The Syracuse tennis team practices 20 hours per week, in addition to two matches on some weeks and a full class schedule. But the strenuous schedule is actually lighter than many of the players are used to.

Four of Syracuse’s seven players — Guzal Yusupova, Miranda Ramirez, Sofya Golubovskaya and Sonya Treshcheva — were home-schooled before coming to SU. It allowed them to spend more time playing tennis than players who attended high school. Home-schooled players come to Syracuse with a “strong foundation,” head coach Younes Limam said.

“A big part of the reason why some of the players do home school is it gives them a little bit more flexibility and time to practice,” said Limam.

Before college, Yusupova’s daily routine included a morning practice, then schoolwork before another practice, followed by more schoolwork. Some weeks, Yusupova would work on her game and fitness for 35 hours.

Training was more “serious” in her home country of Uzbekistan, Yusupova said. Coaches were more intense, and she worked with them individually rather than with a team.

Limam mentioned the importance of a “solid foundation” before players arrive in Syracuse. The NCAA’s 20 hour per week limit simply doesn’t allow players to practice as much as they may have before college, so home-schooled students who previously had more rigorous practice schedules have an advantage.

In her freshman season, Yusupova, who transferred from Washington State to Syracuse, had an overall record of 23-17. Golubovskaya went 26-14 and Trescheva 10-11 despite fighting an ankle injury.

Off the court, players like Sofya Golubovskaya’s transition back to daily classes was a challenge. After five years of home school, showing up to classrooms with other students was new, she said.

Learning the day-to-day demands of college coursework is an adjustment that’s common among players who were home-schooled, according to Limam. Like many college students, the young players have to learn how to best manage their time.

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Non-home-schooled players, like Polina Kozyreva, still had significant practice schedules during high school. She woke up at six in the morning every day for 7 a.m. training sessions. After a while, her mother asked her to “just chill” for a day, Kozyreva said. Even still, compared to the home-schooled players, Kozyreva arrived at Syracuse “raw” according to assistant coach Jennifer Meredith.

So far this season, Kozyreva has appeared in eight singles matches. She missed about three weeks when she was dealing with a left ankle injury. But she’s also served as the seventh player for the Orange – or the first one off the bench – in a six-person lineup.

“She just naturally gets better every match,” Meredith said about Kozyreva. “She’s like a sponge, every time you tell her something she does it.”

Ramirez spent the majority of her high school days in Florida, away from her native Texas, where she split time almost evenly between tennis and school at home, she said. She developed time management skills, she said, and enjoys planning her schedule. She’s been doing it since switching to home schooling when she was 8 years old, and it has become even more important at Syracuse.

“Your day is very, very hectic from classroom to going to practices and stuff like that,” Limam said of Ramirez. “That’s something that she wasn’t used to, doing home schooling and training a lot and stuff like that.

Since she was 15, Ramirez has been playing in international tournaments. It was the “strong foundation,” because of hours of tennis prior to Syracuse, that helped Ramirez prosper in her freshman season, where she won a team-high 15 singles matches.

For some, a transition to team tennis and a full class schedule is difficult. But Limam believes that whether his players went to high school or were home-schooled, they can develop into vital members of his program.

“Some of them it might take them a little bit longer,” Limam said. “I’m a big believer that if you want something bad enough and you have a good work ethic and commitment then the sky’s the limit.”

Published on March 10, 2020 at 11:18 pm

Contact Thomas: tgshults@syr.edu | @ThomasShults_