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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1984)
Tuesday, November 20, 1984/The Battalion/Page 9 v Connell not exactly typical All-American By TONY CORNETT Sports Writer Grant Connell is an All-American, but then again, he’s not. He’s an All- merica tennis player for Texas alright, but he’s also a native anadian. Outside of obvious athletic ability, ow does such a young player ichieve such status in a field of older ind supposedly more mature play- rs? A&M Tennis Coach David Kent s quick to point out Connell’s great isset. “Grant Connell is so tough men- ally,” Kent said. “He’s mentally the oughest player I’ve ever coached. i'ou could explode a bomb on the ennis court and it wouldn’t faze lira. If you give him a lemon, he just nakes lemonade out of it.” A modest Connell didn’t put it quite that way. He said he’s worked lard to become a competitive tennis ilayer. “It’s just match experience,” Con- idl said. “I haven’t been playing ennis that long, but the time that I’ve played, it’s been very concen- rated. Since the beginning of last ipring, I’ve been playing full time vithout more than a week break. E ’vejust played a lot of matches and I think that helped.” I Connell played hockey and swam ompetitively before taking up ten nis. At 6-foot-2, 172 pounds, Con nell is bigger than most tennis play ers. He looks a bit like one of his favorite professional tennis players, |immy Connors. Connell 'fidgeted throughout the interview, crossing and uncrossing his arms and legs, but if he was ner vous, it never affected his frank manner. For all the time and hard work Connell has put into his game, he’s done equally well in school. Connell said he would not be that upset if he ended up being just a student. He’s leaning toward the business field. “At times I love tennis,” Connell said. “But I could live without it. I think it’s partly because I started playing later. I think if I’d been play ing since I was eight or nine, like a lot of people, I’d be more addicted to to it. I could become a full time student pretty easily I think.” Connell enjoys reading. “I like to go out sometimes, too,” Connell said. “The weekend is not like Friday and Saturday nights I stay home and read, but if I get some spare time I have a lot of books in my room that I haven’t read. I listen to music quite a bit, too. I like Neil Young.” Being from Vancouver, Canada, Connell is an outsider looking in on Texas A&M and said that what he sees in Aggieland is certainly differ ent than what he’s used to in Can ada. “In Canadian universities there may be a couple of football teams,” Connell said. “But it’s really minor league stuff. Other than that, there’s hardly any sports. There are no scholarships. It’s not even compara ble (to American universities). “There’s so much money down here. It seems that way. I don’t think that the alumni of Canadian univer sities are nearly as strong.” Connell wanted to come to Texas A&M to play tennis. At first, he met with problems, but with the help of a fellow Canadian, Connell was able to make the switch to Aggieland. ! T sent out over 30 letters,” Con nell said. “Most of the schools sent letters back saying that they were sorry but that all their scholarships were taken. The coach at Texas A&M, it turns out, didn’t know any- Try Our Burgers For Lunch 307 University Dr. } For health insurance, check with State Farm. Call: Bruce Boyd 300 Univ. Dr. E. 693-1683 Rasul Sis State Farm Mutual AutomoDile insurance Comoanv Home Office Bloomington. Illinois ALL LEATHER Kaepa GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICE IN TOWN ATM Childrens 39." 28." SHOE FIT CO. Hi pgg ■r|«n Cn«M« euMow'e Lergeet Mere ON TEXAS AVENUE IN COLLEGE STATION 693-8269 9:30-6:00 Zooming foi €'n£t'iucto / i& in: GOURMET COOKING ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING TRIP PLANNING WATER SPORTS MASSAGE FOREIGN LANGUAGES OTHER ... FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL S45-1515 ASK FOR KAREN HRONEK Sell it in Battalion Classified 845-2611 Photo by DEAN SAITO A&M tennis player Grant Connell — “At times I love tennis, but I could live without it. I think if I’d been playing since I was eight or nine, like a lot of people, I’d be more addicted to to it. I could become a full time student pretty easily I think.” thing about me. My results in Can ada weren’t that great at the time I wrote. He wrote me back and sug gested that I go to this other school. I really wanted to go to A&M, so I just held off for a few months. “Meanwhile, Arnold Kettenacker (a senior on A&M’s tennis team last season) came back (to Vancouver) over Christmas. We happened to play each other in a tournament and I beat him. So I wrote Coach Kent back and Arnold talked to him. That helped a lot.” When it comes to the idea of play ing professional tennis, Connell has the same attitude he has about col lege tennis — it would be great, but he could live without it. “When I finish with school I’d be stupid not to at least go out and try (and make it professionally),” Con nell said. “I mean, you spend this much time in a sport, you want to at least say to yourself that you gave it an honest attempt when the time was right. But, it won’t tear me up if I don’t make it. I’ve never set really high goals as far as my tennis is con cerned.” AN AGGIE TRADITION .... students helping students! Student O Mediation Service Mediation is a voluntary process of resolving conflicts. All parties involved in a dispute agree to solve their conflict with the aid of an impartial third party, the student mediators. If you are interested in serving your fellow students by acting as a Student Mediator, contact: Student Mediation Service 108 YMCA Building 845-1228 APPLICATION DEADLINE .-I . NOVEMBER 30 w E.L. Miller Lecture Series presents Alistair Cooke "Making a President—The Decline and Fall of the Convention System" Noy. 27 8:00 p.m. Rudder Theater MSC Great Issues Committee "America Revisited-The Year 2004" Nov. 28 4:00 p.m. 601 Rudder "Media Influence on Election Process" Nov. 29 4:00 p.m. 204C Library Battalion Classified 845-2611