W. Tennis | Schiffman can't stay away from her Quakers

By JENNIFER SCUTERI

Staff Writer

scuteri@dailypennsylvanian.com

As a freshman on the Penn women's tennis team, Lauren Sadaka looked to senior captain Sara Schiffman as the leader of the squad. Now, a senior and captain herself, Sadaka once again finds herself looking up to Schiffman - this time, as her head coach.

Schiffman, who graduated from Penn in 2006 after serving as a captain for two years, was named the interim head coach upon the resignation of former head coach Mike Dowd at the end of the fall semseter.

When Dowd resigned - due to the stress of two conflicting jobs, according to Penn Athletics - he asked Schiffman, his then-assistant coach, to fill his position for the start of the spring season.

With the history Dowd and Schiffman share, the proposal was far from out of the blue. It was, after all, Dowd, who in his 12-year tenure with the program, managed to recruit Schiffman out of Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa. In both Dowd and his organization, Schiffman found all she could ever want.

"When I was in high school, I used to come and watch the team play just because I love to watch tennis and it was close by," Schiffman said. "And then I just got to know and watch the team play and got to see the coaches and just really fell in love with the school in general. I applied early. I knew it was where I really wanted to be."

Her time here on campus as a student-athlete was well spent. Before her 2006 graduation, Schiffman managed to compile an impressive athletic resume: two trips to the NCAA tournament to go along with the title of captain her junior and senior years.

Schiffman was a psychology major, and it seems she wasn't the kind of athlete who used class time as nap time.

"I took a positive psychology class that I really liked and I try to use that a little bit when I'm coaching as well," she said.

Following her graduation, Schiffman enrolled at Columbia to take classes towards receiving her master's degree in organizational psychology. During the time she spent away from Penn and the women's tennis program, she realized how much it meant to her.

It was then that she put her classes on hold in order to return back to the City of Brotherly Love to work with her former coach and teammates.

Despite the often-tricky transition from player to coach, now, two years later, Schiffman finds her experiences as a Penn player have only added to her coaching abilities.

"Knowing what they've been through and knowing what their daily schedules were, I was able to relate to them very well," Schiffman said, "but at the same time I was able to be a coach and help them as well."

Sophomore singles player Alexa Ely is impressed with how her coach has handled the switch from court to sideline.

"Even some of the greatest players aren't great coaches and even some of the greatest coaches weren't great players," Ely said, "but I think that experience can only help."

Despite the loss of many of last year's senior power-houses like Yulia Rivelis and Julia Koulbitskaya, Schiffman believes that the women's tennis program only has room to grow, especially with the current renovations of both the indoor and outdoor facilities.

Now, the interim coach will do her best to assure that she is around to see the payoff of the investments.

"I hope I'm here for the next 20 years," Schiffman said. "I can't say enough good things about the team and the program and the school in general."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.