Something needed to be done.
The UCLA women’s tennis team had been losing scholarship
athletes to other schools, and its lineup was becoming somewhat
depleted.
Coach Stella Sampras Webster and assistant coach Rance Brown
found themselves in a predicament.
It was at that point that they made changes which are still
benefiting the Bruin team today.
The coaching staff decided to shy away from recruiting a large
handful of walk-on players and instead focused on filling voids
left in scholarship positions by recruiting walk-ons with
particular strengths.
“In the past, I think we’ve brought in players that
are more recreational players and aren’t as serious, and it
really has not worked out well with the team,” Sampras
Webster said.
In 2005 and 2006, however, the Bruins chose smaller recruiting
classes consisting of athletes who have made big contributions to
the team. The players have shown their dedication to UCLA tennis by
staying with the program.
More importantly, additions to the team during more recent
seasons have all displayed characteristics that Sampras Webster
considers to be fundamental to success on the court.
Though only two of next year’s recruits, Yasmin Schnack
and Stephanie Wetmore, will receive scholarships, Sampras Webster
and Brown have been able to notch four high-caliber walk-ons that
they feel will fit in well with the Bruins’ current
mentality.
“These players still have the commitment, the drive, the
desire to improve, but may not have had the results, or their games
may just take longer to develop,” said Sampras Webster, who
is in her tenth season as coach for the Bruins.
Her most successful walk-on-turned-scholarship athlete, senior
Laura Gordon, is a big reason why the small Bruin squad has been
able to make the transition to new coaching strategies.
“The chemistry on the team has been unbelievable,”
Sampras Webster said. “Laura’s been through it all and
has had a lot of success.”
In fact, Gordon, who was a recruited walk-on in a 2003 class
featuring seven new Bruins, is now the only senior on the team and
has seen classes of only three and two women join the team in the
past two seasons.
As a freshman, Gordon went almost unnoticed alongside her
teammates and found it hard to get any attention or help from the
team’s veterans.
Since then, Gordon has assumed the role of team captain and has
brought together and solidified a team that has been one of the
most dynamic Bruin squads in recent history.
This recent upward climb is largely the result of the decision
made by the women’s tennis coaching staff after putting into
perspective the trends it was facing with regard to departing
athletes and a less cohesive team.
“I think the coaches have learned a lot from my class
about how to deal with personalities,” Gordon said.
“The people who came in after my class were a little bit more
similar, and it was easier for a lot of people to get along and buy
in to the program, which is really what you need to be
successful.”