USC Women’s Tennis Head Coach Arlo Elkins Chat Wrap See below for complete chat transcript. USC Women’s Tennis Head Coach Arlo Elkins stopped by to chat with fans LIVE on Monday, April 18, 2005. The Gamecocks are 13-6 overall this season, 6-4 in SEC play and ranked 23rd in the nation. USC will conclude their regular season with a match in Gainesville, Fla. against the 7th ranked Florida Gators on Sunday at 1:00 PM. After that match, USC will prepare for the 2005 SEC Womens Tennis Tournament which will be held from April 21-24 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Arlo Elkins is in his 22nd year as head coach of the University of South Carolina womens tennis team. In his career, he has guided the Gamecocks to 10 straight NCAA tournament appearances which is the 11th longest active streak in the country. During that span, the Gamecocks have won all 10 opening round matches and they have won 12 first round matches of the tournament in a row. He has guided Carolina to a 339-223 record overall and his teams have posted top 25 finishes in 15 of the last 18 seasons at Carolina. |
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| Moderator: I would like to welcome everyone to today’s chat with head coach Arlo Elkins. We appreciate all of you who have came out and supported the Gamecocks this season. I would like to hand it over now to head coach Arlo Elkins. | ||
| Coach Elkins: Hello everyone. I would like to welcome everyone to today’s chat and thank all of you for your support to womens tennis at the University of South Carolina. | ||
| Oliver – Atlanta: Congratulations on another successful tennis season. What do you think it will take for South Carolina to jump into the upper echelon of the SEC? If this occurs, the team will obviously be a national title contender. | ||
| Coach Elkins: First of all, I think our doubles play will have to improve. The doubles point is so important and this year our doubles was a little disappointing. I also think we have to do start to believe in the fact that we can reach the top echelon. Every year we get beat somebody in the top 10 but we have to do that on a more consistent basis. | ||
| dennis,columbia: Who has been most improved player from last spring? | ||
| Coach Elkins: I think we have two players that have improved from last spring. One is Christyn Lucas, and the other is Grace Blakely. Christyn has improved her strength and shot selection from last year and has made a huge difference in her results this spring. Grace Blakely on the other hand has made a huge improvement in her game mainly because she has made great strides in all of her aspects in her game that was considered her weaknesses last spring. If Grace makes the same jump next season, then she will be a big contributor to our program. | ||
| Alan (Orangeburg): How was your 2005 recruiting class and where will they help you out for the 2006 season? | ||
| Coach Elkins: We are waiting patiently for the return of our national letter of intents which should arrive any day. At this point, we are not allowed to comment any more than this. | ||
| Chris (Auburn): Coach, with this being arguably one of the best fields the SEC has ever produced top to bottom in women’s tennis, how many teams do you think are deserving of an NCAA Tournament bid, and in that same regard – how close is the women’s side to getting to where the men’s side was last year with all 12 teams getting into the big dance? | ||
| Coach Elkins: I feel that we will get in 11 teams this season. As far as where the men’s programs were last season we will have more top 10 teams in than any other program. In that light, I feel that the women’s programs this year has surpassed the men’s programs. | ||
| Jack Snipes, Aiken: I am sure that this year has been very frustrating for Wiggins – it seems it is almost impossible to not read her frustration in her reactions on court at times. What is the prognosis for her to come back physically to her form of last year (I think it is obvious the mental desire is still there)? Congratulations to you, the staff and players – you have had a great year and represented yourselves and the Carolina community well and honorably. Best of luck in the upcoming SEC tournament and the NCAA to follow. |
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| Coach Elkins: I also sense Danielle’s frustration. Injuries are something that occur in all athletes one time or another. It is just a bump in the road and we look for her to be fully recovered by next season. Thank you for your kind words on the SEC Tournament and the NCAA’s. | ||
| Eric (Aiken): What are the chances of improving the facility at Maxcy Gregg or getting a new tennis facility in the future? | ||
| Coach Elkins: We also would like to have a new facility. The question of when would be a question for our administration. | ||
| Ann (Myrtle Beach): What conferences do you believe are the best in the country in women’s tennis? | ||
| Coach Elkins: Without question, the Southeastern Conference has no parallel in womens tennis. We have more top 10 teams, top 20 teams than any other conference in the nation. From top to bottom, the SEC is without question the strongest in the nation. I think the other conference that follow the SEC would be the PAC-10 and then third, would be the ACC. | ||
| Angie (Kershaw): What will be important for the Gamecocks to make a run in the 2005 post-season tournaments? | ||
| Coach Elkins: The main thing is to get our nagging injuries over with. After the SEC Tournament, we will take a little rest which will help the girls who have injuries to heal up. | ||
| Jimmy (Irmo): What player has made the biggest impact on this season? | ||
| Coach Elkins: In a team sport, everyone’s contribution is important. It is not always the player who wins their match sometimes if a player stays out there long enough that is as helpful as winning. However, you have to look at what Christyn Lucas has done this season in every 4-3 match this season that we have won, she has won the deciding match. When the match is on the line, Christyn has been clutch. | ||
| Billy (Heath Springs): What has been a key to your success that you have had during your tenure at Carolina? | ||
| Coach Elkins: I think there have been a couple of reasons. Some of those reasons are my love of tennis and my desire for competition. This has kept my enthusiasm very keen for all 22 years that I have been coaching. | ||
| Matt (Rock Hill): How has hiring a former player helped you in recruiting and being an assistant coach? With her being from Europe does that help with bringing in more foreign players? | ||
| Coach Elkins: When we recruit players, we don’t look at what country they are from but rather on who can help our program get to the next level. Our assistant coaches responsibility are not simply recruiting but also making the players that we have now the best that they can be. With that in mind, I think we have the best assistant for this program in Katarina Markovski. She was a great player when she attended here and is becoming a great coach. | ||
| Drew (Columbia): With a young team, three sophomores and a freshman in the lineup how soon do you think the Gamecocks will be making a push to be in the top 10? | ||
| Coach Elkins: As I said earlier, every year we beat someone in the top 10. Once we can get those wins at a consistent level we can reach that level. I think we have the players right now to be a top 10 team. | ||
| Columbia: Which player do you miss the most in the past 3 seasons? Why? | ||
| Coach Elkins: I miss all of the players equally. Every player has their own personality that makes each one a special person. | ||
| Sarah: In your opinion, who do you think has been your most productive player on and off the court in the recent years? | ||
| Coach Elkins: Every player has their own way of contributing to the team on and off the court. This is a question that I can not answer in favor of one player over another. | ||
| Pete ( Miami): do you miss kathy boyanovich on your team? | ||
| Coach Elkins: Kathy Boyanovich in her four years at USC became a real team leader and was always a fun player on the team. So of course, I miss Kathy Boyanovich as well as all of the other players that I have coached here at Carolina. | ||
| Kathy (New York): This is not a question. I just want to thank you for being such a great coach. We really miss you Arlo!!! Kathy – Ayako – Lynn |
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| Coach Elkins: Even though this is not a question, I feel that I would like to comment on thanking you for all that you girls have done for the program. Keep in touch. | ||
| Tim, Tampa, FL: I understand you’ve been a coach for women’s team for a long time. What are the difficult things that you have to understand about girls in order to have strong, successful team? | ||
| Coach Elkins: Even though I coach girls they are still athletes. I don’t feel that they are any different to coach than a men’s team would be. At this level, both men and women are very competitive and my goal has been for them to reach their highest level of competition that they can. | ||
| David (Lancaster): Is there anything in the college tennis game that you would like to see changed or improved that you see in other sports? | ||
| Coach Elkins: Over the recent years, there have been many changes in formats to college tennis. Such as pro sets for doubles, playing doubles first and other scoring changes that have tried to shorten the length of matches to be more spectator friendly. I feel any change along that line that can help promote more fans would be good for college tennis. | ||
| Coach Elkins: I thank everyone once again for their interest in womens tennis at USC. I look forward for your support in the future. At any time you have any questions about our womens tennis program please contact our athletic department or Doug Adams, our sports information student assistant. | ||
| Moderator: I would like to thank everyone as well for participating in this chat. We hope to have another chat set up for some of the Carolina tennis players before the NCAA Tournament in May. Thanks and have a great day. | ||
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