Perfect Fit
September 29, 2010 05:12 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Head coaches don’t often work at one school for the entire length of their careers. Like most other people, they end up moving around from place to place, searching for the right fit and hoping to bring and leave lasting success wherever they may go.
For West Virginia University women’s tennis coach Tina Samara, this philosophy rings true so far. Her journey to West Virginia University began on Long Island, N.Y., when she was 10 years old. By that time, she had already participated in nearly every sport she could, including soccer, lacrosse and little league baseball. As many younger siblings do, she tended to idolize her older brother, so when he picked up a tennis racket, she did also.
“I originally started out playing and taking lessons one day a week, but I started adding to that pretty quickly and eventually ended up playing year-round,” Samara said.
She continued to play other sports as well, especially soccer. Yet when it came time to start looking at colleges, Samara knew that she wanted to pursue tennis.
“I played soccer up until it was time for college,” she reminisced. “In soccer, sometimes it was frustrating to play really well and then lose the match anyway, because your team as a whole didn’t play well. I liked that in tennis, you’re held a lot more accountable for what happens.”
Recruited out of high school by the likes of Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, Samara ultimately decided upon Georgia as her school of choice. At that time, the Bulldogs were ranked fourth nationally, and offered Samara a great opportunity to play tennis at a perennial powerhouse as well as providing her with an excellent education.
“When you go to a program that’s strong, it’s almost impossible not getting better just because you’re hitting with six or seven other really good players every day,” she explained. “So right away that was a pretty neat environment to be in.”
When Samara entered the program as a freshman, there were no seniors on the team, which consisted of four freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. Without the leadership often exhibited by seniors, the team had to learn how to grind out wins together quickly. By the time the next season was underway, the team had bonded and ended up experiencing tremendous success by winning the NCAA title, marking the first time a women's UGA tennis team had done so.
“It was really nice to be on the first team to win at Georgia, and also at home. In collegiate tennis you can’t really beat that because we had three to four thousand people watching and 99 percent of them were Bulldog fans. That was really fun for us,” commented Samara.
She went on to have a remarkably successful collegiate career, earning All-America honors in 1994 and 1995. Her doubles pair was ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1995 and went on to win the National Clay Court Doubles title in 1996. As a team, UGA also won the National Indoor title in 1994 and 1995.
From college, Samara took her tennis career further by playing on the USTA/WTA/LTA Pro tour, quickly learning that it was going to be very different from what she was used to as a collegiate player.
“That was a big transition, going from a school like Georgia to playing in a town in the middle of nowhere in Australia or England. The tournaments weren’t in big, fun cities. I don’t regret the experience, though. I met some amazing people and had a little bit of success here and there, but it was a very difficult life.”
Despite time spent on the pro tour, some of Samara’s favorite memories date back to her collegiate years when she participated in the U.S. Open twice as a collegiate player.
“The first year I played a girl who was ranked fifth in the world in doubles and she was really, really tall. She was around 6-foot-3, and I’m 5-foot-3 on a good day. So that was really interesting walking on the court with her,” she said with a laugh.
“At that time, they weren’t redirecting flights for U.S. Open qualifying, so there were flights coming in and out of LaGuardia every five minutes, and they were setting up the food courts for the main tournament during the action. There was a lot of stuff going on, but I think that’s what makes the U.S. Open fun. It’s not a quiet, proper tournament in a lot of ways. I think it encompasses what New York City is all about.”
After leaving the pro tour, Samara spent some time with the Creek Club in Locust Valley, N.Y., where she taught tennis to all levels, ages and abilities. Having been an athlete for so long, it took some time to adjust to being on the other side of the net as a coach.
“Teaching is a lot different from playing,” she added. “It took a little while to learn how to teach different levels and ages and abilities. But that’s how I got started in coaching.”
Samara originally wasn’t interested in coaching at the collegiate level. But after relocating to Boulder because of another job opportunity, she decided to see if University of Colorado needed any help with its tennis program. She ended up volunteering with the team for a year, and was named an assistant coach the next season. In her first season as an assistant, the team finished with their best record in 11 years, and took third place in the Big 12.
After two seasons with Colorado, she moved on to coach at Louisiana-Lafayette for two more, where her team recorded the highest grade point average of all sports programs within the university.
And now her journey has brought her to WVU.
“As a coach, you’re certainly always keeping your eyes and ears open for opportunities that open up,” Samara said. “After speaking with Oliver (Luck) for a little bit, I decided this was an opportunity to really look into. I feel like a lot of fun things are going to happen with this athletic department in the next few years, and I think it’s a great time to be a part of something like that.”
For West Virginia University women’s tennis coach Tina Samara, this philosophy rings true so far. Her journey to West Virginia University began on Long Island, N.Y., when she was 10 years old. By that time, she had already participated in nearly every sport she could, including soccer, lacrosse and little league baseball. As many younger siblings do, she tended to idolize her older brother, so when he picked up a tennis racket, she did also.
“I originally started out playing and taking lessons one day a week, but I started adding to that pretty quickly and eventually ended up playing year-round,” Samara said.
She continued to play other sports as well, especially soccer. Yet when it came time to start looking at colleges, Samara knew that she wanted to pursue tennis.
“I played soccer up until it was time for college,” she reminisced. “In soccer, sometimes it was frustrating to play really well and then lose the match anyway, because your team as a whole didn’t play well. I liked that in tennis, you’re held a lot more accountable for what happens.”
Recruited out of high school by the likes of Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, Samara ultimately decided upon Georgia as her school of choice. At that time, the Bulldogs were ranked fourth nationally, and offered Samara a great opportunity to play tennis at a perennial powerhouse as well as providing her with an excellent education.
“When you go to a program that’s strong, it’s almost impossible not getting better just because you’re hitting with six or seven other really good players every day,” she explained. “So right away that was a pretty neat environment to be in.”
When Samara entered the program as a freshman, there were no seniors on the team, which consisted of four freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. Without the leadership often exhibited by seniors, the team had to learn how to grind out wins together quickly. By the time the next season was underway, the team had bonded and ended up experiencing tremendous success by winning the NCAA title, marking the first time a women's UGA tennis team had done so.
“It was really nice to be on the first team to win at Georgia, and also at home. In collegiate tennis you can’t really beat that because we had three to four thousand people watching and 99 percent of them were Bulldog fans. That was really fun for us,” commented Samara.
She went on to have a remarkably successful collegiate career, earning All-America honors in 1994 and 1995. Her doubles pair was ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1995 and went on to win the National Clay Court Doubles title in 1996. As a team, UGA also won the National Indoor title in 1994 and 1995.
From college, Samara took her tennis career further by playing on the USTA/WTA/LTA Pro tour, quickly learning that it was going to be very different from what she was used to as a collegiate player.
“That was a big transition, going from a school like Georgia to playing in a town in the middle of nowhere in Australia or England. The tournaments weren’t in big, fun cities. I don’t regret the experience, though. I met some amazing people and had a little bit of success here and there, but it was a very difficult life.”
Despite time spent on the pro tour, some of Samara’s favorite memories date back to her collegiate years when she participated in the U.S. Open twice as a collegiate player.
“The first year I played a girl who was ranked fifth in the world in doubles and she was really, really tall. She was around 6-foot-3, and I’m 5-foot-3 on a good day. So that was really interesting walking on the court with her,” she said with a laugh.
“At that time, they weren’t redirecting flights for U.S. Open qualifying, so there were flights coming in and out of LaGuardia every five minutes, and they were setting up the food courts for the main tournament during the action. There was a lot of stuff going on, but I think that’s what makes the U.S. Open fun. It’s not a quiet, proper tournament in a lot of ways. I think it encompasses what New York City is all about.”
After leaving the pro tour, Samara spent some time with the Creek Club in Locust Valley, N.Y., where she taught tennis to all levels, ages and abilities. Having been an athlete for so long, it took some time to adjust to being on the other side of the net as a coach.
“Teaching is a lot different from playing,” she added. “It took a little while to learn how to teach different levels and ages and abilities. But that’s how I got started in coaching.”
Samara originally wasn’t interested in coaching at the collegiate level. But after relocating to Boulder because of another job opportunity, she decided to see if University of Colorado needed any help with its tennis program. She ended up volunteering with the team for a year, and was named an assistant coach the next season. In her first season as an assistant, the team finished with their best record in 11 years, and took third place in the Big 12.
After two seasons with Colorado, she moved on to coach at Louisiana-Lafayette for two more, where her team recorded the highest grade point average of all sports programs within the university.
And now her journey has brought her to WVU.
“As a coach, you’re certainly always keeping your eyes and ears open for opportunities that open up,” Samara said. “After speaking with Oliver (Luck) for a little bit, I decided this was an opportunity to really look into. I feel like a lot of fun things are going to happen with this athletic department in the next few years, and I think it’s a great time to be a part of something like that.”
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