates a lot of players. Good public playing facilities are pretty scarce in many locations.

---

The other factor that helps foreign players is that many of the higher ranked players overseas go to minimal school and train 5-6 hours a day. They get to a point in their education where they decide to train majority of the time and they move to an academy. Less American players do that.

As for HS coaching, you are correct on the better players skipping high school tennis. One that I can think of who did play was Jack Sock. Some of them enjoy that team aspect and still play HS tennis. Most of the better Texas HS players do not play HS tennis, but there are few here and there that do, depending on the kid and the team.

Thank you all for the great info! She has some important decisions to make on how she wants to pursue this. Her main interest is getting a degree from A&M. I do know her main focus is going to school at A&M first.

Dumbdumb said:

---

Thank you all for the great info! She has some important decisions to make on how she wants to pursue this. Her main interest is getting a degree from A&M. I do know her main focus is going to school at A&M first.

---

If she has the itch to play somewhere, I would suggest looking at a smaller school in Texas. She could go my route and play for 2 year, then transfer to Aggieland and get her degree and ring. Best of both worlds! Nothing compares to playing college tennis. It is a great experience that she would greatly benefit from if she wishes to play.

Just saw announced two new commitments set to join next fall!

aggiesherpa said:

---

Just saw announced two new commitments set to join next fall!

---

Mark was just telling me about the Aussie girl. Great pickups! Next years class is gonna be stacked!

Great News!

I'm good friends with Shane Vinsant, former all-American Aggie tennis player. He's currently volunteering with the women's tennis team and wants to give tennis lessons in College Station for money on the side. He wanted me to get his name out there. Give him a call if interested:
817-5eight4-8137

bigfoot10s said:

---

This year may be rough. Adding Tatiana in Feb will help.

---

Any update on Tatiana's status?

Gap said:

---

bigfoot10s said:

---

This year may be rough. Adding Tatiana in Feb will help.

---

Any update on Tatiana's status?

---

Next Sunday vs TCU is the match I heard she would be playing