Swenson a hit on and off tennis court
Hailey Swenson generally doesn’t run up to people on campus and strike up a conversations. It’s not that the tennis player is lacking personality. Quite the opposite, in fact. Swenson, who plays in the number one singles position, has a fire for life that is unmistakable, and a drive that has pushed her to become a successful player and key member of the USU women’s tennis team.
“Believe in yourself,” Swenson said of her life philosophy. “You know, like the Arthur song. I really do think you can do whatever you put your mind to.”
Swenson is living proof of that motto, both on and off the tennis courts. Set to graduate this Spring with her MBA, Swenson got an early start even before she came to Logan.
“I got my associates in high school and went straight into the marketing program here,” she said.
Swenson has received honors within the program as well, but is modest when walking about her career goals. She said her ideal job would be for a “service-oriented, non-profit organization.”
As for the time being, Swenson has plenty on her plate.
“Life is pretty crazy,” she said. “I’m planning a wedding. I’m in the master’s program, and I am working on staying on top of my game in tennis.”
With her busy schedule, Swenson’s friends and fiancé are lucky to see her at all.
“A lot of times I leave at 7:20 in the morning and don’t get back until 8 or 9 at night,” Swenson said. “I go to class, study, go to practice, study, work on the wedding, and sleep. I really have to focus, and tennis provides that physical release when I get stressed.”
Her love for tennis began when she was about 11. She grew up in North Salt Lake, and started playing tennis at family gatherings in Bear Lake.
“We would have tournaments and I really liked it,” Swenson recalled. “I played a lot of other sports, including softball, soccer, basketball, and track. But I weeded out the other sports, one at a time. Some of those other sports, like soccer and basketball, I had played forever. But tennis just came naturally to me.”
When Swenson began approaching the end of her senior year at Woods Cross High School she knew it was tennis that she wanted to continue playing.
“I sent out a video of my strokes to 10 different schools including (Utah), BYU, Boise State, Weber, and San Diego State,” she said. Her persistence paid off, and Swenson soon received an offer from Utah State, which she jumped on and has since “never looked back”.
Swenson said she is grateful that she ended up at Utah State, and pointed to the relationships she’s developed with her teammates as some of the most important to her.
“We have a lot of fun together,” Swenson said. “There are occasional mishaps, because we’re girls, but we are all good friends and are a really good support system for each other. Overall we all get along really well.”
She said she and the other members of the team also appreciate their coach, Christian Wright.
“Coach Wright is so good with all of us girls,” she said. “He is very patient and handles everything so well. Last year, I was so mad after a match, and threw my racket. He just quietly and calmly said, ‘keep your racket in your hand.'”
Swenson compared Coach Wright’s temperament to that of a parent who has expressed their “disappointment” with a child.
“He is just good at working with us and putting up with us,” she said.
Swenson has already been named Western Athletic Conference player of the week this year, and has an Aggie-high 20-win record. But one of the hardest parts of the game, to her, is the mental aspect.
“You can lose a match because of what is going through your head,” she said. “I always try to get a good night’s rest, and when I’m in the match I tell myself, ‘I will win this point’ and then I focus on that specific point. Then I tie them all together. My style is to get one more ball back. Always.”
Count her head coach as one of the many people in awe of her accomplishments on the court and in the classroom.
“Hailey is a very dedicated player, and really has a good attitude,” Wright said.
Her dedication is evident, too, although she tries to downplay the magnitude of her efforts. The team is given specific workouts to do during the summer to keep them in shape. “I did them every day,” she said. “(The workouts) aren’t that hard.”
Since it’s Swenson’s last season on the team, she has been thinking about goals she wants to accomplish before leaving.
“I really want to get on the All-Conference team this year,” she said. “So far is hasn’t happened. And as a team, I want a higher ranking.”
What will she miss the most about collegiate sports?
“The competitive level is what I will miss,” she said. “It’s a higher level of play, and more is expected.”
When it comes to expectation, Swenson is her own harshest critic.
“I’m very competitive.” Swenson said. “It is one of the main things that has helped me in my classes, to push myself in tennis, and to do well. My family really pushes me to work hard, which helps as well.”
Tierra Davis, Swenson’s roommate, emphasized her roomate’s humility, and said above all, Swenson is a good-natured young woman who is all about making people happy.
“She never brags about tennis, and we usually have to pry it out of her,” Davis said. “She never talks about all of things she has accomplished. She just asks people about themselves and makes jokes. Hailey is really a good person.”
– kayla.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu