Indiana University Athletics
Freshmen Making Impact for Hoosiers
2/5/2016 8:53:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Afonso Salgado was a soccer player — he was sure of it.
He'd played since the age of 4, with plans, at age 11, to move away from his home of Cascais, Portugal, to pursue a future in the region's most sought-after sport.
Then, his dad handed him a tennis racket.
"Since that day I completely stopped soccer," Salgado said. "All I wanted to do was play tennis."
It's that level of passion that led Indiana's freshmen to follow their dreams of playing collegiate tennis overseas.
For Salgado, the move came before his freshman year of high school, when his dad took a job in Miami.
For fellow freshman Antonio Cembellin of Ávila, Spain, it didn't come until this past August.
Until then, all he and head coach Jeremy Wurtzman had to go off of were the phone calls they shared and a 10-minute high-light reel that Cembellin posted to YouTube — it was the video he used to get the attention of college scouts.
When Cembellin arrived for fall classes, it was the first opportunity Wurtzman had to examine Cembellin's game since he signed his national letter of intent.
"The tennis is different here," Cembellin said. "It's tougher mentally, and I think it's tougher physically too. But if you love tennis, you love it."
In their first season with Indiana, Cembellin and Salgado have had to adjust to more than the usual changes that come with being a freshman athlete.
Bloomington, for example, is the first place Salgado has lived where it snows.
He and Cembellin — roommates — awoke one morning to find the world outside blanketed in white. On their walk from the dorms to the Tennis Center, Salgado joked about how someone could easily slip in that kind of weather.
Five minutes later, Cembellin fell. The two cracked up laughing.
"That marked the first snow day here in Bloomington," Salgado said.
Salgado was the first recruit signed by Wurtzman. His unofficial visit wasn't until his birthday, May 8, when the season was over and all the current players were already home.
His decision to play at Indiana, then, came down to the coaching staff, who impressed him by flying down to Miami to see him compete the day after his visit.
"We knew that he would be a big part of our success moving forward, so we wanted to show him what he meant to us," Wurtzman said.
Salgado's height, style of play and work ethic were all qualities Wurtzman sought when recruiting him.
But above all else was his intensity, an aspect, Salgado said, that is important to him in all areas of life, tennis especially.
Wurtzman said Salgado has the ability to be a hype man on the court — a difficult feat to achieve, on a team of five seniors.
"When he plays his best tennis, he's very high energy, he's pumping himself up, he's looking to the guys and trying to get them their best tennis," he said. "We like to build on energy and positive atmosphere."
On a team with such a strong veteran presence, Wurtzman said Salgado and Cembellin's primary role is to be little brothers and soak everything in, a role they've acclimated to well.
The more comfortable they get with the collegiate game, the better tennis they have ahead them.
But for the freshmen and their families, making it this far already means a great deal, something Salgado's dad made clear when his son officially committed to Indiana on May 20 — his birthday.
"He told me it was the best gift I could have given to him," Salgado said.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Afonso Salgado was a soccer player — he was sure of it.
He'd played since the age of 4, with plans, at age 11, to move away from his home of Cascais, Portugal, to pursue a future in the region's most sought-after sport.
Then, his dad handed him a tennis racket.
"Since that day I completely stopped soccer," Salgado said. "All I wanted to do was play tennis."
It's that level of passion that led Indiana's freshmen to follow their dreams of playing collegiate tennis overseas.
For Salgado, the move came before his freshman year of high school, when his dad took a job in Miami.
For fellow freshman Antonio Cembellin of Ávila, Spain, it didn't come until this past August.
Until then, all he and head coach Jeremy Wurtzman had to go off of were the phone calls they shared and a 10-minute high-light reel that Cembellin posted to YouTube — it was the video he used to get the attention of college scouts.
When Cembellin arrived for fall classes, it was the first opportunity Wurtzman had to examine Cembellin's game since he signed his national letter of intent.
"The tennis is different here," Cembellin said. "It's tougher mentally, and I think it's tougher physically too. But if you love tennis, you love it."
In their first season with Indiana, Cembellin and Salgado have had to adjust to more than the usual changes that come with being a freshman athlete.
Bloomington, for example, is the first place Salgado has lived where it snows.
He and Cembellin — roommates — awoke one morning to find the world outside blanketed in white. On their walk from the dorms to the Tennis Center, Salgado joked about how someone could easily slip in that kind of weather.
Five minutes later, Cembellin fell. The two cracked up laughing.
"That marked the first snow day here in Bloomington," Salgado said.
Salgado was the first recruit signed by Wurtzman. His unofficial visit wasn't until his birthday, May 8, when the season was over and all the current players were already home.
His decision to play at Indiana, then, came down to the coaching staff, who impressed him by flying down to Miami to see him compete the day after his visit.
"We knew that he would be a big part of our success moving forward, so we wanted to show him what he meant to us," Wurtzman said.
Salgado's height, style of play and work ethic were all qualities Wurtzman sought when recruiting him.
But above all else was his intensity, an aspect, Salgado said, that is important to him in all areas of life, tennis especially.
Wurtzman said Salgado has the ability to be a hype man on the court — a difficult feat to achieve, on a team of five seniors.
"When he plays his best tennis, he's very high energy, he's pumping himself up, he's looking to the guys and trying to get them their best tennis," he said. "We like to build on energy and positive atmosphere."
On a team with such a strong veteran presence, Wurtzman said Salgado and Cembellin's primary role is to be little brothers and soak everything in, a role they've acclimated to well.
The more comfortable they get with the collegiate game, the better tennis they have ahead them.
But for the freshmen and their families, making it this far already means a great deal, something Salgado's dad made clear when his son officially committed to Indiana on May 20 — his birthday.
"He told me it was the best gift I could have given to him," Salgado said.
Players Mentioned
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