Raider Feature: Jan Alafriz
9/27/2010 12:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 27, 2010
By Nick Boucher
Living in Canada, Jan Alafriz always played tennis. In fact, he cannot remember a time when he was not holding a ball and a racket.
"I think it was my parents who got me started," Alafriz said. "In all honesty, I don't remember when I wasn't playing tennis."
As a tennis player, Alafriz grew up watching the famous Andre Agassi as an idol. He was his inspiration to be a great tennis player in the future. His coach from his home in Toronto, Canada, Alex Benyi, was the one who helped him actually reach a high level of tennis.
"My coach back home was the one person who always believed in me and got me to the level that I am playing at today," Alafriz said. "He knew how to push when I needed to push."
At Mentor College, which was his high school, Alafriz was the MVP of the team in his junior and senior years. He admits that his biggest success in his early tennis career is being awarded the chance to play tennis at Wright State.
"Few people get the chance to compete at this level, especially people outside of the United States, so when I found out that I could play college tennis at Wright State University, I was ecstatic," described Alafriz.
As Alafriz keeps up his high level of play heading into his senior season at Wright State, it is easy to assume that he will achieve great things and will bring about a leadership and a very exciting style of game play as he looks to not only compete, but thrive.
Players Mentioned
