Tennis coaches prepare for upcoming seasons

Returning Head Coach Steve Barsby and new Assistant Coach Julia Roudkovskaya bring considerable experience and skill to the Georgia College & State University tennis program.

Barsby begins his third year as coach of the GC&SU tennis program. Before coming to GC&SU, he taught sports management at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in physical education at Troy State in Alabama from 1995 to 1997 while being head coach for their tennis program. He led the men’s team to the conference championship in 1997, winning Conference Coach of the Year.

First-year Assistant Coach Julia Roudkovskaya is coming off an impressive four-year career as a player on the GC&SU women’s team. She was selected All-American and All-Peach Belt Conference four times, each on her way to winning more than 200 matches during her career. She won the 2000 Rolex Regional Singles Championship and advanced to the semifinals of the National Championship Tournament. She made the Peach Belt Presidential Honor Roll following her junior and senior seasons and was GC&SU’s Female Senior Athlete of the Year in 2002.

Both coaches said they hope that the men’s and women’s teams can build on what they accomplished last year.

“Our goals on the men’s team are to get to the regional tournament and improve on our conference finish of sixth last year,” Barsby said. “With the new guys we have brought in and and our returning players with another year of experience under their belts, hopefully things will work out.”

“Both teams are promising to climb up in the ranking,” Roudkovskaya said. “Our women’s team has four newcomers who already proved they are willing to work hard. Our goal for the women’s team is to be in the top 10 in the nation. We also expect some great results from our men’s team.”

“The women’s team took a big hit losing Julia last year,” Barsby said. “Right now it looks like we are a bit deeper, but will not be as strong at the top. Our goal is to get past the regional tournament and play in the NCAA Championships this year. We have been in the regional finals and regional semi’s the last two years, so hopefully the addition of possibly one more player in January will put us over the hump.”

The coaches predict it will be difficult to tell who the standout players will be for each team until after they have played some tournaments.

“Right now our top four girls are looking great in practice,” Barsby said. “On the men’s side James Gorin and Thomas Karlsson look the best so far. The men’s team is looking better overall, which should help out in trying to get to the regional tournament.”

Like Coach Barsby, Roudkovskaya also cited James Gorin and Thomas Karlsson as standouts on the men’s team.

“We have a lot of standout players this semester,” she said. “On our women’s team we have Luiza Biktyakova, freshmen Mia Paavilainen from Sweden and Caroline Lefevre from France, and returning player Annika Persson from Sweden.”

The long-term goal is for both teams to be near the top on a year-to-year basis.

“I would like for both our teams to be perennial top 15 teams,” Barsby said. “The women’s team has held itself to that standard for about five years now, so hopefully we can get the same consistency with the guys.”

“Our goal is for the women’s team to be in the top ten in the nation and the men’s team to be in the top 20,” Roudkovskaya said.

Coach Barsby is pleased to have Roudkovskaya working with him and has nothing but praise for his new assistant coach.

“I could not ask for a better assistant coach,” he said. “Julia has been great both on and off the court. She has the immediate respect of the players since she was a four-time All-American, and she is working hard off the court to promote and build our tennis program in the community. The major strength Julia brings to the program is her winning attitude and match experience against the toughest players in the country over the last four years. She expects a lot from the girls and doesn’t settle for second best. She is a very hard worker and will be successful in whatever she chooses to do.”

Roudkovskaya credits Coach Barbsy in helping to make her the player that she is.

“I like his personality, the way he is with players,” she said. “He is always fun to be around. He is a good coach, and I am speaking from my experience. He helped me to become one of the top players in the nation.”

Roudkovskaya is a native of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where she was captain of the Federation Cup and national team. She came to GC&SU in 1998.

“In February of 1998 I was playing a Fed Cup tournament where I met my long-term friend Lilia Biktyakova,” she said. “She told me she was playing tennis for a college in America, and she asked me if I would be interested in coming to Milledgeville and playing for GC&SU. I always wanted to come to America so I told her I would be really interested in coming. Several months later I was in Milledgeville taking a tour of the campus.”

Roudkovskaya said she recognizes the advantages of living in America, but thoughts of home are never far away.

“America became my home away from home,” she said. “I like America because it gives you a lot more opportunities. If you are really determined to reach your goals, you’ll be able to do so without any trouble. America gives you opportunities to be whoever you want to be.”

“I like Tajikistan because it is my homeland,” she said. “I will always miss it and of course I will always miss people from back home.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 20 2002. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry