Established in the USA for over 8 years, Frédéric Bonal (expatriated French) and Marc Slama (American and French citizenships) are quite familiar with the American university enrollment system, and maintain regular contact with coaches and directors of a number of colleges especially in Florida and New York.

Fred Bonal is responsible for selecting suitable candidates, based on their tennis level and school results.

High school or middle school students

If you have the desire to move to the US and train in great facilities, learn English and continue your schooling online (American or foreign program), look no further. You will live with an American host family and discover a new culture as well as master the English language.

Find out more

High school seniors or graduates

You may continue your studies in the USA after high school, starting in August the year of graduation, but no more than 6 months later if you want to play in first division. You will need to take the following 2 exams:

• The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) determines foreigner's level in English and their ability to attend classes in English. This test takes place on a computer in a Multiple-Choice format.
   
• The SAT Reasoning Test (formerly known as "Sholastic Aptitude Test") is a Multiple Choice Quiz lasting 3h, that evaluates Mathematics and English levels. It is mandatory for all students in Division 1 and 2 colleges.

You may take these exams from Europe the year preceding your arrival in the USA. You may take them as many times as you want (3 sessions every year for the SAT  and 1 a month for the TOEFL), until you are satisfied with your score. Only the best score is taken in consideration for your application.

If you have not succeeded at these exams or if you have not graduated from high school, you have the option of attending NAIA universities or Junior Colleges, who do not hold the SAT exam as mandatory. Some junior colleges may not even require a high school diploma. It is possible to transfer to a division 1 or 2 college after one or two years in this type of college with good grades.

If you graduate from high school in the summer, you have 6 months to get accepted in a university. Beyond this time frame, it will be difficult to play division 1 tennis. This is also true if you are over 20 years old. Play in divisions 2 or 3 remains an option.

Contact Pure Tennis USA as early as January so we can set up an evaluation camp at Easter or in July. After assessing your tennis level and your academic grades we will set up interviews with appropriate colleges.

University students

If you have started your university curriculum in a foreign country, you can continue your studies in the USA. Some credits may be validated, depending on your results.

Contact-us before march to start a program in August.

 

If you have questions, see our FAQ

 

 

Why come study in an American university?

Students who graduate from American colleges have a diploma that is recognized worldwide; furthermore, mastering the English language and the cultural experience associated with the 4 years in the USA give them an edge in the global marketplace. And whereas in France for example it is nearly impossible to combine university studies and high-performance sports, the US college system offers an alternative with a rewarding diploma and the possibility to train and compete at a high level and benefit from extraordinary sporting facilities.

A highly valuable and international diploma

In an American college, the main focus is offering the most practical and pragmatic curriculum in order to prepare the student for his future career in the business world. The atmosphere is usually more informal and relaxed than in Europe. Students have easy access to professors via phone or e-mail and can be assisted in preparing the most difficult exams with free tutoring.

Internationally recognized diplomas

"Bachelor degree" or “undergraduate degree” = French Baccalaureate + 4 years of studies

The bachelor degree is a secondary studies cycle of 4 years, equivalent to a Licence in Europe. It is composed of two distincst diplomas.

• Bachelor of Arts : university diploma in litterature, social sciences and arts.
• Bachelor of Science : university diploma in mathematics, technology, science or business.

In most colleges, students must take mandatory general courses for the first 2 years, then concentrate on their specialty (business, communication, law ...).
In order to complete the program in 4 years, typically a student must complete 4 courses each semester (which represent about 16 hours of class a week).

A bachelor's degree from an american college is usually very attractive to recruiters in France and worldwide

Master’s degree or “Graduate degree” : French Baccalaureate + 5 years of studies

Obtained after 1 or 2 years of studies after a Bachelor's degree. Like the Bachelor it is made of deux distincts diplomas:

• Master of Arts: focused on art studies, litterature and human sciences.
• Master of Science: focused on mathematics, technology, management, engineering or business.

A Master's degree and specifically an MBA (Master in Business Administration) are highly appreciated by big companies, specifically because of the cutting edge quality of the curriculum.

An enriching experience on a personal and professional level

The American college experience goes beyond just the education: it is a social "melting pot" where personal and social relations flourish. Students who have come to the US on a campus will never forget one of the most exciting times of their lives.

Becoming fluent in English

Fluency in English is an amazing asset in today's job marketplace which is extremely competitive. Most international companies are looking for bilingual executives for foreign missions.

Pure Tennis USA

Assists with preparing, presenting and following-up on your applications until a college accepts you (with the condition of passing the TOEFL and SAT tests). Ie offer 2 or 4 weeks of camp in florida in the months of April and December, in order to respectively start a college program in August or in January.

Arrival in the USA (housing and immediate supervision)

• supervision starts when you land on American soil
• housing with a host family or in an apartment

Daily training and preparation

Our daily program includes tennis and project preparation. Tennis training will be in the compétition group, with specific additions:

• english lessons
• interview and test preparation
• we will take you to your interviews with the university coaches
• excursions and trips to visit Southern Florida/Miami

TOEFL and SAT preparation

In order to assist you with the TOEFL preparation, we will offer English lessons during the weeks preceding the test with the goal of mastering everyday English comprehension (very important to be admitted in a good school).

• The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) determines foreigner's level in English . This test takes place on a computer in a Multiple-Choice format. A minimum score is required to attend university.

• The SAT Reasoning Test (formerly known as "Sholastic Aptitude Test") is a Multiple Choice Quiz lasting 3h, that evaluates Mathematics and English levels.
  It is mandatory for all students in Division 1 and 2 colleges.

You may take these exams from Europe the year preceding your inscription in a university.You may take them as many times as you want (3 sessions every year for the SAT and 1 a month for the TOEFL), until you are satisfied with your score. Only the best score is taken in consideration for your application.

Orientation advice

PureTennis USA helps you with your college project by :

• Assessing the studies and sports project of the student.
• Researching, locating and contacting universities that correspond to your aspirations.
• Obtaining diploma equivalences, by submitting your application to a university credit evaluation service. This enables you to validate some credits in the college you are looking at. The equivalences varying by schools, we help get the maximum possible credits and assist you with your choice of subjects for college.
• Coordinate process according to the college recruiting timeline (interviews, contacts, tryouts, etc)

Interviews with colleges

• We have close and solid relationships with local coaches in Florida, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Texas and New York.
• We set up interviews with the college team coaches, as well help prepare the interviews, and take the candidates to the local interviews..

The Pure Tennis extra ...

Being from French background and residents of Florida, we work locally with future college students to help them with their project. We will remain available to help any players with issues related to tennis or not, even after months or years have passed. We believe that social integration is the key to the success of the student, on the courts and in the classroom.

General information about American universities

Calendar

Generally divided in 2 semesters (it can also be divided in trimesters):

• « Fall semester » : end of August to mid-December
• « Spring semester » : beginning of January to early May

Mandatory class attendance. Students are continuously assessed throughout the semester (written tests) and by an exams session at the end of the semester. In order to complete the program in 4 years, typically a student must complete 4 to 5 courses each semester (each course representing 3 hours of classes per week).

Cost

 On average, the cost of one year university is around $20 000, which inludes:

• the tuition cost
• room and board
• training and competitions

Health insurance

All universities require that each student has health coverage. The cost is between $400 to $800 per year and can be covered by the scholarship.

Life on campus

Students diversity

The demography of the student body varies from one college to another. Some are predominantly composed of a specific ethnic group. Some public universities can have up to 40 000 students in comparison to smaller private schools that may have less than 1000.

Boarding

Members of a sports team will often be housed in the campus dorms their freshman (first) year, and eat at the school cafeteria. This will facilitate the student's integration into the college. After that, he is free to move outside of the campus, with roommates or not.

Social life and entertainment

The sports facilities (pool, gym, basketball or football courts, golf, etc) are open to the college students and many sporting events and matches take place on weekends. College sports have a very strong fan base in the USA and may lead to pro sports. Games are often televised and some stadiums have a capacity of 100 000 seats!
Concerts, plays and parties are also frequent on campus.

Climate

In the South and the West, it is possible to train and play outdoors all year, and northern universities have exceptional indoor facilities to enable high performance training in the harsh months.

Majors available:

American universities offer a wide array of majors to choose from:

Accounting • Advertising • Agricultural Science • American Studies • Anthropology • Art History • Biochemistry • Biological Sciences • Biotechnology • Cell Biology & Neuroscience • Chemistry • Communication • Comparative Literature • Computer Science • Criminal Justice • Dance • East Asian Studies • Economics • Education • Engineering - Bio-resource • Engineering - Ceramic • Engineering - Chemical • Engineering - Civil • Engineering - Electrical and Computer • Engineering - Industrial • Engineering - Mechanical • English • Environmental Sciences • Environmental Business Economics • Environmental Policy, Institutions & Behaviour • Exercise Science & Sports Studies • Finance • Food Science • Foreign Languages • General Business • Genetics & Microbiology • Geography • Geological Sciences • History and Political Science • Technology & Informatics • International Business • Journalism and Media Studies • Kinesiology • Labour Studies • Latin American Studies • Linguistics • Management • Management Science & Information Systems • Marketing • Medieval Studies • Mathematics and Statistics • Medical Technology • Meteorology • Middle Eastern Studies • Music • Natural Ressource Management • Nursing • Nutritional Sciences • Pharmacy • Philosophy • Public Health • Puerto Rican & Hispanic Caribbean Studies • Religion • Slavic & East European Languages & Literatures • Social Work • Sociology • Theater Arts • Urban Studies & Community Development • Visual Arts • Women's Studies etc ...

About college athletics

Sports occupy a large part of the American culture, and this is especially true in universities.

Athletic scholarships

American colleges have a unique system in the world for their athletes.

Scholarships are offered to amateur athletes in exchange for representing the school in NCAA competitions. These can cover up to 100% of tuition fees.

The number and type of scholarship vary between the universities and sports. Typically, a regional level athlete will often obtain a scholarship that will cover all or part of: tuition fees, housing and food, book, training, access to sporting facilities, and travel costs for competition. All extra-curricular costs such as trips home, etc are paid for by the student.
The scholarship base is determined on a yearly based by looking at the 3 following criteria: grades, results in sports, and general behavior.

Girls and boys are subject to different rules depending on the sport. In tennis, twice as many scholarships are offered to girls.

College sports in the US being reserved to non-professionnal players, professional players cannot play in a college team.

Facilities

American colleges spend a lot on the educational curriculum, but also invest massively in the sport infrastructures. Most universities have gyms, pools, basketball, tennis, football, soccer fields, libraries, computer parks, modern housing. Everything is done to ensure an optimal experience for the athletes.

Athletic teams

Tennis, athletics, swimming, american football, basketball: hundreds of teams represent the colleges. The top teams have exceptional athletes who often move on to a pro career once their graduation accomplished. All levels can hope to find a university that will suit them.

In the USA the college bowl in American football come second only to the the superbowl in terms of passion and notoriety.
At UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) or Ohio State (Columbus, OH)  american football stadiums hold 80000 people.

The coach

The coach is a key figure in college sports. He recruits, trains, directs and coaches the players.
Training is usually daily, 2 to 4 hours depending on the sport and the season. It is common for the coach to be backed by one or multiple assistant coaches.
"Team spirit, fighting spirit" are the core values of college sports.

Coaching staffs are on a par with professional European clubs.

The college sports season

The NCAA championships represents around 25 individual or team games every semester. Students travel with their teams around the country and play against the most prestigious universities. The college pays for all the travel fees, be it plane or team bus, and hotel costs.

A typical day on campus

•  9:00 -12:30    Classes
• 12:30 - 1:30    Lunch
•  1:30 -  5:00    Practice
•  6:30 -  7:30     Dinner
•  7:30 – 10:30   Studies (home or at the campus library).

Athlete's supervision

Athletes train every day and defend their school's colors in NCAA competition. They have the same academic rhythm as other students.

Athletes interact with many different school personnel:

• The coach and his assistant(s) welcome the athlete and manage his training and all things related to the team.
• The athletic coach: assists the student with administrative paperwork, major's choices ...
• The international students supervisor
• Tutors (older students), who offer free academic support

 

Colleges are divided in five categories

• NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) - Division 1 - 300 universities
  This top league has the strongest competition and the strictest rules.
• NCAA Division 2 - 200 universities
  Level similar to Division 1, but schools are generally smaller and offer slightly more relaxed admissions and eligibility requirements.
• NCAA Division 3 – over 300 universities
  These schools cannot offer athletic scholarships, but are often ranked among the top academic institutions in the country.
• NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) - 200 universities
  These schools vary greatly in size, level of competition, and academic levels. NAIA schools generally have more relaxed rules for acceptance and eligibility than NCAA schools.
• Junior Colleges – over 500 universities
  These are two year schools which feed into larger NCAA institutions. They have few entrance requirements and can be a good first step into American athletics and academics. Junior colleges are less expensive, but offer limited scholarships.

What is an athletic scholarship?

Student's costs are paid for (in part or fully by the university) in return for competing on a sports team. A full scholarship covers all costs for attending the university including: tuition, room and board (rent and food expenses), and class books. Costs related to the sport are also paid for by the team. This includes: clothing, shoes, miscellaneous training expenses, and athletic travel expenses. Athletes have access to medical personnel for injuries and other medical needs.

A scholarship to an American university can have a value over $30,000 per year and $100,000 over four years. Tapping into a full scholarship provides not just tennis and studies but also meals and housing along with access to a vast range of facilities.

Scholarships are awarded to an athlete one year at a time. If an athlete is doing well academically and is behaving appropriately, the scholarship will be renewed the next year. An athlete who improves from one year to the next may earn increased scholarship funding. Schools offer a limited number of scholarships and the money available each year is affected by how many current athletes return to the team. In general, only a few scholarships are available each year for new athletes. There are different scholarship rules for men and women in many sports. Tennis for example offers more scholarship money for women than for men.

Travel costs between the university and the student's family home, and entertainment and other daily expenses are not included in the scholarship.

You did not finish high school or performed poorly on exams

NAIA schools do not require the SAT.
Junior colleges, designed for students needing more academic work, do not require the SAT and accept an alternative high school degree.
After 1 or 2 years at these schools, athletes can switch to Division 1 schools if they have made proper academic progress. Students who finish a 2 year degree at a junior college and transfer to a Division 1 school will directly begin in the third year of studies.

Level of play expected

College athletes are expected to compete for their team for 4 years. A minimum ranking is required that can vary from one college to another. Most coaches will be more interested in an athlete if they are confident that the student will spend 4 years playing for the school. Athletes often improve tremendously during college. It is not uncommon for athletes to begin school as very average members of a team and leave 4 years later with a chance to compete professionally. There are, however, no guarantees. It depends on the program and the person. Good competition and regular practice gives the motivated athlete every opportunity to dramatically improve.

Athletes at top schools will become world class players and have professional or Olympic aspirations. But in smaller programs a top athlete may get more attention and end up developing more than if they had chosen the very highest level. They also may earn a larger scholarship.

Academic level expected

A student athlete is required to maintain a certain level of grades and academic performance below which point he/she will become ineligible for the team. This minimum standard is well below the average grades given out at the university as a whole. With a reasonable level of study a student should remain eligible even with the extra time devoted to sports.

Level of English required

Your studies will be in English, and the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is required for admittance to almost every university. Although following lectures in English may be difficult if English is not your first language, tutors will help you make the adjustment. Your English will improve quickly, and if you are dedicated, you will succeed.

Equivalence of degrees between your country and the US

This will be affected by your majors (business  or international business is always more desirable) and by the school you attended. Major American universities, such as Harvard and Yale, have international reputations and are respected worldwide. Iost Division 1 and 2 universities are also renowned. If you receive a degree from a less-known school, an extra year of studies in your home country can be helpful in assuring that your skills are recognized in your job market. Universities in each country have discretion concerning the credits they accept from other countries.
 

Difference between a college and a university

Colleges are generally smaller than universities and unlike universities do not have graduate schools where students earn advanced degrees (Doctorate/ Phd.). Whether you attend a university or a college you will be in the undergraduate school and not the graduate school when you are competing as an athlete.

Why use Pure Tennis USA?

We know it can be very confusing to make a decision. Even American athletes often find the college recruiting process confusing and frustrating despite starting the process 2 years prior to beginning university.
We are here to guide you through the decision making process. If athletes enter the process too late, many teams will no longer have scholarships available, forcing athletes to wait until the next semester or to join less desirable schools. Our goal is to match you with a school and a tennis program where you reach your maximum potential on the court and in the classroom.

Traditionally, international athletes who come to study in the US have not done an in-depth college search and accept offers at the last minute from any college or university.
University coaches do not have the time to do research on every candidate who writes them a letter or calls them, so you will most likely not be getting an answer. However, coaches know us and will talk to us.

For international students, the following issues can make the process overwhelming:
o Communication
o Vastly different educational systems
o The great number of schools
o The many rules determining eligibility-NCAA
o Lack of good information about tennis teams
o Lack of good information about academics

It is  essential to begin researching as early as possible.

August or January?

Academically, starting in January does not cause a problem. Your first day of a class in January will be the first day in that class for all the students. However, you will not have the same amount of guidance for beginning school as the students who started in September who generally go through a structured orientation program and may have made a lot of friends during the early months. tennis being a spring sport, beginning in January will not interfere.

What if I am unsure of what I want to do?

We only work with people that strive for success and are ready fully collaborate with us for successfully finding the best match. If you are not committed to attending school for 4 yeaurs in the United States then you don't need us. We can help you decide by explaining the potential rewards and pitfalls in coming to school in the US, but then you will have to commit to the school that accepts you and sponsors you. We will not be able to help players who are undecided or lack commitment.

We are aware that not everyone is ready to leave his country and spend 4 years away from home. Before you invest in PureTennis USA you need to decide what is important to you. This is the reason why we offer short-lengh discovery stays, that allow you to get a feel for what life in the US is about. Come spend 2 weeks of a month with us, meet with American athletes and coaches and decide for yourself! 

Pure Tennis USA

Frédéric Bonal
Hollywood, FL 33020
Téléphone: +1 (954) 292 4156
Téléphone / Fax: +1 (954) 920 1211

contact@puretennisusa.com