This Past wednesday I attended a talk by the head of the men’s tennis team, coach Silviu Tanasoiu. His talk was very interesting because he spoke more than just about tennis, and spoke about the students and the recruitment process. He talked about his recruiting of a russian tennis player, which was the most interesting story for me. In short, he explained how the student was between two schools, but chose Cornell because he reached out to the mother, who spoke Russian. This example was really neat because it highlighted a few key points. He discussed that honesty is the most important process when recruiting. He said getting to know the person is very important. And getting to know the family, their coach, and their background can make the difference in getting someone to come to the program.

It was really neat to learn about the amount of effort that goes into recruiting students. The coaches care more than just about winning, they care about developing the students as a whole. As a result, i am very impressed with the discussion.