Pirate Postcard: WTEN's Madison Shoemaker
8/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
August is officially upon us and with several Seton Hall teams ready to report to South Orange in the coming week, the end of summer break has nearly arrived.
Throughout the off months, our Pirate Postcard series has highlighted the efforts and activities of Pirates around the world in their time away from The Hall.
Our latest edition comes courtesy of rising senior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia), a native Canadian and member of the Seton Hall women's tennis team who has spent recent months in Florida as an intern for the Women's Tennis Association.
On the court, Shoemaker has been a mainstay in both the singles and doubles lineups throughout her time in a Pirate uniform. In 2013-14, she posted career-best totals of 21 singles victories in all competitions and 10 in dual match play; helping fuel one of the most successful seasons within the program since the turn of the millennium - one which culminated in a sweep of Butler at the BIG EAST Championship.
Shoemaker's 21 wins as a junior were the second-most on the eight-member squad; marking the second consecutive year she finished behind only three-time All-BIG EAST honoree Chloe Sher in the team rankings.
Though she has an impressive 48 singles victories to her credit through three seasons, Shoemaker has been a key contributor in doubles as well. Between fall tournaments and head-to-head matches over the last three years, she has amassed 43 doubles wins - the third-highest total on the team during that span.
Shoemaker has also been a part of a program that has earned accolades from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for its academic performance in each one of the last three years. Since her sophomore campaign, the Pirates have added consecutive Seton Hall Team Academic Awards on the women's side and have been honored by the NCAA with two-straight Public Recognition Awards for boasting a collective grade-point average that ranks in the top-10 percent nationally.
Recently, Shoemaker checked in with SHUPirates.com to provide an inside-look at her internship experience and share her outlook for the upcoming 2014-15 season.
Hello Pirate Fans!
I hope you're all enjoying your summer as much as I am! I've been spending my summer here in beautiful, St. Petersburg, Florida. I am here interning at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) headquarters.
It's a dream internship for me and it has been everything I expected and more.
The most rewarding part of this job is just seeing how I am able to help different departments and seeing how the projects that I'm working on directly help the organization and players. It's so amazing to be able to work somewhere where I am passionate about the sport and know a lot of players and tournaments that are involved. The experience I'm having will definitely help shape my future because whether I try to come back here one day or try to work in another company, I will have experience with what goes on in these places on a day to day basis.
Being a sports management major, this has been the perfect environment for me.
If I could use two words to describe my summer they would be motivating and experience. I chose "motivating" because it has been encouraging to see lots of young people working in a big association like this, and life after graduation isn't as scary as I thought it might be. I also went with "experience" because I have learned a lot about the WTA as well as gained skills by working hands on with projects that I never imagined I'd be doing as an intern.
Besides my internship, I have had a very exciting summer with being able to spend a weekend in California with my dad's side of the family, a long trip for just a weekend but definitely worth it. I have also traveled a little bit within Florida, to Orlando to visit Rocio and to Naples to visit Alex, both former teammates and fellow Pirates. My parents and Alex also came to visit for my 21st birthday so it was nice to have friends and family around.
Being a Seton Hall Pirate gives me a lot of pride. To be a student-athlete is a special opportunity and it's important for me to represent Seton Hall in the best way possible wherever I go. When I wear my Seton Hall Tennis shirt, people recognize it and you realize there are Pirate fans in places you wouldn't expect so it's a great honor to be a pirate.
My advice to incoming freshmen would be to work hard but to enjoy every minute. Whether it's waking up early for workouts or practice or just going to class, it's all something you'll look back on and have a good memory. My time as a Pirate has flown by and some of the best times are spent with your teammates and friends you make at school so make the most of the four years that you're here.
As for our upcoming season, my goals include using my last three years to help myself and my team perform at our best and also be a good leader. Our team has had improvement every year and I want to keep it up. We'll have a very new team with four new players coming in so I'm excited for what we can accomplish. The ultimate goal would be to advance in the BIG EAST tournament and have more wins than we did last year in the regular season, especially in conference matches.
Enjoy the rest of your summer and Go Pirates!
Sincerely,
Madison
Check back next week for the final edition of Pirate Postcard!
