The St. Bonaventure University tennis teams have a combined 16 athletes. Of these, 11 of the student athletes come from outside the United States. The tennis players come from three different continents and nine different countries, including as far as India and Bulgaria.
Coach Michael Bates said in order to scout and recruit the international players, he relies on current student athletes to help him find new players.
“A lot of them are from word of mouth from other players on my team,” said Bates. “I’ve gotten one or two players before and they know somebody else. Tennis is such an international sport. A lot of it is also internet research.”
Bates said that the team has so many international players due to the fact that, in America, college students can get an education and play a sport. The location of Bonaventure can also be a deterrent for United States-based players.
“Ideally, I wouldn’t mind more Americans, but it can be hard to get some of the Americans to come up to the Northeast to play tennis due to the weather,” said Bates. “[But] internationals, there isn’t an opportunity for them to go to college and play tennis. For them, it’s either go to college or they turn pro. Internationals tend to appreciate the opportunity to come over to the States to study and play tennis at the same time.”
U.S.-based freshman Kahlei Reisinger, from Baldwinsville, said she enjoys having teammates from a variety of countries because it provides a new perspective for the entire team.
“I think it’s very interesting and nice having so many players from different countries on the tennis team. It helps me learn different cultures and what their backgrounds are like,” said Reisinger. “It’s also funny to see their reactions to different things in America because they aren’t used to it.”
Another American player, sophomore Mitchell McGuirt from Columbia, S.C., said it takes awhile to get used to, but having more international players actually improves the team’s unity.
“Having mostly international players on our team can be interesting, especially because most of them all speak Spanish,” said McGuirt. “Having players of different nationalities and that speak different languages has actually helped our team chemistry. We try to teach each other our own languages, and I think that has helped us come together.”
Junior Dominique Mortier, from Nassau, Bahamas, said that she heard about Bonaventure from a friend, and that playing in the States provides opportunities she did not have back home.
“I really liked Coach Bates and loved the environment at Bonaventure, so I decided to come here,” said Mortier. “Where I’m from, there are not as many tennis players as there are in the U.S.; however, this is an advantage because it allows you to play many different players of many different levels. There are also more coaching opportunities and more tournaments available.”
The cultural difference between the players’ countries and the United States is not the only thing they need to adjust to. Freshman Guillermo García Rincón, from Caceres, Spain, said that the American style of tennis is different than his home country.
“From my experience, the tennis form that American guys play is different than Spanish players, because they try to go to the net as soon as possible,” said García. “They are more aggressive. We are used to playing on clay courts, so we have longer rallies.”
Both teams will send players to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals this weekend. For the men, junior Victor Blanco will compete in singles, and junior Hector Martinez and sophomore Indra Patwardhan will play doubles. On the women’s side, senior Mara Martinez-Santori will compete in both singles and doubles with freshman Clara Herberts as her partner. All five players are international students.
Bates said that he is hoping for good results at the ITA Regionals, and it will be good to see how the team compares to tougher opponents in the region.
“It’s a tough tournament. Hopefully each player and team can win a round or two,” said Bates. “It’s the best players from this region, so it’s a very competitive tournament. Hopefully we can prove ourselves well in it.”
One thing is proven already: the St. Bonaventure tennis teams, despite having a range of different cultures represented, have incredibly strong team chemistry.
“We have a very diverse team. But we do not have any barriers,” said García. “We are like a family.”
signorra15@bonaventure.edu
