The Collegiate Athlete Experience
People have many different paths and many different struggles. What's important is that you find a way to be successful in your own way. My brother chose the path of success by graduating as a chemical engineer. He spent countless hours inside classrooms being academically challenged but ultimately succeeding. I have many friends whose paths have required financing their own education. They have succeeded by juggling full time work and school.
My path has been different and has had different obstacles and struggles. Being a student- athlete is like working a full time job with the added pressure of having to perform inside and outside the classroom. Even though it was hard, I cannot be more appreciative for the opportunity that I had to leave my blood, sweat, and tears on the courts at the George Billingsley Tennis Center at the University of Arkansas.
When I started playing tennis, I played it as an individual sport. I trained alone; I traveled alone; I competed alone; I cried alone; and I smiled alone. However, starting on my first day at college, I was put on a team with eleven other individual players who also had been attracted to an individual sport since around the age of 5. Tennis was now a team sport. We were required to be friends and teammates with people from different countries with different cultures. None of us knew each other. To play tennis in the SEC at a powerhouse school like the University of Arkansas, we all had to change.... instantly. I embraced the change and became a team player.
As a student-athlete, bruised egos, embarrassment and failing were not options. I learned to not be afraid of failure and that sometimes you have to go back in order to go forward. Taking risks, not repeating mistakes, self-evaluation and learning from your mistakes were valuable life lessons that I learned.
For my senior year, I was selected by the coaches to be the team captain. We had the best start to a season in program history and matched a program record with 10 straight wins. I took this leadership role as a chance to make the team stronger through leading by example. When I became captain; I pushed harder in the gym; I went in for extra workouts; I ate cleaner; I was more positive; and I focused my energy on how to make myself better for the team. I wanted to become a person others wanted to follow. It took strength of character and a firm commitment, but I learned to control the things I could and adjust to things I couldn't.
This is the kind of leadership I want to bring to a company. I want to either build on something that is already great or repair something that needs to be fixed. The starting point does not matter, the journey is what is important. I know the Arkansas Women's Tennis Team will be even more successful this upcoming year due to the influence and determination I and others left behind. I want to do the same thing in the next chapter of my life.
At the University of Arkansas, I learned...
1. Embrace Change
2. Don't be afraid to take risks
3. Control what you can and adjust to things you can't
4. The team comes before individual goals
IN THE NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Shannon Hudson added another memorable moment to her career at Arkansas on Sunday. And it was only fitting that it came on Senior Day at George M. Billingsley Tennis Center, where she propelled the No. 19 Razorbacks to a 4-3 victory over No. 24 Tennessee with her three-set match-clinching win at the top singles spot…. “What a storybook Senior Day for Shannon and Sasha (Shkorupeieva) today,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “To get a huge win over a tough Tennessee team will be a moment they will have forever.”
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — After helping Arkansas to wins against LSU and then-No. 17 Texas A&M last weekend, senior co-captain Shannon Hudson was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. Hudson, who picked up her third career SEC weekly honor and became the conference’s first two-time player of the week this season, posted two victories at No. 1 singles over nationally ranked opponents in the team’s victories. “It’s great to see the conference recognizing how valuable Shannon’s play this season has been to our overall success,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “Shannon is competing at a very high level and continues to improve as a player weekly.”
Achievements
- 2014 SEC Freshman of the Week
- 2014 SEC Community Service Team
- 2014 and 2015 Lee Spencer Cup award to Women’s Tennis Team
- 2014, 2015, 2016 Selected to play in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships
- 2015, 2016, 2017 NCAA Team Championships
- 2017 2x SEC Player of the Week
- 2017 All-SEC Team
- 2017 NCAA Singles Championship
- 2017 NCAA Doubles Championship
Highest National Singles ranking: 43
Highest National Doubles ranking: 31
Highest National Team ranking: 14
Highest Regional Singles ranking: 3
Highest Regional Doubles ranking: 4
Highest Regional Team ranking: 2
Prior to College
A blue-chip recruit out of First Colonial High School, ranked 18th in the tennis recruiting class of 2013 … Behind a successful junior career, ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation and was either No. 1 or No. 2 as a junior player in the USTA Mid-Atlantic section for 26 consecutive months (March 2009-June 2012) … Claimed six top-three finishes at USTA Super National events, and was named Hampton Roads All-Sport athlete of the year … Held the No. 1 seed at the USTA Girls 16 & Under Clay Court Nationals in Virginia Beach during the summer of 2012 … As a sophomore, completed the first-ever sweep of all three state championship events, claiming the state championship in team competition as well as individual singles and doubles… For work off the court, was named Outstanding Metro Scholastic women’s player of the year for two consecutive years.