Teo Burgess '23 Recruiting Profile

My parents like to tell the story of how my very first word as a baby was “Ball” and how I used to watch them play tennis from my stroller, playing close attention to the yellow ball. I grew up in a family where we stayed active all the time, and sports were important, but no one at home is a professional athlete and my parents encouraged us to try out different sports. Ultimately, the sports I enjoyed the most were tennis and rock climbing because one could set individual goals for their training and achievement and be a part of a team and a close-knit community at the same time. I love that the game of tennis requires a mastery of many skills to be able to play competitively. It is a mind-game and no two matches are the same. When I begin to serve, I feel like my body and mind merge as one, and I am able to focus better than ever during tournaments. I love the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a good day of tennis, and have made so many lifelong friends on the court over the years.

Upon finishing middle school, I had already participated in a few USTA and club tournaments doing well, so I knew I wanted to play tennis in high school. I was excited to make it on the varsity team as third singles in 9^th grade and managed to have one match before the COVID19 pandemic hit. In Maryland there was a long time that summer when all the public courts were locked down, so my mom and I would go hit volleys on the grass in the park, trying not to lose our touch with our racquets. It was so exciting to go back to playing tennis after things started slowly opening up on the East Coast the following year. I was second singles on my high school tennis team during 10^th and 11^th grade. I learned a lot from our Captain and started spending more time training with an individual coach who had just stopped playing the ATP tour. He inspired me to try to play college tennis and I started training every single day. I also worked at the local tennis club the last two summers and loved training the young kids and teenagers while they were learning to hit tennis balls and trying to improve their technique to compete in tournaments.

I love tennis very much and had to grow quickly as a player since I has a shorter runway (due to the pandemic) between my decision to play in college and the start of my senior year in high school. I look forward to playing First Singles for my high school varsity team in my senior year and being the Team Captain. I have already been to several recruiting events where I had a chance to play in front of college tennis coaches and love the environment of friendly collaboration and serious competition. I have learned a lot from both my teammates and my opponents. I do well under stress and thrive in a supportive, yet challenging environment. I look forward to growing more on the court as a tennis player and a young adult by becoming a part of a varsity college tennis team. I prefer playing singles, but also enjoy playing doubles, and hope to gain additional experience this year through participating in more tournaments in preparation for the college matches next year. I know many varsity college players and understand it takes both dedication and organization, hard work and focus, to make the most of the college athlete experience. I am ready for that work, and coaching advice, and look forward to finding my home away from home next year through joining a college tennis team.