Austin Tennis Academy News

November 3, 2009

ATA Student-Athletes Earn a National Academic Award and Achieve Academically

While on-court achievements dominate the headlines at Austin Tennis Academy, the aim for each student is to excel academically as much as athletically. The values introduced in and through tennis at ATA are designed to create a lifestyle of excellence.

Three of ATA’s athletes embody this mission by succeeding as much in the classroom as they do between the baselines.

Avery Rux, Kate Cahill and Claire Cahill each earned the honor of Commended National Merit Scholars by ranking in the top .088 percent on the Preliminary SAT.

"ATA has helped me a lot by instilling qualities such as time management and discipline that will help me succeed in being a student-athlete in college,” Claire said.

The National Merit Scholarship Program awards recognition and scholarships to the top performers in an academic competition.

"Of course it's personally gratifying to receive an accolade like national merit scholar; only 34,000 people receive this honor nationwide, and I'm blessed to count myself among those lucky few,” Rux said.

Any high school student can enter by taking the PSAT. Between 1-2 million students enter each year, with only the highest scoring 34,000 earning Letters of Commendation.

“One of the most crucial things I've learned at ATA is managing my time well,” Kate said. “With practice, school, homework, tournaments, tests, more practice, etc, I've really learned how to prioritize which I know has definitely helped me academically. But on top of all that, I never would have been able to get where I am now without the constant support from the whole ATA family, and I'm truly grateful for that.”

ATA also would like to congratulate its student athletes on the Honor Roll or who have earned Straight As:

Morgan Barnhill

Eliot Blatt

Ryan Burak

Chris Dale

Blake Davis

Josh Hagar

Brooke Hughes

Carli Knezevich

Zack Knezevich

Liam Leddy

Abbie Lewis

Colton Malesovas

Matthew Milliken

Jeff Offerdahl

Conor O'Meara

Maggie O'Meara

Mikaela Pope

Taylor Shamshiri

Ben Smith

Ali Young

Sydney Young

We apologize if we left anyone off the list. We are going by parent reports, so we might have missed a few. We hope to hear about you next time!

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