The first thing I have to talk about would be my team.  Within literally ten minutes of walking onto campus on move-in day, I was greeted by Steven, a sophomore on the team.  He was my guide on my prospy trip to Whitman.  He offered to help me move into my room, which coincidentally happened to be his old room.  Turns out I spent the night in the very same dorm room ten months ago that I now live in.  I had barely opened my bags to begin moving in when I got a text from a senior on the team that told me to come out to the courts to hit at 11.  It was 10:55.  After a two hour “captains practice” I was completely drenched in sweat and exhausted.  A quick note about a captains practice—I’m not sure what captains practice means at other D-3 school but I was under the impression that this would be a light hit with a few drop hit games and no coach to tell you what to do…I was wrong.  Conor, the senior running practice, had us run through a barrage of movement drills and even ended practice with a series of sprints.  Needless to say, I have a different understanding of captains practices.—I realize that this seems like a little bit of a tangent but I think it shows just how quickly I’ve become incorporated with the team.  I was thrown right into the middle of their practices, their dinners and their lives and all of the guys have welcomed me completely.  It seems really strange to think that I’ve only known them for a month because I already feel completely incorporated.  When I thought about college tennis, I expected to join a team.  I truly believe that I have joined a family.

 

          I remember an email that was sent out from Blake Davis last year in which he broke down his daily schedule to show just how hectic his average day was.  Specifically, I remember that at the end of his day he spent 8pm to 12pm studying before bed.  I remember reading this and thinking, “hes got to be lying, there’s no way college boy is  actually spending that last four hours of his college days studying.”  Well I owe Blake an apology.  Last night I walked into the library at 7:30pm to write a paper and walked out at 1am.  Obviously this isn’t my average night, but I don’t think I was truly prepared for how busy I would be in college.  I haven’t had five minutes yet where there hasn’t been something for me to do.  Often if I’m not doing anything, its because I’m too tired to start an assignment that I probably should be doing.  Also, as a social person, living within feet of almost 180 other freshman can be incredibly distracting.  Its far too easy to start a conversation with everyone that walks by my door, which is why I do 100% of my work in the library.

          Our conference tournament is this weekend and I’ll be playing in both the singles and doubles draws.  Last year, Whitman had 3 of 4 semifinalists in both draws so were looking to repeat this performance this year.  I’ll keep you updated on my results this weekend as well as our results as a team when season starts in the spring.

          I could talk all day about how happy I am here and how well everything has worked out for me.  Unfortunately I do remember how annoying it can be for a high school student to hear some random college kid ramble about how much fun he’s having so I’ll stop here for now.  On a personal note, I wouldn’t be here if not for tennis and I wouldn't be here without ATA.  So when I say thanks to you, Coach D and all the kids that pushed me to be a better player, I really mean it.    

THANK YOU,

Colton