Simon Johnstone '22 Recruiting Profile

What are my collegiate goals and aspirations? To be a key contributor on a competitive team with a great environment at a college that aligns well with my academic interests.

Why I'd be a good candidate for your team:

• - Leader on and off the court
• - Very coachable
• - High tennis IQ
• - Enjoy being a member of a team of competitive, talented individuals focused on the same goal

How I am different from other recruits

I not only enjoy the technical aspects of the game, but also the strategy. In addition to being a supportive leader (2-year captain of the #1 tennis team in Wisconsin, captain of club volleyball team), I have experience teaching tennis (Director of the summer tennis program in my hometown for children-adults). Having played competitive tennis since the age of 8 (including 4 years on the Varsity team in high school and a semester of Club Tennis at UW-Madison), I successfully managed a challenging academic workload while playing 2 high school sports (and rec basketball in between). While I cannot compare my character to that of any other candidates you're considering, I have a very strong moral compass. After attending a University for a semester, I have a better understanding for the type of environment I will thrive in. I will take what I learned from that experience, and what I am currently learning at IMG Academy and continue to develop as a student and as a person. I think before I speak and act and I care about others' feelings. I am confident enough in myself to support others and encourage them to be the best they can be. The best-case scenario is we all achieve our personal best while also achieving great things as a team.

Overcoming obstacles and setbacks with determination

I also want to take a moment to describe my determination as a person. After playing doubles with our team at the state tournament my freshman year of high school, I transitioned to singles my sophomore year and didn’t make the cut for the team state tournament. Instead of hanging my head or making an excuse about how deep our roster is, I was determined to make a return not only into the starting roster but in a way that I could make a significant contribution to our team the next two years. I took private tennis lessons and frequently reviewed my footage while also watching footage of higher-level matches (college and professional) to identify areas for me to improve. As mentioned above, my coaches named me team captain my junior year of high school. With that title, I felt more pressure to succeed and encourage my teammates to improve and be successful. Although our official season was cut short my junior year, due to the Coronavirus, our school held individual and team mini tournaments during the summer of 2020. When competing for my team, I played in the number 1 doubles position where we took second place. In the individual state tournament, my partner and I placed second out of 64 doubles pairings. Although it's clear that the pressure was lighter since not everyone across the state was playing in the tournament, going from out of the lineup to the "second" best doubles team in the state was an achievement I was proud of. However, I was not satisfied. I continued to train in the offseason while also playing volleyball at the varsity level. I had two goals in mind before the start of my senior tennis season: medal in individual state and win team state. I was blessed to be born in a tennis community, so our team had a very successful team season eventually winning team state. Individually, as I said, my goal was to medal and that's exactly what my partner and I did (one of the videos). I then graduated and headed to the University of Wisconsin Madison where I played for the club tennis team and for the first time in my life, I felt out of place. It took me a few months to realize that not playing sports, especially tennis, made me feel more isolated and lost. Not being able to play tennis with a like-minded team of competitors focused on improving and winning made it feel even worse. So, while staying enrolled at UW-Madison (virtually for spring 2022), I am living and training at IMG Academy to hopefully be able to transfer to a university or college where I can contribute as a member of the school’s tennis team. Although I know I will need to work hard to accomplish my goal, I am open and excited for the challenge – and determined to do all I can to achieve it.