Sam Clarke, aged 17, a pupil at Kirkbie Kendal School and member of both Kendal and Heversham tennis clubs, has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the University of Illinois, Springfield on a tennis scholarship in August 2015. Having considered approaches from sixteen various NCAA Division 1, 2 and 3 teams, Sam decided to commit to the ‘Prairie Stars’ of UIS as it offers him both the best developmental pathway for his tennis, whilst also providing him with a highly regarded degree from the world ranked University of Illinois.
Sam, who has been coached by Jon Griffin for 12 years, will work with the new Head Coach, (a native of Kidderminster), to build the team into Great Lakes Valley Conference championship contenders over the next four years. Sam will play at number 1 or 2 singles in the six man team next year and therefore get the opportunity to play against nationally ranked players on a regular basis. He is no stranger to team tennis, having played at number 1 singles for the Cumbria u-18 county cup team in Wrexham in March and will play for the Cumbria men’s team in Cheshire just before he heads to Illinois. He also plays for Bolton Arena in the U-18 Aegon National Premier League. Sam will join 4 Americans, 2 Spaniards, 1 German and 1 Indian on the UIS roster in August and hopes to major in Business at the end of his four years in America.
Kirkbie Kendal School’s teachers have worked with Sam to enable him to successfully balance his A-level academic studies alongside the demands of his tennis training at Bolton International High Performance Centre and regular tournament play throughout Britain. At Easter, Sam won the men’s Wirral open and was runner-up in the men’s North of England open championships, results that have seen him rise to number 160 in the British men’s rankings! This academic-sporting partnership has now directly led to Sam becoming a student athlete at the University of Illinois Springfield.
(Pictured: Sam signing his National Letter of Intent with the University of Illinois Springfield and on court at Bolton International High Performance Centre)