By Lucas Regas, Tennis director at ASC Florida, and Victor Hugo Camargo, Tennis Coach at ASC Florida
Check-out the success story of Jerry Shang, who moved from China to ASCFlorida, set goals, worked hard and became BOYS ’12 SINGLES CHAMPION AT EDDIE HERR.
December is a busy month for junior tennis players. The prestigious Orange Bowl, Little Mo, Eddie Herr are marked in their tournament calendar from the beginning of the year. Mostly all ASC academy players compete in these events, showcasing their talent and hard work demonstrated throughout the year.
Great efforts resulted in the first week of December: Academia Sánchez-Casal (ASC) student-athlete, Jerry Shang, won the Boys ’12 Eddie Herr Championship, an internationally renowned event which gathers over 2000 junior tennis players from more than 90 countries.
Jerry is a 12-year old player from China. He is part of the ASC Florida annual Tennis and School program. Jerry came straight from ASC headquarters in Nanjing, where he started developing his skills as a player. Since Jerry and his father Yi landed in Florida Naples, FL in 2016, it has been nothing but a pleasure to work and be around them.
Lucas Regas, Tennis director at ASC, explains: “Jerry has grown a lot as a person and player and he is eager to improve and learn and become the best version of himself every day.
He is very talented, works hard and still makes time to be a kid and develop friendships with the other students.
His first fall session, he adjusted well and quickly made a difference amongst his peers and showed lots of flashes of talent. However, he struggled a bit in the 2 big events at the end of the year: Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl.
From January this year he began burning stages very quickly and advanced a lot. From local tournaments under 14s he had to get a ranking to be able to play sectionals; then he won sectionals and gained the ranking and opportunity to play Nationals; then he won Nationals. He captured the USTA Boys ’12 National Clay Court Championship, winning his first Gold ball. He has been able to raise his level every time and doing so convincingly and with sportsmanship.
Jerry also demonstrates the values of ASC: Respect, Effort and Discipline. Those are the fundamentals of our Academy’s identity and are priority in everything we do.
So when the day arrived, Jerry traveled with coach Victor Hugo to Bradenton with something in mind: to perform better than last year, when he lost in the first round. It was a motivation and a challenge to prove to himself he could compete better at that level.
Coach Victor Hugo explains: “Even though he didn’t lose a set in the entire tournament he faced some tough moments, especially in his last two matches. Our tennis academy feels tremendous pride in how Jerry demonstrated the look of the most complete player all around in his category. His four pillars outcompeted his opponents at different times during the matches: Technically, tactically, physically and mentally he showed tools to overcome adversity, which is something that as an academy we emphasize continually during training.
The feeling when he won the last match is hard to describe. At first it is difficult to break the concentration of the match and realize that is over, it takes a few minutes to liberate all the emotions. I just remember telling him: enjoy this moment! You accomplished something big, take some minutes to really appreciate what you have done.
Now it is time for Jerry to put his mind in the next step, stay humble and hungry during the process because in order to keep accomplishing special things like the one last week, it is going to require more effort, more discipline while maintaining the respect in the everyday preparation. Good job Jerry!
From today he´s first seeded at #ascjuniorcup at @ASCFlorida and next week will end the year with the world championship Orange Bowl.
Lucas Regas, Tennis director at ASC Florida
Victor Hugo Camargo, Tennis Coach at ASC Florida
