Earlier this month, ATAs top junior athletes traveled around the country to compete in the USTA National Junior Hardcourt Championships. Below are the comments from our coaches who traveled to the tournaments.

 

Coach Jack Newman traveled with a group of ATA players to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the 18s Hardcourt Championship.

 

“18 months ago Josh Hagar set the goal of playing in this summer's junior USOPEN tournament.  Josh is about 40 on the alternate list, so that goal will probably not be accomplished.  HOWEVER, in pursuit of this high, high goal, Josh has pushed himself to be one of the best players in the US choosing to attend college in the Fall of 2013.  This summer is the recruiting period for the Fall of 2013.  Boys 18s national clay courts and national hard courts at Kalamazoo, Michigan are the main recruiting stops for US college coaches.  Many coaches watched Josh this summer and he performed well enough to generate a lot of interest for official visits.  Josh is narrowing his choices down this summer, but some of the schools that have offered official visits include:  Notre Dame, Northwestern, Rice, Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard as well as many others.  The hard work and performance Josh has been able to produce, as well as his off court work with ATA and A Glimmer of Hope Foundation has made Josh one of the most sought after recruits in the nation.”

 

 

Coach Brandon Davis traveled with Abigail Chiu to the Girls 14s National Hardcourt Championships.

 

“Abigail did a great job this week at hard courts. She made the round of 26 in singles and got 4th place in doubles! She continues to be one of the top players in her age division in the country. I am confident she will be winning this tournament in the future!”

 

Coach Estevan Strecker traveled with Jesse Wikso and Tyler Anson to the boys 12s Hardcourt Nationals.

“I think the tournament could have been better, but I am glad we went. It was great experience for the boys and I think they will grow from it. I think they realized that, YES, it is high level, but they can play at that level. I hope in the near future they will start believing that they totally belong and will compete expecting to win at that level. Jesse played well and won two matches and he looked very even with his competition. Tyler won one match. I think he made a lot of progress in that trip and I am hoping he will up his confidence. They won a doubles main draw match, which I think was pretty cool since the match was 2 out of 3 sets. They had never played 2 out of 3, so that was a fun experience for all of us.”