“Together stronger”: International students thrive on the women’s tennis team

Recently, on a Monday afternoon in November, eight of nine members of UB’s women’s tennis team gathered at the Miller Tennis Center to practice.

Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” echoed through the speakers, student-athletes – all from outside the U.S. – gathered excitedly around their coach.

“Let’s go Bulls,” they shouted with strong accents.

“Let’s go Bulls,” their coach Kristen Maines shouted in return.

A native of Western New York and a 2006 graduate of UB, Maine is an unlikely choice to lead a team full of international student-athletes. With sporty striped leggings, an oversized jacket and a thick Buffalo accent, Maines looks more like an athlete student – or a mother pampering her children’s friends with treats – than a record coach.

But that may be what loves him most about his team and has made him one of the most successful coaches in program history. Spend five minutes with him and he will show his patience and approach. Nor does he leave any doubt as to how he will be able to manage the country’s most ethnically diverse college sports team, which draws athletes from five continents and nine different countries.

“Since team dynamics, the feeling of family is much stronger because everyone leaves what they know to come here, and they’re really interdependent,” Maines said. Spectrum in the interview, his voice was full of passion. “This isn’t ‘I can stay with my family for the weekend, I’m leaving this weekend.’

The team has not had a domestic player since the 2018-19 season, when two Buffalo natives stepped on the field for the Bulls. The current list includes athletes from Armenia, France, Greece, Colombia, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan and South Africa – countries as diverse as their athletes.

“It’s actually pretty good,” Azra Deniz Comlek, a junior major in international trade from Istanbul, Turkey, said of the group’s dynamics. “We learn about the cultures of other countries and it’s really fun [to be in this environment]. ”

“Ask questions to the worst English speaker,” his friend and teammate Ambre Amat, who is from Antibes, France, intervened.

“It’s true,” Comlek said with a laugh.

This team dynamics – in full-screen practice, but also off-field – is the result of Maines ’“ three-piece triangle ”that is put to the test when it hits the recruitment path. A coach affectionately calling his players “second mothers” talks passionately about finding good athletes, students and people.

“I’ve been saying this from the beginning: you can be a phenomenal tennis player, but if any of the other pieces aren’t here, this just isn’t going to be the right fit,” Maines said.

The team’s dependence on international student-athletes stems from a desire to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Often, New York City’s top-tier high school tennis players dream of playing in high-end schools like Ivies or the Southern Elite.

Year-round playing on the outdoor courts and in front of the ivy buildings is quite appealing to domestic high school tennis players; Maines, UB’s career doubles and doubles record, says he sometimes wanted to play in a big show as well.

With that in mind, Maines says he often has no choice but to look abroad “to continually win championships in our geographic area.” The Bulls won the 2017 and 2018 MAC titles and won 4-0 in the fall match this year. Other UB coaches, such as former football coach Lance Leipold’s staff, have reported similar recruitment strategies.

But Maines says he also looks from abroad for one good reason: his international student-athletes are very proud of their academics.

“My philosophy as a coach is that you are a studentathlete, “Maines said.” You’re not just coming here to play tennis. And that’s a big draw for many tennis players, especially our international players. They are usually well-educated children. So the fact that academics are a priority is a big part. “

The women’s tennis program released a school record of 3.937 GPA last semester and reached a program record of six players on the Academic All-MAC Team. But only outsiders have not noticed; the athletes on the team have recognized and embraced their titles as students.

“We’re nerds,” Lolina Schietekat Sedas, a junior major in industrial technology from Mexico City, said. “When you’re in the same environment that everyone else is studying, you feel like you have to study, too.”

“We didn’t even realize we were doing so well [until we saw our cumulative GPA], ”Comlek said. “I’m the lazy person ever, but I still study sometimes [because of my teammates]. ”

“It simply came to our notice then [to the U.S.] I am not doing my best, ”said Gabriella Akopyan, a fifth-year business major from Yerevan, Armenia. “Because we’re all athletes, we’re very ambitious and it helps too.”

The women’s tennis program has built a reputation as a top performer in the classroom. Maines says recruiters – many potential student athletes now hire recruiters or recruitment agencies to help integrate them into programs – only send him student athletes who are as committed to the first part of that sentence as the second part.

“In the first email, most kids send it [their] SAT score or high school GPA, “Maines said.” If you’re not a good student, I don’t care how good a player you are – I don’t even go there. “

Nikoleta Antoniou-Karademitrou, team captain and senior major in psychology from Volos, Greece, says the group’s desire to succeed in the classroom is due to the privilege they are granted as student athletes.

“When you become international [student] and you have to take English exams, you appreciate the responsibility you have and you know you should work, so that’s what we do, ”he said. “We all have career plans outside of athletics, so we’re trying to achieve that.”

This group is not just academically inclined; it is also really tight and ingenious.

Comlek mentioned that during restaurant trips, Maines has to repeatedly “shut them down” because they can be noisy. The team is also “always singing,” said the athletes, who waved their heads to the beat of the music as they compared tennis to ping pong during practice.

Assembling a team of international students does not come without its growth pains. Maines says his athletes often struggle with homesickness, and many crave food from their homeland, especially during the freshman year when they live in dormitories and rarely have options outside the U.S.

But these athletes are greeted by a solid support system upon their arrival in the United States in the form of coaching staff, UB Athletics and, perhaps most importantly, their teammates.

The team’s motto is “STRONGER TOGETHER”, which has since been introduced by the Athletics Department. The program is run by four seniors – Akopyan, Antoniou-Karademitrou, German Pia Schwarz and Taiwanese Hsin-Yuan Shih – and four juniors. Only one player, Communications Major Mariana Carvajal Torres, is a sophomore.

Athletes rarely move out; only a handful have left Queen City before graduating in the last year and a half.

The players have helped each other with their resumes and letters of intent, Maines says. “They’re all involved,” he said, referring to the group’s partnership.

Recently, Maines invited his team to his home for the annual Christmas party. When the athletes were excited to eat traditional meals and enjoy each other’s company, they had one particularly symbolic question: “Are we doing Secret Santa?”

“Yes,” Maines said. “We’re doing Secret Santa.”

“They just really enjoy spending time with each other,” Maines said. “You don’t see it for every tennis team. When someone struggles, when someone succeeds, everyone gathers around him. The family feeling we’ve created despite being from all over the world is special and unique. We have a special group of young women.”

Justin Weiss is the editor-in-chief and can be contacted at [email protected]

Hunter Skoczylas is a sports reporter and can be reached at [email protected]

JUSTIN WEISS

Justin Weiss is Spectrumeditor in chief. In his spare time, he can be met hiking, playing baseball, or throwing things on television when his sports teams are not winning. His words have appeared in Elite Sports and Long Island in New York Herald. He can be found on Twitter @Jwmlb1.