Commitment Profile
Fall Signing Week '14: Yang Balances Tennis and Academics at Yale
by Rick Limpert, 14 November 2014
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The transition from high school to college offers a new set of challenges to incoming freshmen. It's a transition that Alpharetta, Georgia's Amy Yang welcomes.
Conventional wisdom might say the Northview High School senior is biting off more than she can chew by electing to play NCAA D-I tennis at
Yale. In addition to top-level tennis, Yang is also looking to major in medicine, law or engineering at one of the top academic institutions in the country. But Yang seems to be taking it all in stride.
"When I first started (the recruiting process), I knew what type of school I wanted to go," admitted Yang. I'm academicly oriented. "I wanted the challenge of balancing academics and tennis. I looked at Harvard, Princeton and Yale. Those were the main schools I looked at, but I think I always wanted to go to Yale."
When asked about whether she would fit in at Yale, Yang didn't hesitate.
"I fit in there. I like the campus and atmosphere. I couldn't go wrong with any of the three schools, but at Yale, I also felt comfortable with the coach and team."
That was important - as Yale went through a coaching change during Yang's recruitment.
After leading the Bulldogs to four Ivy League championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances, Danielle McNamara resigned and was replaced by St. John's women's coach, Taka Bertrand.
Yang said she was fine with the coaching change.
"I met (Taka) and I love her. She's young and appears to be good with the players. She's really chill."
Yang said she takes comfort in the fact that Bertrand, having graduated from Vanderbilt in 2008, isn't much older than the players on the team.
"She understands and knows what we are going through,and I like that."
Before she arrives on Yale's campus, Yang will continue to work with her personal coach in Will Wright of the Windward Tennis Academy in Alpharetta.
