Tennis Feature Meet Hillsdale’s German tennis player

Lennart Kober on playing tennis in the U.S., fast food, and American patriotism

By Thomas McKenna Assistant Editor

Freshman Lennart Kober does not remember the first time he picked up a tennis racket.

“My mom thought I was too young to start playing at five years old,” Kober said.

“But I really wanted to play. I played with her a few times and then started practicing with my club.”

Kober arrived at Hillsdale last fall as one of the three new additions to the Hillsdale men’s tennis roster. Unlike his fellow freshmen, who hail from Georgia and Massachusetts, Kober grew up in Paderborn, Germany.

“As a child, I saw tennis as a fun sport to do,” Kober said. “I was not really that ambitious to play tournaments every weekend.”

Kober competed for his local club, TuRa Elsen, throughout his entire childhood until he reached his final year of high school.

“I transferred to a new club,” Kober said. “When I decided I wanted to play college tennis, that’s when I was like, ‘I have to do more to be able to play in college as well.’ The last year I lived in Germany I was really playing a lot.”

During his final year in high school, Kober’s mother encouraged him to play college tennis in the U.S.

“She thought it would be a cool opportunity for me just to practice English and study abroad, which would be nice,” Kober said. “The last year, I played a lot and I was wanting to play more. She was just like, ‘I mean, if you want to you can just try it.’ I said ‘okay, why not just try it?’”

Kober said he emailed between 50 and 100 colleges in the U.S., seeking a school with good academics and a strong tennis program that could offer him a scholarship.

“Lennart reached out to me via email with a playing video last January,” head coach Keith Turner said. “My first reaction was that he had solid fundamentals and strong academics. Obviously getting accepted to Hills- dale is very difficult. In my experience, very few international players are able to get accepted here.”

Twenty-one international students currently attend Hillsdale College, nine of whom are varsity athletes, according to Financial Aid Director Rich Moeggenberg. Kober said Hillsdale was the only DII school that gave him a “valid” offer he considered.

“As soon as I saw what they could give me in scholarship and what they could offer me, I was deciding to go to Hillsdale,” Kober said.

Kober said he doesn’t know his own height — he estimates 6 feet, 5 inches — but he knows he is now the tallest player on the Hillsdale tennis team. Turner said Kober’s height caught his eye.

“The video he gave me showed a tall lefty which is a bonus,” Turner said. “He had good strokes. I saw him as a guy who wouldn’t necessarily be a lineup guy right away, but someone who had a lot of potential.”

While he participated in fall tournaments, Kober has yet to compete for the Chargers in conference play. However, Kober said he is honing his craft on the court.

“I’m working on my serves,” Kober said. “I’m tall, so I can have a really good serve because I can basically just slap the ball down. The taller you are, the better the angle to just smack the ball above the net.”

Tennis in Europe is usually played on clay while the sport in the U.S. is played on hard court, asphalt or concrete. Kober said he prefers the American style.

“I like playing on hard court,” Kober said. “We play on clay in Germany. It’s faster here, I like that.”

In addition to harder courts, spectators and fellow players are also noisier in the States, according to Kober.

“It’s louder here,” Kober said. “People cheer a lot and scream. I like that. You can feel the competition.”

Kober and his teammates said he is often loud himself.

“He’s very nervous when he plays tennis, so when he