Home away from home. Finding some place that feels right can be a very difficult task when teens are pushed to make the life-altering decision on what college is right for them.
Delaware Blue Hen’s men’s tennis player, Curran Verma, knows the struggle of trying to find the right home all too well.
Curran knew his final aspirations in the sport of tennis since he was nine years old playing at the country club about 25 minutes down the road from his house.
“When I first started playing tennis, I was a lefty. My parents quickly switched me to becoming right hand dominant because as an Indian, we believe that lefty’s die sooner.” Curran stated.
As tennis became second nature, Curran found himself needing to compete at a higher level if he wanted to reach his end goal—his habits of practicing three times a week for a year and a half reached the full potential on him.
From there, his coach recommended him train at the Junior Tennis Championship Center knowing Curran wanted to become a professional tennis player. The next six years Curran found this routine to be maxed out. He found himself needing more competition still and decided it was time for him to attend a tennis academy in Florida under Jesse Witten, a former well-known American tennis star. The switch up in routine did Curran well as he was training from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. with lift from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. while attending high school there.
Somehow Curran managed to compete in professional tournaments in the midst of training and schooling. Unfortunately even though he was competing at a professional level, his rank was not enough for him to depend on tennis being a career.
Curran knew he could not play tennis forever, and decided he should get a degree first, then go pro.
The future looked bright for Curran as top division one programs, such as: Kentucky, Indiana, Denver, and University of South Carolina relentlessly chased him in the recruiting process. Their bark was bigger than their bite, though.
Curran saw himself representing the University of Kentucky across his chest, and so did Kentucky… to an extent. Upon being inches away from sealing the deal, Kentucky dropped him. He felt as if he had found his home, how could the feeling have been so wrong?
“[University of Kentucky] felt as if they let me down. They wanted to do what they could to get me a part of another success tennis program.”
This is where Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama comes into play. Luckily, Kentucky held true to their word. At the time, the head men’s tennis coach at Samford was an All-American University of Kentucky alumni.
Close enough, right?
Apparently not. After a single semester at Samford, Curran knew this place was not home.
“I felt as if I had to force him to coach me rather than having it happen naturally.”
Curran found himself searching high and low for more potential schools he can call home. One day, he found an email from Delaware telling him how they would love to welcome him when/if he transferred.
It was as if his finger and the mouse pad had a magnet. He found himself typing back to Delaware expressing his interest in transferring to the program.
“I came to Delaware because I wanted a coach who wanted me. I did not just want to be looked at as ‘just another guy’.”
Curran reached out to his coach at Samford to let him know he found a new home. A week passed, his grandfather passed away, and still no word from the coach. The disappearance reconfirmed his had chosen the right pathway to a new home. After claiming to be lost in the Canadian wilderness for a week, Curran cut ties with Samford.
Not one day has passed where Curran regrets his decision to call the University of Delaware his home.