#utennis

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Throughout the course of the next few weeks, we will hear from members of the women's tennis team and find out what each of them have been up to since the completion of the spring semester in April. 

First up in the series is Canes sophomore Kelsey Laurente, who is coming off of a spring season in which she went 13-10 and finished as the nation's 81st-ranked singles player. 

Greetings!

In the past, my summers have been filled with tournaments like it was this past fall and spring. I guess previously, my favorite part of summertime was being at tennis camp with other kids. Being outside from morning to night, training hard and having fun at the same time. Although I had my own private group to train with, it was nice to see and be around young kids. 

For the first week of summer I just relaxed, but then I got back to training hard with my private coach down in Kendall and played two professional tournaments in Delaware and Buffalo, N.Y. Luckily, I was with my best friend Nicole Robinson. We had a blast. It wasn’t like the other tournaments I have been to because I didn't have to be concerned with school, and was able to have time outside of tennis and school, which was amazing.

There isn’t much outside of training and practicing because that’s what I love to do. When it gets to be too much, I get away from it but it doesn’t take me long to get right back to training. I also enjoy other hobbies including playing the piano, swimming, playing volleyball or just going outside and doing things other than tennis.

While I was in Buffalo it kind of turned into a vacation. It started with the place we were staying. We were housed by Shari, a mother of four children who also had a dog and a cute kitten. I also went to Niagara Falls with Nikki and my new friend Brooke, and had tons of fun.

In the beginning of my summer I was able to train with my private coach and do some CrossFit training. Now, my coaches are able to provide me with a program and I am able to train with some of my teammates, work out in the gym, as well as running too—which is amazing. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to work any of our Hurricane Tennis camps this summer because I took a summer class in the middle of training camp. I was able to pass by the kids from time to time and they are so nice and filled with energy it’s sad I wasn’t able to help out.