Tennis Team Prospect
Bom Dia!
Eduardo Cabral
Eduardo is from Porto, Portugal and has one year of eligibility remaining (see Coach’s comment – below)
About Eduardo:
Tell us about yourself:
I was born in Portugal and lived there for 18 years. At 18 years old I decided to leave my country and move to the United States, and it was the best decision I could have possibly made. Being alone in a completely different country at a young age allowed me to grow and learn things about myself that I do not think I would have learned if I had chosen to stay in Portugal. The independence together with higher responsibility helped me a lot in becoming more responsible and held accountable for my actions.
I always say to people I meet that they should try and move abroad even if just for a short period because it completely changes your view of the world. The comfort of being in our home city with our family and friends is great, but I do believe that it is when we step out of our comfort zone that we learn new things and explore new paths in life.
Having lived in 3 US States, I have had the opportunity to meet so many people from all over the world, who have completely different cultures and I think that that allowed me to have a better understanding of social cues and norms and how to deal with different people and personalities, which I would not have learned if I had stayed in my hometown.
In terms of professional goals or what I want in life, I am still trying to understand what is it exactly I want. It would be great if I could sit here and write down exactly what I want step-by-step but that is not the case. Like many people, I am still searching for what I want in life.
My whole life has been surrounded by tennis. Since a very young age, all I knew was school and tennis, and summers were nonexistent for me. My summers used to be spent at the tennis club, 8 to 10 hours a day. Given that, I always felt that I was going to do something related to tennis, and it is something I am passionate about and would love to coach in college one day, but I am also aware that I need to try new things and new possibilities.
With that being said, I think I am now at a phase in my life where once again I want to step out of my comfort zone and see what’s out there for me. The world is a massive place with immense opportunities everywhere and I am just looking to explore many options, connect with my inner-self, and see which one would make me the happiest.
I would say I am quite open-minded and from what I read and researched, MIU seems like the ideal place to start.
Sports achievements:
Before moving to the United States, I was ranked top 20 in Portugal and was the player with the most doubles wins in 2017 in the entire country. I was also part of the national team when I was 12 years old.
When I first came to the United States I had a UTR (Universal Tennis Rating) of 11.8 and played Division 1 for my entire undergrad. During my time at Fairleigh Dickinson, me and my doubles partner established a school record for the Fall Semester (4 tournaments played, 4 finals, 1 final won). Still, at Fairleigh, we won our D1 conference championship and played Nationals against the University of Virginia, which was a great experience and an awesome opportunity to play against better players.
During my MBA, I played number 3 for Northwood University, and together with my doubles partner we beat a doubles team that was ranked top 10 in the NCAA D2 in the previous season.
In terms of professional achievements related to tennis, I would say that my biggest achievement was leading a player (under 12) here in Portugal to win a national championship. It was an interesting story because I had approached his dad and told him I wanted to coach his son and that I knew I could make him a national champion, so I asked him to give me 2 months to work with him and that if by the end he didn’t win the national championship, then he would not have to pay me for anything. It ended up working out and we achieved an amazing result, which I am very proud of.
Besides that, I am now working with my brother who is ranked top 60 in the world in doubles and I help him with match analysis and data analysis to try to find the patterns and play that have the highest rate of success and focus his training around that.
It is an amazing opportunity and I get to see how the professionals work and approach the game it is simply an absolute honor to be involved in this.
Why I want to come to MIU
To be completely honest, these past few months I have seeking to find my place in the world and what I want for myself. After looking at MIU’s programs and what they are about, I do genuinely think it would help me be more connected to my inner self and hopefully help me understand how far I can go and what I can achieve.
I am becoming more and more of a spiritual person and am very curious to learn more about how I can use the full potential of my brain. I know I have the capabilities and the intelligence to achieve great things in life, I am just having a hard time figuring out my purpose in life and I think that the spiritual side of life is something I should explore further.
Video
Coach’s Comment:
Eduardo is a high level, lifetime tennis player with a silky tennis game that will be an inspiration to the entire team and extremely challenging for any opponent. He is an experienced pro player coach as well and potentially could join us as an assitant coach some day. If you know tennis, and watch his video, you’ll see what I’m talking about.