Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/184887
BADGERING TINA SAMARA ยป HEAD COACH, WOMEN'S TENNIS As a collegiate tennis player at the University of Georgia, Tina Samara won the 1995 ITA national doubles championship held in Madison. Now, 18 years later, Samara has returned to capital city to help bring Wisconsin's women's tennis program similar success. Hired as the Badgers' head coach in June, Samara's squad is two tournaments into its fall schedule and already showing early returns. "Well, my mom is from Norway and my dad is from Sri Lanka. So pretty much they are polar opposite in every way; looks, food tastes, everything. They met and were married in London and then moved to Norway. My brother and I were born in Norway and we lived there for a couple years. Then we moved to New York because my dad wanted to start his own business. That was the dream, go to New York and start your own company, so that's what landed us here." Tell us about your heritage? "I never thought I would after the headaches I gave my coaches. I really kind of stumbled on it while in Colorado working for GE, after having played professionally and coaching a pro player for a few years. I never thought I would get into college coaching. When I moved to Colorado after being settled, I figured I would see if the CU team wanted a volunteer, just to give back to a sport that gave me everything I had. I just started out as a volunteer and quickly realized I enjoyed it a lot more than the job that was paying me." What got you into coaching? "I got to a point in my life where I didn't want to just move for any job anymore. It's about the place where my quality of life would be really nice. I have moved, including when I was younger, 14 times since college. I'm kind of tired of packing and unpacking. "I played in Madison while I was at the University of Georgia and have really fond memories of the city. I was here the whole week because we did well and my parents came to watch. They actually remember Madison and are coming in a couple of weeks for the first time since 1995. So it made a big impression on me even in the little time I spent here. "UW really fit all of the things I was looking for as far as the big picture. The university is a great academic institution, great facilities, great tradition in every sport, great town, it was something I could really sell to new recruits that were not even giving me the time of day. I'm already seeing that that is changing a little bit from the reputation of the school." Why was coaching at Wisconsin so appealing? "I've been through some interesting teams in the last seven years that I have been coaching. I do value having nice kids and we certainly have nice kids here. I've not always had that. I think what we are trying to teach them is just to raise their standards and expectations of themselves. If you look around campus, there is so many successful programs here and I don't know if they really believe that they are on that same level. "Our fall results have been OK so far, but really at the end of the day, the goals we have for this program are way higher than the results we are having right now. We need to make sure that they have the same goals and understand." What are your early impressions of the team? 24 // VARSITY October 3, 2013