Samuel Cook '19 Recruiting Profile

My name is Samuel Cook, and I am a native Texan,  born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. I am currently a senior at New Braunfels High School, and compete in tennis with the John Newcombe Tennis Academy. 

I have enjoyed playing all kinds of sports ever since I was a young child.   I have played competitively in baseball, basketball, golf, and tennis.  Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I also excelled in music and chess, winning many awards in piano competitions.  I also played chess with my middle school and participated in national competitions, placing first nationally in 6th grade. 

In high school, I decided to devote all my time to sports, initially focusing on baseball.  In 9^th grade, I was the pitcher for my high school baseball team, and received the MVP award for the JV Baseball Team at Southwest Christian High School. 

Throughout high school, I have also participated in the Young Men’s Service League, a national non-profit organization that encourages and initiates leadership skills and fosters mother-son community service and philanthropy.  I received awards for the most hours served in 2016 and 2017, and served as President of my class in 2017. 

I have always been drawn to tennis, and in 10^th grade, decided to concentrate on tennis competitively.  That year I attended the John Newcombe Tennis Academy Summer Program.  I was fortunate enough to be offered a position in the year round program, at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy (Newks).   This was an amazing opportunity for me to focus on improving my tennis game.  I also learned a tremendous amount of self-sufficiency and responsibility, living away from home and attending New Braunfels High School while keeping up with my classes, tennis practices before and after school, and tournament schedules during the weekends.  I had to learn to manage my time, pack efficiently for tournaments, and arrive on time to practices and complete all my homework.  The experience I have gained at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy has given me an excellent opportunity to learn the value of teamwork, commitment, sacrifice, and tenacity.  Even though I had much less experience playing tennis competitively compared to my fellow team players at Newks, I learned to cope with losses, and look for the best ways to quickly improve my game.  Through my fellow team players’ support and the expert coaches at Newks, especially Coach P.J. Hendrie, I have been able to improve my game significantly in a short period of time.  I am looking for a program that will be a good fit for me in both tennis and academics.   I believe I have the ability to compete for a college team and have the character, work-ethic and leadership skills to make a positive impact on your program.