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Coach Foster’s interview is a bit long for a single blog post, so his interview will be posted in two posts. Part one follows. Thanks, Frank
COLIN FOSTER WOMEN’S HEAD COACH
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY
Wichita State University (Interview Conducted Summer 2014)
Frank: What’s new and exciting in the world of college tennis?
Colin: The biggest change this year is new leadership at the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association). After a long and distinguished career, David Benjamin retired and new CEO Tim Russell has taken over and brought in a new team. They have ambitious plans not only to help college tennis survive in the uncertain collegiate athletics atmosphere, but to help it thrive on campuses and in communities.
Additionally, the format change that was much debated has been passed. Starting this year all Division 1 matches will begin with three doubles sets (to six), followed by six singles matches (best of three sets). No-Ad scoring will be used for doubles and singles. There were compelling arguments from those in favor of and opposed to this change, but the new leadership team at the ITA, and I agree, feel strongly this change makes our product more fan-friendly and will help create better opportunities for our sport to be most successful going forward.
Frank: What’s your opinion of the current state of US junior tennis versus ITF junior tennis?
Colin: I don’t buy into the notion that Americans are doing anything wrong to not churn out professionals at the rate we once did. There are tournaments, facilities, coaches, and opportunities growing all over the world and it’s natural that the landscape at the top of the game would reflect that. I certainly see that when I’m recruiting at the junior level. There are many strong American juniors, young and old, boy and girl, playing some serious ball both at the ITF events and in the USTA events.
With online school becoming so prevalent it’s easier for these American juniors to play more internationally and gain that experience of “the grind” that is part of being a professional. It will never be like the glory days of the 80s and 90s but it’s unrealistic to expect that and not fair to put that type of pressure on these juniors. There is a lot of excitement over the upcoming batch of young male players just now turning pro. With there being a strong group (at least six) showing serious promise these guys (and some girls that are working their way toward the top of the junior ranks) will be able to share a lot of the pressure and expectations and no one individual will feel “the weight of the (tennis) world” on their shoulders.
Frank: What are some of the key differences between the men’s & ladies scholarship requirements and experiences in regards to NCAA tennis?
Colin: Firstly the biggest difference is that, at the Division 1 level, men have a maximum of 4.5 scholarship (to be split amongst as many players as the coach decides) and the women have a maximum of 8 scholarships, to be given at full scholarships to 8 players (can’t be divided amongst more than 8 players.)
On the recruiting side this makes the men’s side much more complicated. If a family is shopping around for the biggest scholarship they may find a weaker program where their son can play higher in the lineup, but this might not be the best experience for the player. If they go to a team where they’ll start lower in the lineup they may be on less money (at least initially) but they may have a more rewarding experience on a more competitive team. Good students can also look for academic scholarships to help.
On the women’s side it is a bit more straightforward, if a coach offers a player a scholarship that means he/she expects the player to be in their top 8 and compete for lineup spots. Oftentimes players will choose the best (highest ranked) school they can get a scholarship at and sometimes that leads to riding the bench and a disappointing experience. Men’s and women’s tennis often have the highest transfer rate in NCAA sports, much of this can be attributed to players not being realistic enough about their playing chances at a school and going to a program that is too strong for them…and not doing enough homework about what type of program the coach runs.
Frank: Can you briefly share your team’s weekly practice, training & match schedule as well as your annual schedule?
Colin: In season we are usually off on Monday after competition. Players may see our athletic trainer to treat any injuries/soreness from the weekend. Tuesday/Thursday we usually practice in smaller groups to give players more individual attention (with one of those days often having a heavy doubles emphasis).
On Wednesday we have team practice and use the group to push each other physically and mentally with a lot of consistency drills and competition (often finishing with at least one set). Friday is also a team practice where we’ll play some doubles to stay sharp going into the weekend and then tailor the second half of practice to whatever each individual needs so that they are feeling their best going in to the weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday we usually have matches. Workout-wise, we do some type of on-court fitness and agility almost every day (sprints, footwork ladder, med ball, etc.). We do Pilates once or twice/week and lift once/week during the spring season. In the fall when we aren’t competing as often we lift a bit more (twice/week) and do a bit more endurance training, sprint/bike intervals, swimming. We try to vary our workouts to keep the season from becoming monotonous and we listen to our players to see what they like and don’t like.
Lastly, injury prevention is always our #1 priority. If a player is uncomfortable with a drill/exercise/etc. from an injury standpoint we are very careful to make sure they are doing the correct technique and if they are still uncomfortable we find a different exercise for them to do.
Annually, we play 4-5 tournaments in the fall. Some are “bracket” style, others are round robin. Ideally our players get 12-15 singles matches (and a similar amount of doubles) in the fall season. In the spring we play 22-25 dual matches, followed by our conference and NCAA tournaments. Most of our competition is regional but we make sure to schedule some trips to different parts of the country as that is an important part of the college experience for our players. We also schedule in such a way to give our team, and individuals on our team, opportunities to get ranked as high as possible.
