college tennis recruiting?

Question

Ok so I'm going to do tennis in high school and my question is this. I'd like to play college tennis and I was wondering what you ask colleges that you want to play tennis for. Do you say "Come watch me play" or "I can come up there and show you my stuff" I just want to know,in-depth if possible, how to approach a college about tennis. By the way tell me if you played tennis in college and what it was like. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Being a member of USTA and getting ranked by playing and doing well in tournaments is more important than playing for your HS UNLESS your HS coach and team are well known and have connections with colleges. Focus on results with USTA programs and tournaments with your own pro/coach.

Go watch any local college/university with a tennis team without contacting any coach. If you can, find out when they practice then you could watch and see what it is like. Most colleges post their match schedules on-line. If you watch them play in a match you can get an idea of whether or not you could play at that level or how much you are going to have to improve to make a team.

Pick your colleges that you are interested in and call the tennis coach,or the asst. coach, letting him know you like his school and was wondering about the requirements to make the team; dead line to apply, try outs, ranking requirements etc.).
If you can travel to the school ask the coach if you could you come up and meet him and watch his team practice or come see one of his team matches (take your tennis gear just in case he offers to let you hit with the team a little).

Most college sports, including tennis, have a much higher standard for conditioning than HS and practice is usually more focused than HS as the coaches are 'usually better' and the players are more serious. Some of the bigger tennis teams have trainers from the athletic department to condition the players with specific work outs and weight lifting for tennis and the tennis coach can focus on the on court work outs. You might also want to do some research at the NCAA website and read about the differences between the different 'Divisions' (I, II, III) that most colleges play in.
<3 yrs HS varsity, NY state HS doubles champion, 4 yrs Vasity #1 & 2 singles and #1 doubles, undefeated small New England Colleges (picked the school for skiing and lucky they even had a tennis team...lol...should have picked a college for tennis but I was already a top skier and didn't know skiing would be such a waste as a professional career (no decent money no matter what). Tennis counselor/director for summer camps)
Feel free to email me if you have more specific questions as for what you should or could do.

Answer 2

Play a lot of tournaments and be high ranked.