{"id":8220,"date":"2018-08-02T13:55:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T03:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/?p=8220"},"modified":"2018-08-02T13:55:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T03:55:09","slug":"daniel-groom-a-tassie-teen-thriving-in-us-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/news\/2018\/08\/02\/daniel-groom-a-tassie-teen-thriving-in-us-college","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Groom: A Tassie teen thriving in US college"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Groom was once Tasmania\u2019s best junior \u2013 now he\u2019s showcasing that talent on the world stage.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old has relocated to the USA, where he is studying finance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and about to complete his second season of playing college tennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience has been amazing so far,\u201d Groom said. \u201cI have walked into a team that is like a second family, something that is special considering I am away from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilmington is a relaxing, small city on the beach where the university is the life of the town. My days are always non-stop with class and practice, however, always fun at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groom grew up in Hobart, playing tennis at the Geilston Bay Tennis Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers could not have been nicer to me and the club coach, Tony Blom, had a positive influence over my tennis, especially in my earlier junior years. Being there was always a lot of fun,\u201d Groom recalled.<\/p>\n

He also worked closely with Hobart-based Tennis Australia National Academy head coach Simon Youl.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimon has probably had the biggest impact over my tennis and has had a major influence on how I have grown up,\u201d Groom said. \u201cIt was a privilege to be coached and mentored by him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groom won the prestigious Pardey Shield, awarded to Tasmania\u2019s 18 and under state champion, four times. He was 15 when he won his first title, joining an illustrious list of former winners including Youl and Hobart Hurricanes captain George Bailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is perhaps my biggest accomplishment so far,\u201d Groom said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also privileged to be able to captain my state on a few occasions. The opportunities to play for Tasmania were always the most fun. Winning the Tennis Australia Cup while in the Tassie colours in Albury 2016 was perhaps my happiest moment on court. Playing for my state helped me love the game of tennis and definitely played a factor in me wanting to achieve better things.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes living his college tennis dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since the latter stages of grade eight I knew that I wanted to go to a US college,\u201d Groom said. \u201cThe top programs offer a good pathway to becoming a professional after graduation and give you a good training base and facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very hard to drive to the airport the morning I left. I was worried I might not cope moving away from family, however, a few days after arriving I realised that this was the best step to furthering my tennis while also having a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TEAM:

A WINNING TEAM: Daniel Groom and his University of North Carolina Wilmington teammates.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Winning two CAA Conference titles has been a highlight of Groom\u2019s time in North Carolina \u2013 but he believes the most rewarding part is the constant improvements he is making to his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very competitive,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBest part of the competition is within our team. Our team has a lot of depth and is evenly spread throughout, meaning I am getting competitive practices every day of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe college environment is the best quality tennis you can find outside of the pros.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current top 10 stars Kevin Anderson and John Isner both honed their skills playing US college tennis before turning professional, as did Australia\u2019s top-ranked doubles player John Peers.<\/p>\n

Groom is yet to decide whether he will follow their example.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will assess where I am at after college and determine whether I want to make it in the pros,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also enjoying my studies, so being in that field would also be a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

LEARN MORE: US college pathway<\/a><\/p>\n

For now, Groom’s focus is firmly on enjoying more college tennis success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividually, I am looking to play top three in my team during the spring season,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what I have been trying to build upon over the current break and will continue to do over the next semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for team goals, I would like to win another CAA Conference title and advance to the sweet 16 (third round) in the NCAA\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tasmania’s Daniel Groom, 19, has relocated to the USA to play college tennis at the University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6028,"featured_media":8222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,73,104,103,102],"class_list":["post-8220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-daniel-groom","tag-news","tag-pardey-shield","tag-simon-youl","tag-us-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/tas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}