Florida A&M's Tennis Team And 5 Players Make ITA All-Academic Team

Karlyn Small led the Rattlers on the court and in the classroom
COURTESY FAMU ATHLETICS 

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Five Florida A&M tennis players, as well as the FAMU team as a whole, earned prestigious Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) 2014-2015 All-Academic awards.

In order for a team to make the All-Academic squad, each player’s G.P.A. is factored in and must average at least 3.5 (4.0 scale) or above. The Rattler squad met that criteria and was selected an ITA All-Academic squad.

The individual players had to have an average of 3.5 (4.0 scale). Carlos Augustin Waitman, Courage Okungbowa, Jason Ulacio, Joel Ovonlen-Jones and Karlyn Small all made the All-Academic squad as individuals.

Head coach, Carl Goodman, Ph.D, takes pride in the academic success of his student-athletes. No slouch himself, he is an Assistant Dean in the FAMU School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In addition, he was named FAMU’s Advanced Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015. He hold no lesser academic expectations of his teams, but is especially prideful in the accomplishments of this year’s squad.

“They are a bright bunch of guys. We’re very, very excited about these guys. They are truly scholar-athletes. They are able to handle both sides. They go hard in practice and find time and energy to go to their rooms or library to study. It’s rare to see a whole team like that. And then the next day they’re back at the tennis court again,” Goodman said.

FAMU Director of Athletics, Milton Overton Jr., uses academics as his first priority in FAMU Athletics. “The FAMU tennis team is a prime example of where we want our teams to achieve academically. Our first tier to building champions is academics. Without strong academics, on-court successes are marginalized. In building champions, we want our athletes to be well-rounded in the classroom, in competition and in life,” Overton said. “I applaud Dr. Goodman and the academic pace he is setting with the men’s tennis team,” Overton concluded.

Goodman echoed that sentiment. “It’s good to know that when they finish their careers on the court, they have bright futures in the corporate world or private industry. Three of our players are in the FAMU School of Business and Industry, one is in pharmacy and another in computer science. Neither of them took an easy route, but challenging ones that could result in success after college,” Goodman concluded.

COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION