Senior tennis player Josh Ryan hopes to finish the season strong
Josh Ryan is a graduating senior men’s tennis student-athlete. Ryan is a sports management major from Gold Coast, Australia.
Ryan decided to come to Winthrop University because he was able to come to America to continue his tennis career, while getting a strong sports management degree. Ryan recalled that he fell in love with the attitude of the coach at the time, Sergey Belov, who convinced Ryan that he could be come and play a crucial role on the team.
“I wanted to go to a college where I could be a part of a close-knit community and feel like I contribute to an overall vibe within the school,” said Ryan. Not only was tennis the right fit, Ryan has certainly found that at Winthrop as well as friends that he feels will last a lifetime. Ryan noted that he will miss the people of Winthrop the most.
Growing up in Gold Coast, Australia, is certainly very different than Rock Hill. Ryan feels that in the United States there is much more emphasis placed on higher education as well as competitive sports. Growing up, Ryan loved anything and everything about sports. To this day, he loves surfing and tennis. This is what Ryan believes motivated him to major in Sports Management.
May 5, Winthrop’s graduation day, is coming up too quickly for Ryan. “Tennis has been my life ever since I was 6 years old, so if I don’t continue doing something with tennis, I know I am going to really miss it,” said Ryan. After graduation, he hopes to stay in the United States and find a way to connect his newly obtained degree with his love of tennis. “My goal in life is to just be a successful person in whatever I may do.
I just want to be known as a person who is always putting in hard work and doing my best,” said Ryan.
This is certainly the legacy that Ryan will leave on the tennis court. Over the past two years, Ryan has been the only member of the team to go undefeated in all Big-South play. Ryan has been known as an extremely hard working and dedicated member of the Winthrop team.
Ryan hopes to continue his success as his final season as an Eagle is slowly winding down. Get out there and support Ryan and the rest of the Eagle as they fight April 16-18 to win another Big South Championship at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.
