Yale Showcase Day 5 Report
By Benny Lin
27 Jun 2010
As usual our trip to Brown University was a pleasant one. We met coach Paul Wardlaw whose in charge of the Women’s Team for the last six years. Unfortunately they do not have Men’s coach at this moment as coach Jay Harris whom I know for many years resigned from his job this year. Nevertheless we had a good time with coach Paul as he showed us around the tennis facility and talked to our players answering many questions from parents and players.
After our meeting at Brown, we had lunch at nearby sports bar where there was a big crowd of USA supporters for their World Cup match. Luckily we got tables outside of the bar! Since we have the afternoon free, I took the kids to the mall so they could so some shopping and relax. Lok Sze and her family left for NYC in the afternoon for a family holiday as well as John and his family.
Our team headed to Springfield from Providence (where Brown is located) for the night as tomorrow we will be heading to Williams College. From Williams I will take the kids to NYC to visit Columbia, NYU and lastly Princeton near New Jersey before heading back home to Hong Kong.
For the raising seniors, this trip has been a fruitful one as well as an eye opening experience. Now they know more about college tennis and what to expect when they apply for college in September. Some of our kids have been given the “golden ticket” to their dream schools while some do not but anything can happen in the last minute. Maybe the kid with the golden ticket does not get in because of low grades, SAT score, financial issues, etc. Nothing is for sure because no matter what the last decision lays in the hand of the admission officer. However with that golden ticket the chance of getting in to your dream school is much, much higher or I could safely say it would doubled your chance of getting in because the golden ticket also means the school wants you! For the last 4 years I have never seen my players did not get in to one of their dream schools if they score around 2000SAT, good grades and play tennis at the level of Hong Kong top 10 juniors, with that golden ticket.
In my opinion, the best way to get that golden ticket is from your tennis skills, more important than your grades – although for some schools your grades is also very important, but if your tennis is nowhere near the standard of their team even if you score perfect in your grades and SAT I can tell you there will be no golden ticket for you.
For raising juniors like Yasodara and John, this has been an excellent “testing the water” experience because next year will be their year and they know what to expect and prepare. They saw and played against some of their future competitors and met some key coaches who will most likely remember them from this year showcase. It would be much easier for me to invite those coaches to watch Yaso and John play next year as they will be eager to see how much have they improved both tennis and academically. Going to the showcase for 2 times would be the best possible scenario for any tennis player who aspire to play college tennis. Yaso has got the attention and in the radar of Wellesley College and John Hopkins University while John is under the radar of University of Chicago.
I would like to thank John and Lok Sze’s parents, Mr & Mrs Hwang and Mr & Mrs Leung for their tireless effort and help making this trip smoother for the kids and myself :-)
I think what they are doing is great because choosing a college is a big and important decision. The college you choose will shape the future of your kid, that’s why family support and decision is nevertheless very crucial. Sometime our kids could overlook the kindness or sincerity of the coach for the name of the school. Of course we all want our kids to go to reputable schools like the Ivy League schools but I can tell you it’s not always the best decision. Schools like Amherst, Williams, John Hopkins and Wellesley are sometime overlooked because they are not as famous as the Ivy’s back home although their education is just as good or not better than some Ivy League schools. Also, there are things to consider such as if your kid will play tennis or sit on the bench? Some kids got in to Ivy’s just to sit on the bench for the first 2 years while they could play at top 6 for schools like Amherst. These issues need thorough consideration from both players and parents.
Parents could help them see things that kids may not be able to see and help them make the best decision possible.
Nevertheless, I have a good news for all our players in the academy: Coach Perry from U of Chicago and coach Roger from University of Washington at St. Louis will be in Hong Kong this coming November for recruitment purposes. They will be spending about 7 days at our academy coaching and observing HKITA players. This will follow by a visit by coach Paul Wardlaw from Brown University in December and coach Brian Kutscher from Wellesley College in January for the same purpose.
For the last 4 years, HKITA has been the only academy in Asia that coaches from US colleges come and recruit players directly.
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