31 January 2023
MANHATTAN, KS. (KSNT)- K-State women’s tennis is not your average K-State sports program.
It’s a group made up entirely of international student-athletes. The team has players from Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland and more. Those players are learning quite a bit.
“I really like that because I can learn about other cultures, about history, about what they eat, what they do,” Vanesa Suarez, a freshman from Venezuela said.
While they learn about the places each other are from, they’re also taking in all sorts of new experiences together on team trips.
“I really like Aggieville, with like Varsity Donuts,” Rozalia Gruszczynska, a freshman from Poland said. “I love Chipotle. Starbucks too. Our campus is so beautiful, everything looks like a castle so it’s also just nice to walk around.”
They’re embracing Wildcat tradition.
“When we go to the football games and we do [the Wabash Cannonball], the first time that I saw that I was like ‘I need to go to K-State,'” Saurez said.
In the midst of new and unique experiences the team is making sure to do one very important thing: Enjoy the ride.
“I’m very like open,” Gruszczynska said. “I try to be optimistic, kind of loud. I do for sure enjoy us having fun. I’m trying to be kind of a provider of fun, too, by myself.”
“When it comes to those wins and losses and everything else these student-athletes have to do, there’s a lot of stress,” head coach Jordan Smith said. “There’s a lot of sacrifice and a lot of big commitment. A lot of times you need a reminder, what made us get into sports? Because we love it and we have fun doing it. The moment we start treating it like a job is when we’re not able to get our best out everything we’re doing.”
To see K-State’s tennis schedule, including spring home tournaments, click here.
K-Nation airs every Sunday night after 27 News at 10 on KSNT.