2008 Woodie Awards
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM
Nate Edmunds '06 serves up an ace of truth
Tom McCann, Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: Sports
The Campus: So, have you been playing tennis since you were a fetus?
Nate Edmunds: Well, I played a lot of other sports as well. I played soccer, and mostly baseball. I kinda started playing tennis because my brothers started playing so I'd just tag along with them. By the time I got to high school I started to focus mostly on tennis. I liked soccer a lot for a while, but I realized that I was going to be better at tennis, so by the time I got to high school I started to focus on that.
TC: What really drew you to play tennis?
NE: I mean, one of the drawbacks is that it wasn't a team sport, which was something that I really wanted to stay with. That's part of the reason that I liked soccer so much, and baseball - just being part of the team, but I think part of the thing I like about tennis is that when you play it by yourself there's a certain individual aspect to it and you really get to see a lot about yourself on the court. I think you really kinda see who you are and get a strong sense of what you can accomplish - it's all on you. In college it's kinda different because the team aspect has come back, which is nice, but in junior tennis there's no team, it's just you and that has an appeal and a downside. The thing I like about it now is that it's got both - there's an individual part but there's a team part too.
TC: Did you come to Middlebury to play tennis?
NE: Yeah, I wanted to play in college and I wasn't really looking at any D-I schools - I wasn't really being looked at by D-I schools - so I kinda wanted to go to a small school anyway. I looked mostly at NESCAC schools, but I liked Middlebury more. I just thought about it in terms of the fact that if I wasn't playing tennis, I thought I'd like Middlebury anyway. When I visited Williams I liked the school, I liked the guys on the team, but I got the sense that if I went there I wouldn't have been happy. Here I felt like I loved the team part of it, the guys on the team were great and I also thought I would be happy when I wasn't playing sports here.
Nate Edmunds: Well, I played a lot of other sports as well. I played soccer, and mostly baseball. I kinda started playing tennis because my brothers started playing so I'd just tag along with them. By the time I got to high school I started to focus mostly on tennis. I liked soccer a lot for a while, but I realized that I was going to be better at tennis, so by the time I got to high school I started to focus on that.
TC: What really drew you to play tennis?
NE: I mean, one of the drawbacks is that it wasn't a team sport, which was something that I really wanted to stay with. That's part of the reason that I liked soccer so much, and baseball - just being part of the team, but I think part of the thing I like about tennis is that when you play it by yourself there's a certain individual aspect to it and you really get to see a lot about yourself on the court. I think you really kinda see who you are and get a strong sense of what you can accomplish - it's all on you. In college it's kinda different because the team aspect has come back, which is nice, but in junior tennis there's no team, it's just you and that has an appeal and a downside. The thing I like about it now is that it's got both - there's an individual part but there's a team part too.
TC: Did you come to Middlebury to play tennis?
NE: Yeah, I wanted to play in college and I wasn't really looking at any D-I schools - I wasn't really being looked at by D-I schools - so I kinda wanted to go to a small school anyway. I looked mostly at NESCAC schools, but I liked Middlebury more. I just thought about it in terms of the fact that if I wasn't playing tennis, I thought I'd like Middlebury anyway. When I visited Williams I liked the school, I liked the guys on the team, but I got the sense that if I went there I wouldn't have been happy. Here I felt like I loved the team part of it, the guys on the team were great and I also thought I would be happy when I wasn't playing sports here.