Emily Parks '25 Recruiting Profile

Hello, my name is Emily Parks. I know this may sound strange, but I never thought I would be a tennis player. Like all young girls, I had played soccer since I was 4 years old all the way to freshman year of high school. I had never thought, or wanted to think, about any other sport. However, at the start of freshman year, I wanted to try something new and had a strange attraction to tennis. I made the jv team freshman year with no experience and fell in love. The next year, I stopped soccer and focused solely on tennis. That year I made the varsity team. I kept getting better and better and had a determination to play in college. I knew that other girls had been playing since they could walk and had way more years on me, but that didn’t discourage me. I also went through some rough coaches who I didn’t learn much from. But eventually I found an incredible coach who also had faith in me. He helped me progress farther in a couple months than I had in a full year. My technique changed drastically and made tennis a game on a whole other deeper level. Moving forward, I want to keep progressing in my ability and understanding of this esoteric game.