Hangin' with Ryan Sweeting:: Gainesville.com
Hangin' with Ryan Sweeting::Gainesville.com ~~~
There's actually not much new in this story about Florida freshman Ryan Sweeting, but it's nice to see a tennis recruit get the type of coverage that football and basketball prospects routinely receive. (And I love the photo that accompanies the story).
One quote from Sweeting was an eyebrow-raiser though: College tennis is a lot tougher than the juniors. The guys in college used to be pro players and are now in college. It's a lot more power. You can't get away with anything."
I don't think the NCAA would agree with Sweeting about his competitors' backgrounds before enrolling in college.
11 comments:
Isn't Sweeting just referring to the reality that many of the top foreign players at US Colleges received money as juniors. I imagine that is what he is referring to vs. "touring pro".
or that they played european futures circuit before enrolling - whether they made money or not. look at some of the line-ups - like 'ole Miss and Baylor...
Ryan is absolutely correct; most of the foreign players are well over 18 or 19, which is the typical age that american players begin college. Some schools like Baylor, Pepperdine and UCLA are known to recruit foreigners perhaps because of their experience in the pros. Also, before going to college, foreigners can receive money while american can't. A level playing field? I think not.
The previous comment was spot on. For instance, Luben Pampoulov who played for UCLA the past year made $28,605 according the the ATP own website prior to attending college. You think he returned all of his prize money before going to UCLA? I think not! I brought this to the attention of the NCAA but they gave me no response. They pick and choose when they want to enforce the rules.
Let's not get carried away. A top American junior can receive an awful lot of cash in "grants" and he/she is a Golden Child in college tennis. Whereas an international player who is listed with a similar amount (and probably spent double to get to that amount) is viewed as trash. Seems like a bit of a contradiction to me. Also, just because the ATP site lists a dollar amount it doesn't mean they have accepted the money - Phil King was listed as having $60K in earnings when he was playing at Duke. Oh, but he's an American, so there's no way he could have violated any rules.
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060306tennis.php
I believe this speaks for itself.
That is a cheap shot. It sounds like Ryan made a horrible decision, albeit somewhat typical for a college student...American or foreign. Ryan, his family, teammates and coaches will suffer his consequences long past this season. In time, perhaps we'll see Sweeting on the courts showing us that champion quality that was evident in September of '05. He'll be older and definitely wiser, moreso than I can say of the anonymous writer who found bizarre intrique in posting this link...
I certainly don't want to enter into some back and forth but I feel the need to defend myself. A DWI is a serious offense which should not be taken lightly just because Ryan won the US Open Juniors. Thousands are killed by drunk drivers and we should only be so luckly that he was caught and that something worse did not take place.
How in the world is it a cheap shot to bring up the topic of a DWI?..yes, many college students, party..(think of the many who have NOT been caught driving..now thats a scary thought)..hopefully the kid will have learned his lesson, and he can eventually be reinstated..however the poster who said, " should not be taken lightly"..is 100% on the mark.
yes, that's right. Mistakes are made all the time. And when a high profile kid makes them, it's easy to say and think the worst.
Didn't see headlines when another high profile junior recovered from an accident and knee injury. Didn't see headlines when another was suspended at an even younger age for drinking while traveling with the USTA. And more could be said by many.
Yes, poor judgement and decisions by Sweeting. Let's see how he handles it, pays for it and recovers. I'm pulling for him. He's a great kid.
In response to some comments over foreigners and Americans receiving money during the tour:
Personally I don't think it's that big of a deal if they receive money. Granted they have to have receipts IN ORDER to receive the cash AND it has to be within a reasonable amount but I can guarantee you for the most part, if not all, juniors will bring up receipts to get the cash. It won't be all, and the people in charge of giving the checks to amateurs know this. I am a little skeptical that these student-athletes like Luben and Phillip have kept ALL their career money. It's basically impossible because they would have to give receipts that would equal the amount of career money given to them. It's very very rare that they can do that, because one, the ppl in charge of the receipts know that they (amateurs) are trying to get as much money as legally possible through the system. But they have definitely kept some that were LEGALLY given THROUGH THE SYSTEM.
I think we are point our fingers at the wrong people here. It's so much easier to point at these kids like Luben and Phillip and say oh well the website says they earn 60 K or 28 K therefore they must be keeping it all. Please. The people giving the money out at the tournaments obviously know what they are trying to do. They give out as much money to the amateurs as they can without going too overboard and put it as expenses. If I was that good, I'd do it too. It's harder to say the system allows for these loopholes and easier to say well these foreigners or these Americans are getting all this money.
Stop whining. I say accept those grants from the USTA because it's pretty d*mn expensive to travel internationally and pay for a full-time coach for even a month and try to get as much money possible through the amateur system. That's a smart move and I don't look down on anybody who does that.
And 60K or 28K actually isn't alot given all the expenses need to travel internationally. Actually, it's very little in the tennis world.
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