Meet Kate Fahey: Volunteer Assistant Coach for Rutgers Tennis
5/7/2020
Following a standout collegiate career, Kate Fahey arrived “On the Banks” as a volunteer assistant coach for the 2019-20 season. Fahey continues to train for tour while guiding the Scarlet Knights. Learn more about Fahey from training to life off the court, as well as her transition from student-athlete to coach.
KATE FAHEY
Hometown: Fair Haven, NJ
Age started tennis: 3 years old
Years as a student-athlete: 2015-19 at Michigan
Degree: Bachelor's in International Studies w/ minor in Business
Accolades on the court: Three-time ITA All-American, two-time Big Ten Athlete of the Year and four-time All-Big Ten selection, three-time Big Ten Champion, three-time NCAA Singles qualifier, 2019 runner-up for NCAA Doubles Championship
Accolades in the classroom: 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District At-Large First Team, three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, two-time ITA Scholar Athlete Award recipient, and a 2018 Academic All-America honoree
Dream major to win: US Open
Favorite tennis player: Li Na
Three things you'd bring to a desert Island: A good book, my dog Frida and a water filter
Favorite Spot in NJ: Near the water on My grandma's porch
Favorite TV Show: Big Little Lies
Favorite Book: Bear Town by Fredrik Backman
Favorite Binge Meal: Pizza
Starbucks or Dunkin: Hot Starbucks, Iced Dunkin
Q&A WITH FAHEY
What was your favorite part of being a student-athlete?
Being a part of a team
What lessons did you learn from being a student-athlete that you have carried into the "real world"?
How to take advantage of team members' strengths and weaknesses and how to bounce back quickly after losses.
What is your favorite part of being a coach?
Getting a different perspective of the game. Watching the girls practice and compete has taught me a lot about myself and the things I can improve on in my own game. Coaching during the changeovers of a match has given me more confidence on how to coach myself through my own matches.
What advice would you give a student-athlete who wants to make the transition to coaching?
Try to learn as much as you can from your own college coach in terms of tennis expertise and overall culture building. There is a lot more that goes into college coaching than what meets the eye, so try to pick up on all of the different areas.
What is it like training for tour?
There is a lot of time on the road at tournaments, so professional tennis players have to be good at taking advantage of limited resources and time to train.
What is it like starting out on tour?
When a player starts out on the tour, they typically start playing the lower level tournaments such as the $15,000s and the $25,000s. As you start to win matches, you accumulate points and qualify for higher level tournaments with more points involved. You continue to make your way up in the rankings until you are able to qualify for the highest level of tournaments which are the Grand Slams (US Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open, and French Open.)
