The 12th annual HBCU Tennis National Championships started today in Greensboro, GA. The tournament is being held at the Clayton County Tennis Center.
The championship is held every year in Georgia and features HBCU’s from all over the country. This year’s championship features 15 different teams and more than 150 student athletes. It is sure to to be quite a spectacle.
This national championship should be good competition for the Florida A&M men’s tennis team. The FAMU men’s tennis team finished second in the MEAC tournament last season so they should pick up where they left of last season.
The FAMU men’s tennis team has won this tournament five striaght Head men’s tennis coach Dr. Carl Goodman won MEAC coach of the year last season and player Salif Kante won player of the year in the MEAC.
Both teams have been in preparation for this tournament for quite some time. The Rattlers and Lady Rattlers will see if all their hard work will pay off this weekend. This is the first competition of the year for both of these teams.
Senior Salif Kante from Dakar, Senegal said the team goal’s were to win every match and close them out as quickly as possible. Kante is a fourth year English student and is also on of the team captains.
Senior Levan Clarke will be a key player for the Rattlers in this championship tournament. Clarke is a fourth year business administration student from Orlando is quintessential to the Rattlers success this season.
Senior Temuera Asafu-Adjaye will also be crucial to the team’s success. Asafu-Adjaye is a fourth year biology student from Hawkes Bay,New Zealand.
“I’m expecting a really good season,” said Asafu-Adjaye in a previous interview.
Coach Carl Goodman was also excited about the HBCU National Championships. The team has won there the last five years it has been. Coach Goodman expects yet another victory.
“These challenges gives us the opportunity to learn, to grow and to build our craft,” said Goodman in a previous interview.
The tournament started today and ends on Saturday.