Sept. 2, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame associate head men’s tennis coach Ryan Sachire recently returned from the U.S. Open in Flushing, N.Y., where he co-coached the 2011 United States Tennis Association Collegiate Team with Alabama assistant coach Bo Hodge.
“It was an honor to be chosen for such a prestigious role within the USTA,” said Sachire. “I saw this opportunity as a way for me to greatly expand my coaching knowledge and help bring some visibility to our program at the highest level of the sport.”
Sachire applied for the position and was selected by the USTA Director of Coaching, Jose Higueras, and the USTA head men’s coach Jay Berger, over other qualified head and assistant coaches from various schools throughout the country. Once selected, Sachire sat in on the teleconference that selected the elite team.
The USTA Collegiate Team is composed of 12 of the top American collegiate tennis players and is an elite training program for the top American collegiate tennis players. It began in 1996 and is funded by the USTA. It is designed to provide college players with valuable exposure to the USTA Pro Circuit in a team-oriented environment during the year.
Team members were selected based on their performance at the NCAA Championships, the ITA All-Americans and the National Indoor Championships. If players had any USTA Pro Circuit, ATP or WTA events on their resumes, those results were taken into account as well.
Besides competing on the USTA Pro Circuit, the 12 student-athletes participated in a Pro Tour Transition camp, held in Boca Raton, Fla., on June 9-15. After helping coach the training camp, Sachire coached at six different pro tournaments, including tourneys in Florida, California and Illinois leading up to the U.S. Open.
“It was a great experience overall,” said Sachire. “We had two players that turned pro after successful summers. We also had several college players make the finals of the pro future tournaments, including Tennys Sandgren of Tennessee, who won two future tournaments. At the U.S. Open we had several guys win qualifying matches, which was far better than any college team had done before.”
“It’s a valuable experience to work with the USTA Collegiate Team because you always learn one or two new things that you can bring back to Notre Dame,” said Sachire. “I feel it is very important to do just that to help keep our program on the cutting edge of the sport. I was proud to wear my Notre Dame gear as much as I could and represent our university.”
Sachire, who was the 2000 ITA National Senior Player of the Year while competing for the Irish, earned a spot on the USTA Collegiate Team three times. The Canfield, Ohio, native also spent five seasons on the USTA pro circuit, winning 16 doubles titles. –ND–