Gig Harbor tennis player Taylor Anderson signs with Grand Canyon University
Gig Harbor area high school senior Taylor Anderson has traveled plenty to compete in tennis. From Hawaii to North Dakota, she has seen more of the country than many do in their lifetime.
Next up? Arizona. Only this time, it’s for a more long-term stay.
At the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club surrounded by family, friends and supporters she signed her letter of intent to play NCAA Division I tennis at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix next year.
“I’m so happy,” Anderson said. “I’m really excited and I think it’s a perfect fit for me. I’m really excited for next year. I’m really happy with my decision.”
Excitement is an understatement for Anderson — formerly a Peninsula High School student who has taken online classes exclusively as a senior to better accommodate her travel and competition schedule — as she found on a visit that there wasn’t much she didn’t like about the school.
“I loved the coach and the team when I went down there to visit,” Anderson said. “The campus is beautiful. The weather was a big part of deciding on where to go. I wanted to go somewhere where it was sunny and I got to play outside tennis so that was a huge bonus.”
“I just had that feeling inside that this is the place I want to be.”
She was not only impressed with the athletics at the school but she also found a supportive environment for her academic passions as well.
“The school really supports the athletes, the student-athletes so that was a great plus also,” Anderson said. “I’m going to study exercise science with an emphasis in sports performance. I’m just really interested in nutrition and physical therapy so I think that’s the thing I would like to do for a while after college.”
It wasn’t the only school she was looking at, however, as it came down to two schools until Grand Canyon won out. “It was between Grand Canyon and Eastern Washington University, both great schools,” Anderson said. “It came down to the weather part and I just liked the campus better at Grand Canyon. I just felt it was a better fit for me.”
Another factor was the coach at Grand Canyon, Greg Prudhomme, who she found to be someone she was on the same page with.
“He’s very positive. He’s a deep thinker and he’s very good for me mentally,” Anderson said. “We just really instantly connected. He’s a really positive guy and it’s just a really positive atmosphere.”
Prudhomme not only talked a big game, he also put in the recruiting work to get Anderson to his school as he had traveled to meet with her as well as watch her play.
“He flew to San Diego to watch me play at the tournament in August,” Anderson said. “He saw a huge upside to my matches and we’re both really excited to make a plan about how to improve my game.”
He didn’t just watch, he also had talked with her about what she could do to improve her game and hone her skills. “Definitely work on my offensive game. I was doing that in my matches but I have a lot of room to improve,” Anderson said. “We’re both excited about working on that and changing my game up a little bit to be more offensive. Just areas of improvement in all parts of my game. That’s good for a coach to see that so when I go into college I have a lot of things to work on.”
What specifically is she hoping that she will develop and work on for college?
“Coming to the net more, hitting it harder, and finishing points at the net,” Anderson said. “I made a commitment last June to work on being a more aggressive player so I can improve and be a better player. That’s what I’ve been really working on.”
While she is from Gig Harbor, Anderson frequently would travel not just to play but also to practice.
“I’ve been training in Seattle,” Anderson said. “I was in Gig Harbor so that’s a drive. I stay up there during the week and I train up there.”
Her academics have been somewhat unorthodox for a high school student as she usually had to make time to travel out of state for tournaments.
“I was going to Peninsula High School. I did go there for a year,” Anderson said. “Then I had to go to online school because I was just gone from school a lot because of traveling for tournaments all over the country. I wasn’t at school that much so it was just hard.”
This rigorous schedule had it ups and downs as she was playing against some of the very players in the country.
“I usually play two big tournaments a month,” Anderson said. “Some of them went great. I would make it to the semifinals or I would win doubles. Then some of them, I would have a really tough draw and have to play a top player in the tournament and then lose. It just really is luck of the draw I think. Some of them I played great in. Some of them were great learning experiences for me.”
She does have a primary coach, Eric Drew, that has helped her train for these tournaments. A former college player and an All-American at the University of Washington, Drew saw potential in Anderson early on.
“Right away I recognized she was a very good athlete,” Drew said. “Taylor was just always staying at it.”
He not only looks to her past, however, he also thinks that she has a lot of potential in her future as well.
“I’m extremely happy for her,” Drew said. “I think she’s going to have a great career. I think she’s going to enjoy the whole team atmosphere. I think she’s going to have a lot of fun finally being a part of a team.”
Anderson shares in those high aspirations and desire to succeed as a team.
“I would love to end up playing top in the lineup and going to the NCAA’s as a team,” Anderson said. “Those are definitely my two major goals.”
What is it going to take to get there?
“A lot of hard work. A lot of trusting the process and trying to improve,” Anderson said. “Every practice has something that I want to work on and focus on improving. A lot of positivity. I think those are the key things.”
This echoes what Drew has been teaching her and he predicts that these values will pay off for her down the line. “I think that’s the main thing for her she’s now starting to understand you just trust the process. Day in and day out, you keep working hard,” Drew said. “I think that’s going to bode well for her as she gets into college now.”
He also sees the growth in her play and the things she has learned from said process. “Now I think as she’s going into college she’s now learning how to be a well rounded player. Both offensively and defensively.” Drew said. “She’s learning how to be aggressive and take advantage of her athleticism in getting to the net.”
No matter what happens, college tennis will be a welcome change for her game as she no longer will be a team of one and will instead have a team around her. “In the juniors before college, it is very lonely. You travel by yourself. It’s a one against one thing,” Anderson said. “As a team, it’ll be the whole team together against a whole other team. I really like the team atmosphere so it’ll be a lot better. I’m really excited for that part.”
That loneliness is something that she is not alone in feeling as tennis is not like most other team sports, especially when she is not in an area that has as much opportunity as elsewhere.
“Tennis is a real tough sport. It’s an isolating sport,” Drew said. “There’s not a lot of opportunities out where they live being in Gig Harbor and not being in any big tennis mecca like California or Florida. If you’re in the northwest, you really have to be resourceful as far as scheduling your own hits and going to different practices. It’s a big commitment for the family as well.”
That commitment also has its share of challenges as sometimes there are some rough patches where you aren’t 100 percent healthy but Anderson has come back from these challenges stronger than ever. “She has come back from a few injuries, a few things health-wise that kind of set her back,” Drew said.
Her biggest setback was one that took her out for several months where she could almost play no tennis.
“I had a setback last year because I had mono so I was out for a solid eight months,” Anderson said. “That was really tough for me.”
How did she get through that time? It wasn’t easy but she had a good support network to assist her. “I hit maybe once a week if I was feeling okay,” Anderson said. “I spent a lot of time with my family and friends and just focused on school to try to take my mind off of not being able to play. It was really hard. That hadn’t happened to me before, I’ve always played so much tennis. It was an experience definitely.”
Her commitment and never-say-die spirit in overcoming these challenges has earned her praise in how she has continued to battle. “She just continued to do it: persevere through things as many of us have to at certain points in our life,” Drew said. “She’s always just shown that, the ability to work hard on improving her game and finding different ways to get workouts and traveling when you can.”
With that challenging experience behind her, she is now trying to get back into the swing of things.
“I just quit everything for tennis,” Anderson said. “I do like being independent on the court. I like how it’s all up to me. If I lose or if I win.”
Not only does she value the independence, she also wanted to stick with a sport that she was good at.
“I felt I was better at tennis also compared to other sports I’ve played,” Anderson said. “I love competing one on one. That’s what I like most of all.”
It isn’t just the game itself either. Anderson finds community in the sport and has been able to see places she might not have seen otherwise.
“I like meeting people. I’ve met people from all over the world,” Anderson said. “I love traveling to big tournaments. I just didn’t exactly get that with soccer or other sports I’ve played.”
The other aspect that sets it apart is about the requirement that you keep a cool head in an intense environment. “It is mentally hard,” Anderson said. “People play mental games and it’s all about who is more mentally tough on the court and who wants it more. That just makes everything more exciting or more nerve racking.”
How does she overcome some of these nerves? She has a pregame routine that cuts through all the noise.
“I listen to music. I go through my warmup. When I feel really prepared to play, is when I’m most mentally tough,” Anderson said. “I listen to hip hop and rap, stuff like that.”
She also has a way to destress after her intense matches as well.
“After matches, my mom and I always try to drive around and check out the area. Usually we go to places we’ve never been before,” Anderson said. “I was just in Hawaii for a tournament so after the matches we went shopping and to the beach and did some touring.”
“That’s pretty calming to take my mind off the matches.”
What is on her mind now is her future and the opportunities she will now have access to moving out of the PNW.
“There’s a cap to how good you can be when you’re from the northwest so you have to travel down south a lot to get that good hitting and that good training,” Anderson said. “I went to many academies for training for a couple weeks and then came back just to get that extra edge.”
With no offense to Washington, she is now looking to a new state and conference where she sees a lot of good competition that she will get to play in. “Arizona is a great state for tennis. A lot of great tennis players have come out of Arizona,” Anderson said. “The conference we’re in, there’s going to be great players.”
Another difference is that Anderson is going to a team that will have a majority number of international players which is something she is excited about.
“I think it’s awesome being able to meet people from all over the world. I really like that,” Anderson said. “It’s a great diversity and I’m really looking forward to getting to meet them more.”
This speaks to who she is beyond being just a tennis player.
“It’s just fun to watch people as they grow up. She has gotten more independent now,” Drew said. “The thing that I’ve noticed about her is that she is continually challenging herself to not only be a better person but a better tennis player. I mean, that’s everything.”
Her next challenge will be the biggest one yet. But if her track record of overcoming challenges are any indication, she is more than up to the task.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 6:00 AM.