| William Boe-Wiegaard was named the head coach for the Sacred Heart men’s and women’s tennis teams last September. He enters the coaching ranks following a 13-year career on the ATP and ITF tours.  William Boe-Wiegaard Boe-Wiegaard was a five-time All-America selection at Bates College, winning the 2006 NCAA Division III singles championship and finishing as the runner-up in 2005. As Sacred Heart prepares for a doubleheader this weekend, TRN correspondent Harry Cicma spoke to Boe-Wiegaard about his philosophy and expectations as a coach. HC: What are you most looking forward to as the head coach for Sacred Heart men’s and women's tennis? WBW: I am most looking forward to working with students-athletes who are very serious about their tennis and are not just doing it because their parents told them to play, but because they love the game and want to see how good they can get. HC: You have great experience as a former ATP World Tour ranked player and NCAA Division III singles champion. How will you use that experience to help your players thrive? WBW: I started playing tennis when I was 5 years old, have been competing in tournaments since I was 8 and taught my first lesson when I was 15. In total, I have nearly 30 years of tennis experience. My collegiate and professional experience should help me earn the players' trust and respect, and it will help me to better understand them because I was once in their shoes at Bates, where I had to budget my time and energy between my academic and athletic goals of majoring in biochemistry while simultaneously improving my tennis enough to win the NCAA title. Being a serious student-athlete requires incredible amounts of discipline, time management skills, good study habits, and mental and physical strength and endurance. Getting an ATP world ranking and becoming a professional player gives me some additional credibility when it comes time to doling out advice to D1-level players. Many of these players (and recruits) have been working on their tennis since they were very young, and many would like to play on the professional level one day (many already are at a high enough level to win matches on the Futures and Challenger circuits, some even beyond that). Having that tour experience should benefit any player I get to work with because I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to over 20 countries around the world and played against some of the the best players in the world like Milos Roanic, Domink Hrbaty, Coco Vandeweghe, Tomas Bellucci, Michael Russell, Jack Sock, James Blake, and many others along the way. At the end of the day, these young men and women are in school to get a degree, so academics comes first, then comes the tennis. My job is to help them achieve whatever academic and athletic goals they have.
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