Commitment Announcement
Fall Signing Week '16: Turchetta Heads West to Stanford
by
Ali Jones, 10 November 2016
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The pressure to decide is always intense for a blue-chip athlete such as Sam Turchetta. Numerous colleges reached out to him, and he welcomed all of the options.
Harvard,
Duke, and
Princeton were among the top-tier colleges that expressed interest in Sam, and the feeling was mutual. But a school in California was always at the top of the list.
"Stanford was always a top choice of mine," he said. "It had everything I was looking for - great academics and it was an excellent fit for my tennis."
After a short wait while his academics were scrutinized, he was offered a spot on the tennis team, and he has verbally committed to the Cardinal family in Palo Alto, California.
"I was on vacation, talking to other schools and was pretty far along in the process," Turchetta agonized. "I felt that I had to make a decision quickly. I also had a couple of great calls with Coach Goldstein and Coach Coupe, who explained what the process would look like at Stanford. They would send an application when I got home from vacation, I'd fill it out and we'd wait about two weeks to hear from admissions."
Sure enough, as soon as he got home, the promised application arrived, was filled out, and two weeks later, the call came from Stanford with the good news.
"I couldn't have been more excited and I called them the next day to commit," he said. "I can't wait to play for them, I think it's just the best fit for my tennis. I'm excited to represent the school, be a great teammate and help Stanford contend for a national championship. The opportunity to play outdoors all year is also huge, and I really think the coaches there can help me become the best player I can be."
Head Coach Paul Goldstein, a Cardinal standout, former ATP pro and Taube Family Director of Tennis, was named ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year and Stanford's first Pac-12 Coach of the Year since 2006. He leads the Cardinal team with veteran Brandon Coupe, the James and Martha Poppy Associate Head Coach.
