Back in the fall, Sadie Hammond decided to dive into the college recruiting process. She went from few options, to a lot of options, to the one option that was the best fit for her.
“Part of it is luck,” Hammond said, “but it all worked out.”
Last week, Hammond — a home-schooled Belgrade resident — signed her National Letter of Intent to play tennis at the University of Tennessee. Hammond will receive a full, four-year scholarship to play for the Volunteers beginning this fall.
“It was hard at some points,” Hammond said. “Even my mom, I know she was really stressed — probably more than I was. But I just kind of knew everything was going to work out.”
Hammond has played tennis since age 5, and is currently ranked 1,169th in the world among doubles players. She gave an interview by phone from Florida, where this weekend she won the wild-card round of the Indian Harbor Beach tournament, giving her a spot in the $50,000 tournament when it begins on Friday.
Oddly enough, Tennessee co-head coach Mike Patrick (his wife, Sonia Hahn-Patrick, is the other co-head coach) offered Hammond a four-year scholarship in November. Hammond wanted some time to think, and when Mike Patrick called a few days later and asked her to make a decision, she told him she wasn’t ready to commit.
Hammond found out early in the process that many schools had already given out their scholarships. She eventually focused on the University of Florida, where she would have been a walk-on and potentially received a two-year scholarship. But Hammond was not accepted to Florida.
“At that point, it seemed like a little bit of a scramble,” Hammond said.
Soon after, Mike Patrick called again, and told Hammond he might have a scholarship for her. This time, she was more than willing to accept.
“I told him if it did open, I would commit, and he made it happen,” Hammond said.
Despite her earlier wavering, it wasn’t a hard choice for Hammond. She had visited the Tennessee campus in November.
“When I visited, there was nothing I didn’t like about Tennessee,” Hammond said. “I wasn’t ready to commit because I hadn’t seen any other schools. But truly, I loved the business school. The campus. The athletic facilities are all so nice. I think the team has such great potential.”
When Hammond was 16, her coach, Reggie Hodges, said if someone could be a pro tennis player just through hard work, she would already be a professional. At Tennessee, Hammond found a group of players with the same passion.
“When I visited, one of the girls was talking about the goals they wanted to achieve and how they were working so hard for it,” Hammond said. “That was the most appealing thing — their drive, and their hunger for success.”
For many years, Hammond’s aspiration was in fact to turn pro, possibly at age 18. She has put that aside for now. In more ways than one, she’s committed to the University of Tennessee.
“I went back and forth, back and forth. I didn’t really know what my gut was telling me,” Hammond said about her decision to give up going pro. “I might reconsider after my four years, but my focus is definitely to get my business degree and have a successful college career.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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