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TEMPE, Ariz. — Over the course of the 2025-26 college tennis season, members of the ITA Student-Athlete Council will be featured in monthly spotlights that will give the greater college tennis community an inside look at some of our Student-Athlete Council members and what they are accomplishing on and off the court.
In our first spotlight of the season, Andrew Fang of Binghamton University details his experiences ahead of his second year of serving on the ITA Student-Athlete Council.
Read more about Andrew in this spotlight below:
You had a successful first year on the Council. What specifically about your experience made you feel it was important to return for your final year, and what drove your desire to lead the Council as the Chair? Being on the Council my first year was truly an eye opening experience for me getting to work with student-athletes from all divisions. Although we were from different conferences, different divisions, and different parts of the United States, all of us shared something in common: we saw tennis as a method to receive education through sport. We all agreed on the fact that tennis has taught us many life skills outside of how to win tennis matches or how to hit a forehand into the court. This is when a moment of realization hit me. It doesn’t matter what a tennis players’ goals, ranking, division, conference, or background are. We all play college tennis with the same end goal: to learn something that can be used outside of the tennis court that can be applied to our lives even years after our tennis careers. This epiphany is what motivated me to return to the Council for my final year and serve as the Chair of the 2025-26 Student-Athlete Council to better enhance both the student-athlete experience but also the education we tennis players can receive through our sport.
You’ve mentioned that as a returning member, you’re ready to take more risks and push away uncertainty. What advice would you give to other student-athletes on how they can adopt this same mindset to challenge themselves and grow both on and off the court? My advice to other student-athletes on adopting a risk-taking mindset is to approach risks without fear—because you’ll never truly know if something will succeed or not unless you try. It is similar to changing a racket. It is risky as you are stepping out of your comfort zone, but you will never if the racket allows you to generate more power and overall feels better if you don’t try it out at all.
You’ve taken a leadership role in aiding community service and engagement for your team. What has been the most rewarding part of that experience, and what advice would you give to other student-athletes looking to make community outreach a core part of their team culture? The most rewarding part of leading community service and engagement has been seeing the impact our team can make beyond the tennis court. My advice to other student-athletes on community service is to approach it with genuine passion as the impact that you are making is bigger than you will ever know. For example, our Coach made us write letters of support for the kids we work with in Brooklyn, New York and the next time we saw one of the kids she kept the letter we wrote to her and she said that she keeps it with her everywhere so that whenever she has a bad day she can read our letter. Small things can make big impacts when you do the small things with passion.
As you approach your final season, what legacy do you hope to leave on the ITA Student-Athlete Council and for future generations of college tennis players? I hope to leave a legacy of doing the little things with extraordinary love. Whether that means showing up for a teammate when they need encouragement, giving my full effort in every practice, or having kindness in the smallest interactions. I believe it’s the consistent, everyday actions done with genuine care that create the strongest impact. That’s the legacy I want to leave behind.
The ITA Student-Athlete Council is a committee of student-athletes who play college tennis assembled to provide insights regarding the sport with a special emphasis on the student-athlete experience. The goals of this committee are as follows: Present a student-athlete voice within the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) (1), Offer input regarding matters pertaining to the sport, particularly issues impacting the lives of student-athletes (2), Work to enhance the student-athlete experience specific to college tennis across all divisions (3), Invest in the leaders of tomorrow by creating leadership and professional development opportunities (4).
