Skyler Choi '25 Recruiting Profile

I began my tennis training in May 2022 which came about in a very unique and unexpected way. 

As a 2nd year player with the Manhattan Soccer Club in NYC, I attended a 1-week camp at IMG Academy to improve my soccer skills during spring break of my freshman year in 2022. I was one of 3 girls among 14 boys who attended camp and as everyone there was much more advanced, I got to see and experience first hand how intense training and life as an athlete could be. It was really hard work especially in the hot and humid Florida weather but I became truly inspired by the competitive spirit, passion, dedication and mindset that I saw the other kids at camp had for soccer and improving themselves in many different ways. The fitness training, focus on healthy eating, and self discipline like sleeping and waking up early was extra motivating because I noticed how much it helped with my eczema too, a painful skin condition I’ve had to endure since I was 4 years old which makes you feel very itchy, causes blisters and rashes that get worse in hot weather. The more exercise and better eating helped with my eczema and most definitely helped with my confidence and self esteem. After camp, I was fully interested in how I could attend IMG Academy to seriously pursue becoming a full-time student athlete. 

I found out that even though there wasn't an opportunity to apply to their soccer program at my level, my camp soccer coach suggested that I apply to IMG to become a student through their tennis program instead. My coach at soccer camp mentioned he liked how I tried to keep up with the advanced players throughout the week, followed directions well and was very coachable, and had personally recommended me to IMG’s tennis coaches. While I have only played recreationally, I went out to the courts and to a school wall to practice hitting balls every chance I got when I returned home and found that I really enjoyed tennis and wanted to give it a shot. I immediately completed the application process for IMG’s tennis program including creating a ten minute tennis video demonstrating my skill level, completed three personal essays, received three recommendation letters from my teachers, and had an interview with the head tennis director and coaches at IMG.

A month after attending soccer camp in April (2022) I was accepted into IMG Academy for their Tennis program in May. I returned to IMG during the summer to train in tennis for 2 weeks. However, after further thought and discussion with my parents, I decided I wanted to continue attending my high school and be at home with my family before college, and instead of going to IMG, I decided to attend John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA) in New York.

Since September 2022, I have been training at JMTA 3 times a week and I’ve progressed a lot throughout the last 2 years from being a beginner player to a 2-UTR player. This past summer I attended 5 weeks of full day camp sessions at JMTA and was given a prize for Most Improved Player by my coaches. Last July I also trained for 3 days at Harvard University’s co-ed tennis camp where I learned a lot from their program including new doubles and singles court strategies and placement, footwork at the baseline or the net, and how to cover the court for a better offensive position. After Harvard, I attended a 2-day tennis camp for girls at Yale University. At Yale, I competed in UTR matches and for the first time beat a 4-UTR ranked player and played against others in the 3-9 UTR range. It was a really great experience to challenge myself and face many higher ranked players and even winning several matches and games.

Since the beginning of my Junior year, I competed in 8 UTR tournament matches and increased my UTR winning 6 out of the 8 games. In the Fall, I also started the first tennis club at my high school to share my passion for tennis, give students an opportunity to learn more about the sport and experienced players to enjoy court time together, and currently have 20 members. This past December, I organized the club’s first bakesale at school where we earned several hundred dollars. This money will be used to help pay for the group tennis lessons and court time for 10 members and myself. I was able to coordinate this with John Jay College for the month of March (across from our high school).

I just completed my first semester of my junior year and am currently earning an A average or 3.7 GPA, and have a 3.5 or above in all of my AP classes including AP Seminar, AP Literature, and AP US Government. I was recently accepted by CIEE’s global student program and plan to study Sports Management abroad for three weeks this summer in Barcelona, Spain, which will include language and history lessons, which I am really looking forward to.