Spring Break
Club tennis impressive after making USTA Championships
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
It seems like yesterday that the club tennis team got its official status.
However, just eight months after the team was officially recognized by the University in August 2007, the Dragons are headed to the USTA National Campus Championship at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. April 17-19.
"I think it's an incredible accomplishment," Director of Rec Sports Dan Simmons said.
While making the championships is the team's most noteworthy accomplishment so far, it was not long ago that its players were participating in Drexel's intramural seasonal tennis tournaments.
Regularly, there were 40 competitors in the tournaments, and the possibility of a club team seemed like it could be a reality.
It would not have come to fruition, however, without the hard work and dedication of Associate Director of Recreation and Intramurals, Steve Koch. Koch had worked closely with the USTA, which brought up the idea of bringing club tennis to Drexel.
"Steve [Koch] had brought the USTA on campus to do clinics," Simmons said. "They [the USTA] were the ones who kept saying there's collegiate tennis and it's becoming big in the region."
After working closely with the USTA, Koch and eventual teamcaptain Shams Naim, Simmons approved the its status and club tennis was born at the University.
"It's easier said than done," Simmons said of the process of getting club tennis to become a reality at Drexel. "All we [as staff] can do is present opportunities, but when you have Shams [Naim], Heather Schwartz and Lenny Maher who have the passion to put the logistics of the club together, [it can happen]. They should be commended for their efforts."
Just two weeks after it was official, the team was playing in the Battle of the Sections, a tournament held on tennis' biggest stage-the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY, better known as the home of the U.S. Open, on Sept. 15 and 16.
Even though the team struggled, finishing 16th in the field, the players got to play matches in historic 10,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium.
However, just eight months after the team was officially recognized by the University in August 2007, the Dragons are headed to the USTA National Campus Championship at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. April 17-19.
"I think it's an incredible accomplishment," Director of Rec Sports Dan Simmons said.
While making the championships is the team's most noteworthy accomplishment so far, it was not long ago that its players were participating in Drexel's intramural seasonal tennis tournaments.
Regularly, there were 40 competitors in the tournaments, and the possibility of a club team seemed like it could be a reality.
It would not have come to fruition, however, without the hard work and dedication of Associate Director of Recreation and Intramurals, Steve Koch. Koch had worked closely with the USTA, which brought up the idea of bringing club tennis to Drexel.
"Steve [Koch] had brought the USTA on campus to do clinics," Simmons said. "They [the USTA] were the ones who kept saying there's collegiate tennis and it's becoming big in the region."
After working closely with the USTA, Koch and eventual teamcaptain Shams Naim, Simmons approved the its status and club tennis was born at the University.
"It's easier said than done," Simmons said of the process of getting club tennis to become a reality at Drexel. "All we [as staff] can do is present opportunities, but when you have Shams [Naim], Heather Schwartz and Lenny Maher who have the passion to put the logistics of the club together, [it can happen]. They should be commended for their efforts."
Just two weeks after it was official, the team was playing in the Battle of the Sections, a tournament held on tennis' biggest stage-the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, NY, better known as the home of the U.S. Open, on Sept. 15 and 16.
Even though the team struggled, finishing 16th in the field, the players got to play matches in historic 10,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium.
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