Tennis club has become a home away from home for some
Every Wednesday night, the tennis courts at the Logan Recreation Center are filled with Utah State students. The members of the USU tennis club come armed with rackets and balls ready to practice a sport they love.
Started by co-presidents Chris Lloyd and Mike Sheffield, the club quickly grew.
“Mike had the idea,” said Lloyd. “We wanted to play competitively and varsity is something that we don’t have an option for right now.”
The club began formal practice at the beginning of spring semester and already has garnered plenty of interest from students. The opportunity to continue playing competitively after high school has attracted more than 20 students since January.
Competitive play is definitely something the club provides with weekend meets against colleges from five states. The meets, held mostly in Salt Lake City, offer a highly competitive environment that Lloyd says rivals varsity talent.
“I’ve played some of the top kids in the world and this is pretty close,” Lloyd said of the level of play
Sheffield agrees with Lloyd. The competition level is high but he says it is not at varsity level because they are unable to play as often.
Lloyd has his share of tennis talent. He has had a racket in his hands since he was four years old, giving him plenty of time to build up his skill level. Playing during high school in New Jersey he was ranked 450th in the nation.
Sheffield also has tennis talent. He has been playing the sport for 12-15 years and hopes to continue playing for many more.
Sheffield is the mastermind behind the USU tennis club and says that his main motivation for starting the club was simply that there was nothing like it here on campus.
“I used to be on the club team at the University of Utah,” said Sheffield. “Then when I transferred up here they didn’t have one, but I knew there was a high level of interest in tennis.”
Even though Lloyd knew there was much interest in the sport, he was still surprise by the amount of people who have joined the club.
“The amount of interest and the talent of the players is impressive.” Lloyd said.
The Utah State tennis club has representatives from all four class ranks including a graduate student, all of whom are looking to play competitively and develop their skills.
For Toban Knight, the club provides a chance to learn the sport. Knight, a native of British Columbia, Canada, came to Utah State for the Geology department and picked up tennis on a whim.
“One of my best friends got me into it,” Knight said. “His dad was a tennis coach and we just played one day and I fell in love.”
Although he has only been playing for two years, Knight says he takes every opportunity he can to get out on the court. Knight credits instruction from his friends and tennis club as factors in his development as a player.
“It’s like my life force,” Knight said. “There’s nothing that gets me as excited down here in Logan as the tennis club. It keeps me going throughout the week.”
Like Knight, Jun Han came to Utah State from another country and has recently picked up tennis. Han said he’s always liked the look of the game but only decided to pick up the sport two years ago. Since then he’s taken lessons to make his play more fundamentally sound.
The lessons have helped him realize his passion for the game.
“I got to know what it is and I started liking it a lot more.” Han said.
A passion for the sport is something that all the members of the club share. Lauren Howell says she joined the club because she loves the sport and because she missed playing after completing high school.
Howell said the tennis club gave her an opportunity to continue playing after high school.
“I was playing so much that I started going through tennis withdrawals,” Howell said. “It was so much fun in high school that afterwards, I still wanted to play and I still wanted to play against competitive people as well.”
Howell turned to the tennis club to curb her appetite for the sport and found it more than filled her desire for competition. Since many of the club’s opponents are former varsity players themselves, the level of play is definitely much higher than it was in high school.
“It’s a lot better because you’re playing with guys too and they hit a lot harder,” said Howell.
Howell sometimes competes in mixed doubles competition which allows guys and girls to compete together. She also said the skill level of the girls is much better as well.
“Even the girls hit a lot harder because they are only the ones who want to continue playing after high school and who are competitive,” Said Howell.
The USU tennis club competes mostly in Salt Lake City facing clubs from schools such as Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. The tournaments, held on the weekends, give the members opportunity to show off their skills.
This past weekend the club went head to head with BYU, UVU and Westminster College. The Aggies came out strong beating BYU and barely losing to UVU by a few points, some of the best teams in the area.
Lloyd said that the club is also looking to have a home meet in Logan sometime soon and encourages anyone interested to come out and play.
“We’re committed to playing competitively and helping to improve everyone’s game who comes out,” said Lloyd.
–meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu