Texans Well Represented in College Tennis, Upcoming NCAAs in Waco

Aggies Showcase Texans

One team in the NCAA tournament stands out in highlighting Texas players, with Texas A&M having an astounding 11 Texans in their programs. The next closest are Baylor and the University of Texas, with 4 Texans each.

Mark Weaver, Texas A&M women’s head coach whose recruiting classes are routinely top three nationally, sometimes gets pulled in opposing directions as he builds his team.

“If there is a player from Texas that has proven results and fits into our system, then of course we would love for them to play for us,” Weaver said. “Having said that, we have to be very selective in the players we are recruiting if we want to continue performing at the highest levels of college tennis.”

The composition of Texas A&M’s teams, however, is the exception at the elite Division I level. To use the host team for this year’s NCAAs as an example, Baylor squads have four team members from Texas and a Prosper signee next year, but their teams have a very international flavor.

The men’s team has players from five continents, and coach Michael Woodson has an exhaustive, globetrotting schedule to assemble his team. He estimates he’s visited 20 different countries while recruiting and attends at least two of the four Grand Slam tournaments annually to fill out his roster.

In a scenario played out across the country in Division I matches, Baylor’s PA announcer says he has learned to consult the opposing team before attempting player introductions and pronunciations of names. Mirroring the professionalization of many NCAA sports, Woodson notes that every player in the 64-player draw of this year’s NCAA Division I men’s singles championship had professional experience.

Given this landscape for elite college tennis, the path for Texas juniors to Division I tennis has grown more challenging in recent decades. “Players from Texas have always done a good job of putting themselves in position nationally to get attention but it’s completely global now,” says Dave Anderson, Brookhaven Academy founder.

Everything Bigger in Texas Tennis?

Texans have not been muscled out of college tennis despite the internationalization of the game. In fact, Texas is likely in the hunt for bragging rights with California and Florida for the most players from a state playing in college.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the governing body of college tennis, does not track participation by state, says Zach Pohlmann, ITA’s director of communication. However, based on ITA statistics and expert guesstimates, here’s some ballpark figures for Texas participation:

• Approximately 800 to 900 Texans are currently playing college tennis of the 20,000 total college players. Pohlmann puts the number at 820 in a quick, back-of-the-envelope estimate.

• Extrapolating from Texas participation on the 128 teams qualifying for the NCAA Division I tournament to all 575 Division I teams would mean about 250 Texans are playing at that elite level.

• An additional 550 to 650 Texans are likely playing across the remaining levels of college tennis (Division II, Division III, NAIA, juco).

Landing players on Division I teams remains the biggest prize, celebrated by academies and high school coaches. Carlos Aguilar, assistant coach at back-to-back state 5A champion Lone Star High School, says his school pulled out all the stops when their team captain signed with Division I Ball State. “The signing, posters, the pics, everything we could do for her.”

Dave Licker, academy director at Frisco’s Lakes Tennis Academy who travels with several professional players, holds a special event to mark all his players that earn college spots. 

He was especially proud that seven of his students earned Division I opportunities recently.

The coaches each have their tricks to maximize opportunities for their players. Aguilar might emphasize the doubles prowess of a player with a high doubles ranking to get the attention of college coaches.

Anderson says it’s about development time, and might explore a gap year for additional training, or even have players consider a year in a juco setting. Anderson cites the examples of top pros Brad Gilbert and Alex Olmedo that started their college careers at junior colleges.

Quest, who played Division II as a player, presents the entire landscape of college options to his team. He’s found that sometimes Division III schools have top academics that match his more academic-oriented players.

Anderson remains bullish about Texas juniors playing collegiate tennis. He lives so close to Brookhaven he can walk to the job he loves. He still spends 40-plus hours per week developing players as he’s done for 32 years.

“I’m an optimist by birth,” Anderson says. “Tennis college in any capacity is going to be one of the most beautiful experiences in the world.”

David Gray is a former Division I head coach at North Texas and ran USTA Pro Circuit events in Frisco, Houston and Fort Worth. He currently runs Bad Dawg Tennis, which has been a top 10 provider of USTA tournaments.