the Magazine, Volume 2 Issue 2 - The College of Coastal Georgia

education. I know that is attractive to a lotof athletes, especially those from Australia,but really around the world.“In Australia, you can go to a university,but tennis would be something you do onthe side. You find an academy and playthere or train with a coach on the side. Theyhave teams, but they’re like club teams andnot really super competitive.”Whether it was Coastal Georgia orsomewhere else that Mali chose, comingto the U.S. to attend college was going tobe a major adjustment for him. He wouldbe further from home than ever before,obviously for much longer than ever before.And of course, that meant being separatedfrom his parents.Mali knew what he wanted to do, though,and didn’t shy away from coming to theStates out of fear for the unknown. “You have to go with themindset that this will be your new home for the next fouryears,” he said. “You have to meet new friends, new people,and form a new support group.”Mali said doing those things was easier at CoastalGeorgia than it might have been elsewhere. For starters, ithad the built-in surroundings he desired - the location andweather that made him more at ease from the beginning.But it is also a smaller college, where he sees many of thesame faces whether he’s hanging out in the residence hall,eating in the dining hall or walking the campus sidewalksbetween classes.Of course, it’s not surprising that his closest friends arehis teammates on the men’s tennis team. The team conceptin tennis was something new to Mali until he arrived atCoastal Georgia. It didn’t take long for him to realize it wasa pretty cool deal.“Tennis had been mostly an individual experience forme,” Mali said. “I like having a team that is cheering you onand supporting you, and there’s always a set group of guysthat you practice with all of the time.”Mali has become really good friends with teammateConnor Bond, his doubles partner on the Mariners team.Bond is a junior from Austin, Texas. This summer, Maliwent home with Bond to work on his game rather thanreturning to Australia.Mali felt it was something he needed to do after strugglingthrough his sophomore season due to drastic changes hehad made to his stroke and his approach on the court.“Coach (Reinaldo) Valor and I made a lot of changes tomy game, and I really struggled to figure out how to playMali spent the summer with friendand doubles partner Connor Bond(pictured behind Mali) in Austin,Texas, instead of returning to hisnative Australia.again,” he said. “We changed my strokes.They’re a lot more compact.”“We also changed my mind set. I used tobe more passive and relied on movementand outlasting people. Coach told me youcan only go so far with that, and I agreed.I’m trying to be more assertive and morein control of what happens on the court.”The adjustments have been hard forMali to make. His record was 5-11 insingles and 7-9 in doubles last season.He called it a disappointing season overall, but he wasencouraged by some of his performances toward the endof the spring.Had it not been for that, Mali doesn’t know if he would beplaying for the Mariners this season. “I went through a phaselast season where I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do itanymore,” he admits. “Last year was a battle for me. Towardthe end last season, I felt like I was figuring things out.”“I’m starting to enjoy tennis again. I definitely think Imade the right decision to stay in America and work ontennis and I enjoyed my summer. Connor and his familyhave been really great.”Mali said his game still isn’t where it needs to be, but it’sgetting there little by little. He hopes to have it back on trackby the Mariners’ spring season, which will be their first inthe Southern States Athletic Conference. Mali said CoastalGeorgia’s tennis program is headed on the right track, too.“We’ve got great facilities - 12 amazing courts,” Malisaid of the new on-campus tennis complex. “I’ve seen a lotof tennis courts around the world, and we have fantasticcourts. This can be a really solid program and a big winnerin the region.”If you’re talking about being solid, Mali has been justthat in the classroom during his first two years at CoastalGeorgia. He holds a 3.19 GPA and is planning to pursue abusiness degree over the next two years.“Academics are obviously an important part of theexperience,” Mali said. “You just have to be committed,find time and make time to get it done. It’s really a 50-50balance between academics and athletics, or maybe evenmore than that toward academics. It has to be a priority.” uCollege of Coastal Georgia – the Magazine 11