Mia started as a student athlete at Francis Marion University in the USA
Christmas is something very special, especially for athlete students: they fly or drive home to their families. This also applies to our daughter Mia, who came home to Swabia over the holidays from her university, Francis Marion University (FMU) in Florence, South Carolina. In August of this year, our “big one” went to the USA on a tennis scholarship straight after graduating from high school. The first big adventure. Today we want to let Mia have her say. After getting over jet lag, she wrote a report for you about her first four months of college. We hope you enjoy reading. And of course we enjoy our time together to the fullest before we say again at the beginning of January 2024: GO WEST!
And from now on Mia will take over
"The first few weeks at my new university, Francis Marion University in South Carolina, were totally exciting, but at the same time a little overwhelming. I quickly realized that I was now on my own in a country where both the culture and the people were initially foreign to me.
Studying started straight away in the first week, tennis training didn't start until the third week. I'm lucky that my roommate chose a similar course of study as me, and so we had a few courses in common in the first semester. That was a relief because we were able to look together for the right classrooms and find out about the material needed for the respective courses. However, it was not uncommon for us to get lost in the large school building, walk into the wrong classroom or be late for class.
After a few weeks, however, everyday school life settled down nicely and we were ready for tennis and athletic training. To keep ourselves fit, we went to the gym three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here we completed various workouts together as a team under the supervision of our athletic trainer Deon and our tennis coach Jay.
Since the athletic training started at 7 a.m., it was always a struggle to get out of bed, but you quickly got used to it. After the gym, my room partner Polina and I usually went straight back to the room to freshen up and then off to breakfast. After we fortified ourselves with muesli, yoghurts and scrambled eggs, we went to class.
I always had three to four courses a day. After the lessons were usually over between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., it was time for lunch before heading to tennis training. We trained as a women's team five times a week, 2 hours each. The initial focus in training was on rhythm and safety. We played a lot of different partner exercises to work on our consistency. Serving practice and doubles practice were also a big part of every practice.
After we had finished training, I usually needed a little break because a day like that can be quite exhausting and full.
At 6 p.m. we usually had dinner, where there was a large selection of different salads and warm dishes. However, one thing has to be said: Unfortunately, the food can't keep up with the delicious food from home, at least that's how it was for me. After dinner we usually had to do some homework or study for an upcoming exam. When there was a more relaxed phase at school, the evenings were used to play a game of billiards or Uno.
I mostly used the weekends to catch up on some sleep or study for university. Of course, the typical college parties couldn't be missed either. Especially towards the end of my first semester, I got along better and better with my team colleagues, but also with athletes from other sports teams. Overall, I have to say that I am grateful to have tennis as a sport there. Through tennis, I found a connection right from the start and was always able to ask my teammates if anything was unclear.
Even though the semester got off to a somewhat bumpy start at the beginning, I'm glad that I took the step to go to the USA alone to study at a college and play tennis. I'm really looking forward to the next semester because we'll finally be in season, which means we'll have our first matches against other universities. "
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