Nicole Jones '13 Recruiting Profile

I am a champion.  I may not have played as many tournaments as 4 & 5 star recruits, but I am a champion. Champions overcome adversity, work hard, persevere, have unwavering determination and inspire others to do the same.  If you’re looking for a talented, coachable, ethical, team player with strong leadership skills for your women’s tennis team, then look no further.  My name is Nikki Jones, I am a champion and this is my story.

I started playing tennis at the age of 6 and began competing at age 8.  It appeared that I had a natural gift for the sport.  So much so that at almost every competition opponents coaches would approach my parents and ask where I trained, where we lived and expressed an interest in having me be part of their “team”.  They saw something in me, and it wasn’t just my ability, it was my attitude and sportsmanship.  I also think it was the gleam in my eye when I was on the court.  It’s where I belong.  I love tennis.

My parents did everything they could to support me in my dream to play at the college level.  When I was 12 they sent me to the Bolletieri Tennis Academy (IMG) in Florida for spring break.  That week opened my eyes to a side of tennis that I never knew existed.  It also reinforced the fact that the belonging I felt wasn’t just a fantasy.  It was real.  More importantly, it was an achievable goal.  I came home a different person.  How could it not change me?  I was 12 years old and across the country completely on my own.  The first 2 days were hard because I missed home but on that 3rd day it was as if a switch was flipped and I was in the groove.  I met kids from France, England, and China! I made friends, I worked hard and at then end I didn’t want to come home.  So my parents embarked on a mission to find an academy I could attend full time but there was a glitch.

Academies are expensive and we didn’t have the money for IMG.  They found an academy close to home in Irvine, California less expensive than IMG and I attended some summer sessions at the age of 13.  Brandon Fallon was my personal coach and he and I had an amazing relationship.  He told my parents he couldn’t believe how coachable I was and that college tennis was definitely in my future.  A family friend offered to pay for 1 full year and I enrolled at Advantage my 8th grade year. 

Due to circumstances beyond our control I was unable to continue attending.  My mother had taken a 60% pay cut and became pregnant with my little brother who has special needs.  She wasn’t able to return to work, my dad was laid off and we almost lost everything.  Tennis lessons and tournaments were the first thing to go and it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to do my part. Our financial situation only increased my desire for a tennis scholarship and my plan was to work hard for my high school tennis team.  Nothing was going to take me off my path.

So here I am, 4 years later, a senior, still pursuing my goal of college tennis, hoping that someone will look a little deeper than stats, take a moment to get to know me and give me an opportunity to earn a spot on their team.  Vince Lombardi described excellence best “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel --- these are the things that will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves.”