Another award for Katie, this time it's the Northwest Conference Scholar Athlete first team honor. Each of the 9 schools in our conference uses their own criteria to put forth one male and one female student athlete each year.
Katie finished her degree in Psychology with honors and was among the top GPA's for student athletes at Whitman, although she did rank 2nd on our team as Senior Alex Robinson led the way with the highest GPA on our team. At one point this year Alex told the freshman that there are times when all she does is study, sleep and play tennis. And Katie often uses school as an excuse to skip out on a party or social event. After a full year of working with them, I was very impressed by their work ethics and time management, but also found that they were both more social than they sometimes let on.
Ok, back to business. The link to the conference awards is http://www.nwcsports.com/information/awards/2008-09/0809scholarathlete1stteam and note that Katie is the ONLY TENNIS PLAYER, male or female, to be honored by their institution.
And more... Not only was I fortunate enough to coach Katie for a year, she'll be staying on in Walla Walla taking a break before grad school to serve as our Assistant Coach. Stay tuned for further news on Katie's new role and watch out because she is just as competitive in practices and eating contests as she is in the classroom and during matches.
News from Coach John Hein
Summer Tennis Camps and Events:
Team Photo's on Flickr!
Coaching Philosophy
To me, being a college student is about opportunity and growth. As a coach, I consider myself lucky to spend 4 years providing opportunity while nurturing growth. We use common goals, hard work, open communication, respect and accountability as means to building meaningful relationships and improving each player’s skill set on and off the court. This means embodying championship virtues to inspire athletic, academic and personal growth that not only happens while you are at Whitman, but becomes a part of who you are throughout life.