By Pete Ruden
College sports teams across the country usually have a recruiting pipeline in the state they’re located in, but that is not the case for the Iowa men’s tennis team.
Of the nine players on the current roster, none of them are from the state of Iowa.
While that is definitely uncommon in college sports, it gives the team a lot of diversity that can be used in a good way, not only on but off the court.
“I think it provides some really great opportunities for the guys on the team,” said head coach Ross Wilson, an Ohio native. “It’s a little bit different from most sports, but I think it gives you a better perspective overall of where other people from other cultures and countries are coming from.”
The idea of being in a Power 5 conference, especially the Big Ten, is luring for a lot of athletes looking at options for college.
If a team has a good coach and gives a good impression during official visits, programs can land big recruits who fit with the team’s style.
“One of the big reasons was being in a Power 5 conference,” said junior Josh Silverstein, a native of Great Neck, New York. “Another was the coaches. Ross Wilson was a heavy recruiter, and I saw that he really believed in me, and he was going to put 100 percent effort into me becoming the best possible player I could become.”
Senior Nils Hallestrand has similar beliefs but a completely different experience. Being from Danderyd, Sweden, Hallestrand didn’t have the opportunity to play college tennis in his home country.
With no college athletics in Sweden, he had to look elsewhere. After visiting Iowa, Hallestrand knew where the right fit was for him.
“I was really attracted by the Big Ten, too, [and] being a Power 5 conference,” he said. “I ended up visiting here, and I loved it right away, so I didn’t look back from there.”
The Hawkeyes have four players from the United States on the team, while also having athletes from Sweden, Greece, Denmark, and U.A.B.
Coaches recruit players around the world by looking at country’s national rankings, International Tennis Federation rankings, connecting on social media, or from athletes on the team.
It’s easy to imagine the expense of flying overseas to meet prospective student-athletes and their families, and flying them to Iowa City for official visits isn’t any cheaper. Still, it’s worth it for reasons that show on the court as well as off.
“I think it’s great. I think it helps in all parts of your life,” Silverstein said. “It’s very interesting being best friends with guys from all over the world. And you see different styles of tennis from the different countries that people are from.”
Wilson knows what he looks for in a recruit. Though the Hawkeyes don’t have anyone on the team from Iowa right now, that doesn’t rule it out for the future. But in the present, the team is getting by just fine with the players it has.
“Obviously, we want to have a recruit who’s playing at a high level of tennis,” Wilson said. “Also, and this is probably most important, someone who values the education, who wants to go to school and play tennis at the same time … Usually, when you find players who are willing to do that, they’re also very mature, and that just makes our job as coaches that much easier.”
