Arizona men’s tennis coach Clancy Shields challenged his team this summer with a Cold War history lesson.
“We looked through history, and we were trying to identify different things where we had to make big change. I talked a little about when the Soviet Union put the Sputnik in the sky, and 12 days later we created NASA, and then 11 years later, we landed on the moon,” said Shields.
For the United States to reach its goal of landing the first man on the moon, it had win out a competition versus the Soviets.
Had it not been for the Space Race, the U.S. may never have reached its potential in the fields of science and technology.
“Big changes only happen out of necessity,” said Shields.
As the Wildcats enter another season, Shields is constantly looking for ways to motivate a program that has grown accustomed to winning but is still searching for a bigger achievement.
“I’ll joke with them, ‘Wake Forest, the national champions, they’re already in the sky. We got to beat those guys to the moon,’” said Shields. “You’re always trying to frame things with these guys that we have to get better, we have to keep pushing. Because these other teams might already be there.”
Arizona has come agonizingly close to reaching college tennis’ version of outer space in recent seasons. In four of the last five years, the UA has lost in the Sweet 16.
For Arizona to move past that round and reach NCAA finals, it’ll need to be the fastest improving team in the country, Shields said.
“This team, they know what the goal is this year, and we’re going to try to break through that,” he said.
Shields, now in his 10th year coaching Arizona men’s tennis, must balance the urgency of pushing players to improve with the patience of knowing he’s got a younger, albeit very talented team on his hands.
After the graduation of school career wins leader Colton Smith, senior Jay Friend takes over the top singles position in Arizona’s rotation. More pressure will fall on the shoulders of junior Alexander ‘Sasha’ Rozin and sophomore Zoran Ludoski, who are both ranked nationally.
Among the other returners are sophomores Filip Gustafsson and Oskar Jansson.
Shields said that Arizona players collectively had the best summer of any year he’s coached at UA, pointing to Friend winning three gold medals at the FISU World University Games, and Ludoski winning a pro tournament in Serbia.
“The players were just one upping each other every week,” said Shields.
Shields is enthusiastic about Arizona’s newcomers, too. The Wildcats welcome a pair of highly rated freshmen – Alejando Arcila and Pepjin Bastiaansen – as well as Georgia State transfer Baran Soyler.
“Bringing these new guys in kind of sends a message to the returners, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep pushing you guys and as a coaching staff and we’re trying to out-recruit our team,’” said Shields. “Our job is to get good players, and the returning players your job is to make sure they don’t beat you out. Our returns took that message, and they got a heck of a lot better this summer.”
Shields is using the fall tournaments to expose players to where they need to improve and to reinforce the areas they do need to well. Arizona will compete in more than a half dozen events the next few months ahead of NCAA singles championships, which take place in Orlando, Fla. in late November.
Shields knows he’ll have some tough roster decisions to make before the spring season.
“I’m looking at our team playing and I’m like, ‘How am I ever going to make a roster of six when we have 11 players who can all play?’” said Shields. “I’m hoping the cream rises to the top, and through that competition we’re going to find six of the toughest guys out there, six of the best players in the country.”
