It has been a whirlwind five weeks for Horsham's Steffi McDonald, who moved to the United States to attend Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky on a tennis scholarship in January.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But McDonald's nerves were eased at the weekend when her team played their first round of the season.
McDonald comfortably won both of her matches, 6-3, 6-1 in the singles and 8-3 in the doubles.
"I was pretty nervous at the start but it was good to get a couple of wins to start the season," McDonald said.
"We were expected to win, basically our coach didn't want us to drop a set so we went out there with a bit of pressure. But it was a good start to the year."
McDonald will carry the extra pressure of favouritism for most of the tennis season. Lindsey Wilson's women's tennis team is ranked fourth overall in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
McDonald said it had been a hectic period for her since arriving in the country in early January.
"It's been pretty intense, very busy but I've really been loving it," McDonald said.
"We usually train twice a day. We do conditioning for an hour, then we train for 2-3 hours as a team. I'll try to do an extra conditioning session by myself as well."
Adding further chaos to an already tricky adjustment period, Lindsey Wilson's tennis coach was fired soon after McDonald arrived in the country.
Their new coach Randall Knox was hired just days out from the round one clash.
"The day after I got here our coach got fired, so that wasn't the best situation to walk into," McDonald said.
"We sort of had to figure it out ourselves for the first couple of weeks. But the new coach is very, very good and the past week has been really good."
During the absence of a coach, McDonald said she had received plenty of support from the college and from her peers to feel comfortable in her new surroundings.
"It's been pretty good with the team because none of us are from America so we try to help each other out and keep each other busy so we don't get homesick," McDonald said.
"I'm in a house with the other girls in the team so we all look out for each other."
McDonald said the tennis team's goal for the season was to continue winning games in their conference and qualify for the nationals tournament in May.
Richard Crabtree
richard.crabtree@austcommunitymedia.com.au
richard.crabtree@austcommunitymedia.com.au
