By Nicholas Moreano
Starting freshman year of college can be tough — especially when college is 4,136 miles away.
Hawkeye freshman tennis player Elise Van Heuvelen may be far away from home, but that hasn’t stopped her from having a hot start to her college career.
Van Heuvelen is from Seaford, East Sussex, England, and made her trip to Iowa City in February, her first time in the United States.
At the time, Van Heuvelen also visited Wichita State and Houston, but the Hawkeyes’ facilities and work ethic won her over. She then came to Iowa for international orientation on Aug. 12 and began taking classes about a week later.
Despite the distance, Van Heuvelen found the transition easy to make because of all the support the team has given her.
Sophomore Carin Runefelt, who is from Stockholm and went through a similar process her freshman year, has reached out to Van Heuvelen to let her know she always has someone to talk to.
“I want to be there if she wants to talk; she is not alone,” Runefelt said. “I feel like I want to be someone she can relate to.”
Van Heuvelen is not the only newbie — head coach Sasha Schmid is in her first year with the Hawkeyes, and both had to adapt to their new team.
“We kind of just hit the ground running; for my being new, we kind of had to get to know each one of these kids,” Schmid said. “I really tried to spend some time individually with [Van Heuvelen], and I know she’s done that with some of her teammates.”
Schmid said she has been impressed with how Van Heuvelen has handled being away from home by showing great maturity and excellent composure.
One of the toughest parts for Van Heuvelen transitioning to college life was learning how to manage her time.
“With practice, we have weights in the morning, then practice, and you just need time to recover,” Van Heuvelen said.
She also said that the school work is harder because there is a lot more studying to do. But she believes she has adapted well to her new life.
“I think it’s been good,” Van Heuvelen said. “I just have jumped straight in with the team.”
With teammates who have Van Heuvelen’s back and a coach who has adapted with her, the freshman has looked comfortable on the court.
She won her flight at the Gopher Invitational and ended that tournament going undefeated in singles, ending with a 6-1 record in doubles.
At the Wildcat Invitational, Van Heuvelen remained undefeated in singles until the last day of the tournament — she was defeated by Northwestern’s Maddie Lipp.
It’s been a great start for the freshman, and she knows what she has to do if she wants to continue to have success.
“It’s just working hard, not dwelling on whatever has happened,” Van Heuvelen said. “Just making sure all that success is good and doing it day in and day out.”