Hello Coach Newman and ATA Friends

 

            It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on my tennis and school experiences over the past two years at Rockhurst University.  I can’t believe I’m already going to be a junior, school has flown by.  Playing tennis in college has been a rewarding experience even though difficult at times. My first day of practice my freshman year started at 6:00 am and I had to run 4 ½ miles with my new teammates. This was the longest I have ever run before so it was quite a shock.  Now, I’m not surprised when we have early morning workouts everyday and weekends. It did take some time to get used to but with the help of great teammates, it got easier. My coach used to play at University of Kentucky and our assistant coach played at BYU. They definitely train us like a DI school which has the helped us achieve a #1 seating in conference this year and the men’s team made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in Florida. This was especially exciting since this was the first time this has been done at Rockhurst. Over these two years, I’ve been playing line 3 doubles and either 5 or 6 singles. The experience at ATA has helped me be able to balance my school work and tennis schedule which can get pretty hectic during the spring season.

 

Christine and Erin

 

Another really neat experience that occurred this year was our spring break trip to Orlando. During the break, we played four matches and even got to go visit the Bollettieri Academy! It was amazing to see where some great tennis pros have played (even where Agassi hopped the fence to run away). We even got to meet Nick Bollettieri himself at the end of our tour.

 

            I’m spending this summer at Stanford University helping to coach adults and younger students in their summer tennis program.
Hope everything is going well!

 

Christine Schatz