Scholarship Impact ALVARO SAEZROYUELA ARIZA By Bailey Angle Growing up in Castellon, Spain, Alvaro Saez-Royuela Ariza always had a dream to pursue a tennis career and an education in the United States. Head coach Jim Thompson gave him that chance at Virginia Tech. “I got his contact information when I was looking for universities in the United States,” Saez-Royuela Ariza remembered. “I loved him. I got the opportunity to study and play my favorite sport.” His trip to start school in the New River Valley was actually the first time he ever set foot on American soil. As one could expect, there are multiple cultural hurdles involved with moving to the United States to pursue an education. Saez-Royuela Ariza had been taught English since middle school, but the idea of fluently speaking and, more importantly, learning a college curriculum in English, was a bit of a daunting task when he first stepped on campus in Blacksburg. “The first semester was kind of hard. I would go to class and not understand anything,” Saez-Royuela Ariza recalled. “Even when the team was having dinner, I would just kind of shut down. It felt like my brain wasn’t working. Everyone was speaking in English.” It would be understandable to find this predicament incredibly discouraging for any international student-athlete. However, Saez-Royuela Ariza did not falter to the challenges between him and his full adjustment to becoming a studentathlete at Virginia Tech. The now junior credited coach Jim Thompson for aiding him in this transitional period in his life. inside.hokiesports.com 25 Continued on page 26
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