Stephanie Hirsch just graduated from the University of Indianapolis after having been part of the women's team for the last 4 years. She leaves with the best win percentage ever recorded by a Greyhound. We got the chance to speak with her just weeks after her return to Europe. Read our extensive interview about her experience as a college tennis player, what she will remember the most, and why she recommends young fellow tennis players to get an education at college and play for a team.

There are hundreds of college coaches out there who are looking for future student-athletes. While the majority of them have probably filled their rosters for the upcoming 2017-18 college tennis season, they are always on the lookout for the next badge of players to join in 2018 or 2019.
In this edition of the Friday Scholarship Guide, we give you our "4 Key Tasks Before Contacting College Coaches"!

Today's Friday Scholarship Guide is about how to fulfil the ultimate dream of yours: Having a great overall experience at the college of your choice. For most students it's all about their undergraduate degree, student life, and other extracurricular activities. But for student-athletes, a major deciding factor is the athletic part of college life: college tennis. Read about the key questions to ask college coaches to find out whether you would make a good match.

One of the most important questions early on in the tennis recruiting process is which coaches to reach out to.
More often than not, junior players consider one division and one division only as preferred option: NCAA D-I - the highest and most competitive division in American college tennis. But which division (4-year colleges & athletic scholarships) is the second strongest? NCAA D-II or the NAIA?

Whether your level of tennis allows you to play in the starting 6 of a collegiate tennis program is an important question. And there will be no way around this in the recruiting process. But don't underestimate "soft" factors like you as a person and to what degree coaches look out for positive signals about your personality and motives - indicators which tell a great deal about the potential, you may or may not have inside you.

The first Davis Cup Weekend of the year was completed just some days ago. While the media attention was mainly focused on the World Group matches with all the headlines (and scandals) on the ATP stars, the lower levels of Davis Cup came nothing short of drama and excitement. Exciting for us from Smarthlete because former, current and future college players had a say in the final outcome of the ties as well. In today's blog, we take a look at some of the achievements of the 42 (!) tennis players who represented their countries over the past weekend and for who college tennis played some sort of role to make the national team.

In essence, coaches screen athletes for three things in great detail: 1) Athletic strength, 2) Academic strength, and 3) Personality. This week, we will focus on the academic profiles coaches are on the lookout for, and how athletes can make use of their achievements in high school to increase their range of options.

The first highlight of the collegiate tennis year 2016 is set to begin on Friday: the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships. Defending champion Oklahoma, last year's runner-up USC, and NCAA champion Virginia all find themselves in the upper half of the draw. Top tennis with close matches is scheduled to happen...Today's Friday Scholarship Guide will offer our personal preview of the upcoming tournament.

The next 4 days will see a selection of the strongest players of women's college tennis when 16 teams meet in Wisconsin to crown the Indoor Team Champion of 2016. In today's Friday Scholarship Guide we are looking at the event itself and we are offering you our very personal interactive draw! Read on to find out more.

Chances are that you are one of the millions of tennis fans who currently spend hours in front of the TV and online streams to see your favorite tennis players live at the Australian Open. If you also have an interest in US college tennis, you might want to read up on who is playing and what tennis program they competed for back in their college days.

2015 College Tennis saw Vanderbilt win the first national championship title ever, Oracle and ITA partnering up, and finally changes in the way D-I tennis will be played going forward. Enjoy a review with some highlight videos and get in the right mood for the upcoming 2016 college tennis season!

College coaches are active on YouTube and many prospective student-athletes make use of YouTube to show what they've got. A Smarthlete profile helps get your video in front of even more coaches on this platform. But how so? By featuring your skills on our Smarthlete YouTube Channel.

We were inspired by the recent proposal of ZooTennis to allow college coaches "match up" their line-ups in dual matches; and we offer an additional suggestion ourselves in order to keep college tennis what it is: an attractive development path for top juniors.

It's the NLI early signing period right now. Make sure you understand what it's all about in this week's Friday Scholarship Guide. Around 43,000 students sign an NLI each year - if you are to be one of them, it might be a good idea to get a little wiser about it.

The USTA/ITA Regionals 2015 are concluded. Some of the prospective student-athletes on Smarthlete have approached us and wanted to know a bit more about how it all works. How many ITA regions (and Regionals) are there within NCAA and NAIA? And what's the reward for those winning?

Mid-October and college tennis 2015-16 sees exciting action these days with Fall Invitationals getting players come together to engage in preparation tournaments. At the same time, Regional Championships in all college divisions are currently underway. Just like our first edition on the Fall Invitationals 4 weeks ago, our Friday Scholarship Guide today will provide you with a visual overview of all the events in October.

It's recruiting season in college tennis and coaches are currently evaluating a big number of potential recruits they come across. But how do they assess the players? What's their #1 priority when looking at a prospect? In other words, what is their checklist of things a tennis recruit needs to fulfill? In today's Friday Scholarship Guide we offer you our take on it.

The college season 2015-16 has finally arrived and is already in full swing. How's that even possible with college tennis being a spring sport and the real season not to be kicked off until 2016? "Fall Invitationals"; a large number of tournaments, which are being held these days across the country. Today's Friday Scholarship Guide will provide you with a visual overview of all the Invitationals college tennis has seen and continues to see in September.

It's loud, it's wild, and it's hot; a unique atmosphere. The final Grand Slam of the year has just started in New York. Among the 128 men and women trying to qualify for the singles main draws were also 13 male and 5 female professionals with a past in college tennis. One of them got through the qualifying and joined the pre-qualified 8 men and 3 women in the singles main draws of the US Open. Today's Friday Scholarship Guide features a look at this year's college tennis involvement:

The ITF raised the prize money on the men's and women's tour for the years to come. This also has an impact on college tennis players; it does so on those in a college squad who consider giving it a try professionally. But also on those junior players who picture their future in a college team on an athletic scholarship.

Everybody interested in college tennis knows about D-I tennis pretty well. But what about NCAA D-II tennis? And NAIA? Sure, there are athletic scholarships, but how strong are the divisions in reality? Time to find out once and forever whether the NCAA D-II or the NAIA is stronger, and how they stack up compared to the elite NCAA D-I.

This is part II of our series on transferring college. What does it take to transfer? What are the key things you need to do in order to be able to change school? And how can you make sure you're permitted to play for your new team? Plenty of technical questions make transferring a challenge on your quest for a new college (team).

The third Grand Slam of the year, Wimbledon 2015, is in its final stages, and 2 players keep the "College tennis" flag flying. Unlike the usual case, it is not the "Bryan Brothers", Mike and Bob. Instead two players, who have been among the world's best doubles players for some time, will battle it out in this year's grand doubles final...

It's a busy time of the year for college tennis players, trying to find a last-minute scholarship on another team. What are the reasons so many student-athletes have the need to transfer? How do coaches feel about transfers and how can players avoid getting into such a situation in the first place?

White shirts, white trousers, white skirts, white caps, and white socks. The third Grand Slam of the year in the All England Club, Wimbledon. Among the 128 men and women trying to qualify for the singles main draw were also 13 male and 2 female professionals with a background in college tennis. 2 won the qualifying and they will join the pre-qualified 5 men and 2 women in the singles main draws.

Being "Smart" and "athletic" is a great combination. Not only for college sports, but rather for a young person's life in general. Our Friday Scholarship Guide today is all about why you would wanna "be smart" besides being a great football player, runner, or tennis player. And we explain the making of our name: Smarthlete.

Are you looking for an athletic scholarship and you're just about to contact college coaches for the first time? Or maybe you have done so already, but your e-mail inquiries didn't turn out as successful as you had hoped? But don't worry about it too much! Read about our 8 useful tips for your messages to college coaches.

The 2014-15 season just ended and we're happy to present our favorite Top 3 doubles points of the year in today's Friday Scholarship Guide.

It's the time of the year to get your white tennis socks all dirty: the French Open 2015 is in full swing! Today's Friday Scholarship Guide will be all about the former college players who have turned pro and who now attempt to make an impact on the red clay in Paris. Plenty of male professionals, but not that many female pro: why is that? At what college did they spend their college time? And what college conference have most of them competed in?

Sebastian Stiefelmeyer was one of 5 players who was at the top of the ITA NCAA-DI ranking during the 2014/2015 season. Since Sebastian's first appearance as #1 of the nation in January this year, he was consistently within the Top 8 of the ranking. His last appearance as a college player is the NCAA Tennis Singles Championship from May 20 to May 25, 2015. Read our extensive interview with him about his experience as a college tennis player, what he will remember the most, and why he recommends young fellow tennis players to get an education at college and play for a team.

College tennis sees its final highlight of the 2014/2015 season these days. The final rounds of the team championship tournaments are being played as we speak in all divisions across the country: NCAA Division I-III, NAIA, and NJCAA are about to determine their team champions of the season before the singles and doubles tournaments will serve to do the same. Friday Scholarship Guide explains the different events, and recommends you to take a look at some live college action online.

Will no-ad scoring be the future of collegiate tennis? There is a clear move in that direction, and this week's Friday Scholarship Guide will take a look at what coaches and players think about the scoring format, which had in fact been college tennis standard decades ago. Does no-ad scoring really offer the potential to shorten dual matches and make it more attractive to watch...?

Tennis rules equal tennis rules no matter what and where in the world, right? You gotta win 2 out of 3 sets and you'll leave the court victoriously. Well, not exactly! What might be a surprise or maybe even a shock for people new to college tennis, actually makes a lot of sense and is common routine during plenty of matches in spring time across the nation: college tennis is different, and we will explain to what extent the rules differ from traditional tennis, seen on the ATP and WTA tour day in, day out.

In the last edition of our weekly Friday Scholarship Guide we highlighted the wonderful opportunity of watching college tennis action online. This week we'd like to give you some suggestions of another type of college tennis video impressions.

Two interesting headlines have appeared in the college tennis world recently, which we'd love to share with our readership! Firstly, there are excellent opportunities to watch first-class NCAA D-1 tennis either on national TV or online right now, from April 16 - April 26, 2015. And secondly, the Big 12 conference, featuring some of the strongest of all college athletes, changed its rules about fan behavior quite a bit. You should read on, as they create an atmosphere on the court, which you simply do not know from pro tennis matches.

This week's Scholarship Guide will give you some insights into the daily routine of a student athlete. To be more specific - of a college tennis player. Having been a college tennis player myself at one of the United States' top universities for four years, I will show you what it's like, being a student athlete.

College tennis does not enjoy the same popularity and media coverage as football or basketball. Especially not when it's "March Madness" and the focus shifts entirely towards basketball. That's why we should all be grateful for any additional coverage our wonderful sport receives, be it in print or online. "College Tennis Today" does exactly that, driven by the general lack of information on college tennis. The web site has also adopted the UTR, a new level of play rating we're very excited about.

As part of the BNP Paribas Open, 8 men's teams (NCAA D-I) convene on the final weekend of the event to play the "Collegiate Challenge". Ticket holders will be able to see some of the nation's best ranked tennis players including top 10 players #4 Julian Lenz, #7 Axel Alvarez Llamas, and #8 Yannick Hanfmann. The Collegiate Challenge offers an excellent platform for college tennis to gain wider popularity and is reason enough to dedicate this week's Friday Scholarship Guide to the action in Indian Wells.

The Davis Cup ties last weekend were as usual characterized by excitement and drama, with epic wins and painful losses. Kazakhastan's 3-2 win over Italy is one of the most remarkable ones. Even more so as the third point was pulled off by a former college player who was ITA National Player of the Year and #1 in the nation during his time at Oklahoma State University: Aleksandr Nedovyesov. In this edition of Friday Scholarship Guide, we will take a look at some of the 36 (!) tennis players with a background in college tennis, who represented their countries past weekend.

Where are you (the athlete) from, where do you live and why does it matter? Coaches of men's and women's tennis teams care for several reasons, but foremost because coaches need to identify how strong you are in reality. Find out more about how your residency is an excellent starting point for exactly that.

We're extremely happy to have one of the currently best college tennis players give us his personal Top 5 reasons why he loves college tennis in today's Friday Scholarship Guide. You'll see that the team spirit and the mere fact of being part of a team in an individual sport like tennis have played a major role for Sebastian.

In Today's Friday Scholarship Guide we will take a look at a pattern, which often occurs once recruited tennis players start taking their bachelor's degree at college: leaving the college and thus the tennis program before graduation. In other words, some players stay less than 4 years at the university, where they received an athletic scholarship.

Today's blog article is about a small milestone for us working with Smarthlete. We are finally uploading our first promotion video, explaining to you guys with visuals and voice what it is we're doing.

We're hoping most of you will be fully aware of what it is we at Smarthlete stand for. We're hoping many of you know exactly what we offer. And we're hoping most will understand that we're not just creating articles on college sports topics each Friday. But to be entirely sure, we figured it might be a great idea to get a video up and running, for those of you who prefer to watch than read :).

With the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in its final rounds, let's have another look at the players in the draw. This time we'll provide exciting information about the former college players in the men's doubles event. With 22 out of 128 players having had some sort of college experience, 17% of the total doubles draw are made up of former collegiate players. We will also relate their doubles strength to an interesting ranking phenomenon, some great players have displayed on their way up.

Athletic abilities matter for aspiring student-athletes; and yes, it is the #1 criterion to sell for most of you. But, don't underestimate what your academic achievements at high school can do for you and read more on how a good GPA can open doors and options for you...

Following up on the Friday Scholarship Guide article last week, it's time for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year: The Australian Open. The qualifying events are in its final rounds and 14 college tennis players had a high enough ATP ranking for a spot in the draw. See below who's been playing, what college they play(ed) for and who still has a chance of making it to the main draw.

College tennis has long been an attractive option for American tennis players. Yet, not all choose college, but instead try to turn pro right away. That's even more the case for international tennis players, who bet all on their sport after high school graduation or sometimes even before that, neglecting their education. In this week's Friday's Scholarship Guide we will take a closer look at why and how college tennis is probably the best choice you can make!

Doing research about colleges gives you an important idea about where you could see yourself taking your bachelor's degree. This week's Friday's Scholarship Guide will be about why and how to best compare colleges, including two website suggestions, which will make your search a fun and entertaining activity.

In order to be declared eligible by the NCAA Eligibility Center all athletes undergo a screening process on the basis of athletic and academic criteria. This week's Friday Scholarship Guide is about NCAA eligibility criteria for entering freshmen in Division 1 teams. We'll cover NCAA Division 2 and NAIA in separate blog articles at a later stage.

If you're a tennis player on the lookout for a sports scholarship at a U.S. college, chances are you're wondering how high a scholarship you can actually receive. Today's Friday Scholarship Guide is about understanding the regulations in order to get you in shape for your upcoming bargaining sessions with college coaches.

This edition of Friday's Scholarship Guide will be all about what an athletic scholarship consists of. In other words, if you were to receive a full-ride scholarship, will this scholarship cover everything or are there other costs left to pay for you and your family?

This edition of Friday's Scholarship Guide will introduce you to a tool, which will revolutionize college tennis recruiting. A new ranking system created by Universal Tennis Rating lets you compare the level of tennis in college to yours. That way you'll see within a minute whether you are good enough for a certain team or not.

College coaches who recruit you without having seen at least some visual material of your tennis level are rare. If you want to land a tennis scholarship, make sure you present your skill set in a great highlight reel. Today's Friday Scholarship Guide is about producing this one great video that helps you find a way to play college tennis.

The key to increasing your chance of getting an athletic scholarship is contacting the right coaches. Sounds easier than it is though, and many people struggle with this task. That's why we advise you how to go about it in this week's issue of Friday's scholarship guide.

This week we will cover the five main channels, a prospective student athlete can use, to get in contact with college coaches. Every single channel has advantages and disadvantages you should know about, in order to pick the right channel for you.

Are you still in high school and think occasionally about applying for an athletic scholarship at a US College? Are you unsure whether it would be the right choice or whether it would be better to go pro? Make a decision as soon as possible because time is running out.

Are you new to the recruiting process and wonder who you should contact? Is it even ok to contact coaches and how should you tackle this issue? This short 4-step guide will outline the most important aspects you should pay attention to when getting in contact with college coaches. It's easier than you think.