The Nicholls State men and women’s tennis teams have a diverse group of players from around the world. Some hail from as far as France, Australia, Holland and Romania.Two newcomers to the Colonel teams are freshmen Lilian Leemakers and Alexandru Silav.
Leemakers, a native of Holland, is starting her first year on the team, and was able to find out about Nicholls through a friend back home.
“I knew a man in France, and he had connections with universities in the states,” Leemakers said. “So I E-mailed the coach at Nicholls, and he told me he would give me a scholarship.”
The opportunity for Leemakers to come to the states was one of the easiest decisions that she had to make. “In my country you cannot go to college and play tennis at the same time,” she said. “It was a great opportunity for me to come here and learn another culture.”
Leemakers had never been to the United States, so it was a little out of the ordinary when she got here. “Everything was big, but the campus was small and pretty quiet,” Leemakers said.
Leemakers said that she’s looking forward to traveling to the different schools and playing against the different players in the conference.
Silav is from Braila Romania, and, much like Leemakers, is getting an opportunity to study and play tennis.
“It was hard to go on in my country, so I found this opportunity to come here and study and play tennis at a high level,” he said.
He also said that he had some friends that came here and led him to Nicholls. “They came here and played,” Silav said. “And that’s how I found out about this opportunity.”
Silav, who is also starting his first full season with the tennis team, is adjusting to life in Thibodaux.
“Thibodaux is okay, the university isn’t as big as the other ones, but tennis is first, and I like it here.” Silav said.
Silav was one of the first players recruited by head coach Dominic Modise when the men’s tennis program was brought back in 2004.
“It was hard last year, but now we have a full men’s team, so I’m looking forward to winning as many matches as I can,” he said. “I think we’re all going to do well.”
Modise, who is also not from this country, says that it’s hard to recruit some of the better players from the states to come to Nicholls.
“They have choices,” Modise said. “The international kids don’t care where Nicholls is; they are here to get an education.”
Although he is not able to get some of the more talented kids from around the country, Modise still believes his team is just as competitive as some of the bigger schools.
“We competed in the fall at some regional tournaments with some of the bigger schools and did pretty well,” he said. “We’re not underdogs; we’re there with everyone else, and that’s good exposure for our team.”
Modise also said that Nicholls isn’t the only school that has to deal with the lack of local talent and competition between bigger schools; a lot of teams in the Southland Conference also recruit internationally.
“There are a lot of good teams in our conference where 100 percent of the players are international,” Modise said. “The level of tennis in Houma and the Louisiana isn’t high enough, so you have to go internationally.”
Before Nicholls played on campus, the women’s team had to play all its matches in Houma at the Renaissance Health and Racquet Club. The courts here were not playable until the they were refurbished after the 2003 season.
In Modise’s eyes he sees this as an opportunity to bring money to the community and raise the level of tennis in the area.
“Nicholls is the only facility used by the whole city, and if you see tennis courts at night, they’re packed,” he said. “If the parish or city council would build one for the whole city, you could generate a lot of money with membership and tournaments because a lot of people play tennis here, and you can promote that.
