Shaun’s Blog

Wow, it’s been quite month here on campus. I’m sure all of those reading this have been aware of the events. Firstly, the horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon and then the hunt to find the same perpetrators who shot an MIT police officer. These events tug at my heart, and well as the rest of Boston.

#BostonStrong

Events like this really put things in perspective and has helped our tennis team appreciate the opportunity to play the game much more. Not everyone has the opportunity to play a sport they are really passionate about and we are very fortunate to be where we are, doing what we love.

Maybe it was this new found perspective that fueled our motivation as we took the ivy league season by storm this year. It is always special to play any match, but the Ivy League matches are always a bit more competitive and exciting. We started off the season by hosting the Columbia lions and Cornell Bears, and got through both matches 4-3 and 6-1 respectively.

Team lining up for the National Anthem

The following weekend we made the tough road trip to Princeton and Penn. Our first match was against Princeton, and they came out enthusiastic, with a large fan contingent. It is matches like this that make you realize how much you love playing the game. I’m not sure how to describe it, but there is something about a hundred rowdy fans hollering at you that makes you appreciate what it means to be out of the court, representing Harvard. These atmospheres are really special as it’s truly amazing to see how many people care enough to come out to something you are very passionate about. Our team was unfazed throughout the match and were able grab a competitive 5-2 win. Next up for us was a match-up with the Quakers, and we were able to escape away with a 4-3 win to end a very long road trip.

We were scheduled to play Brown on the following Friday, but because of the tragic events that ensued in Boston throughout the week, the match was postponed to the following week. Being on campus during the Boston bombings and police chase are something that I will never forget. It wasn’t the fact that I felt I was in danger, but rather, I have never seen the Harvard Community closer together through these troubling times. Everyone was there for each other, and made you feel that nothing could hurt you.

While the events were deeply saddening, we had to make sure we were ready for our next match. Next up for us was our annual Harvard-Yale match. A lot of alumni made it out to this match, and this match proved to be another highly contested battle. Once again, we were able to pull out a 5-2 win. Our next match was slated for the following Thursday, against Brown. It was our senior day and we honored our one senior, Andy Nguyen, before the match started. From the start of the doubles matches, it was clear that Brown came with their A game and really took it to us. We were able to fight back in the singles, but we weren’t able to pull away with a win as we lost 4-3 for our first ivy league loss of the season.

Competing in singles match against Yale

Team picture with HMT alumni after the match

This meant that we had one more ivy league match against Dartmouth, with the ivy title on the line. We headed up to Hanover on a perfect day, with a goal in our minds. Starting in the doubles, all three teams were in top form as they all pulled out their matches. Heading into the singles we kept the momentum rolling and were able to take five of the six singles matches to take a 6-1 win and clinch the ivy league title outright. It was a great way to end the ivy season and a fine way to send off our only senior.

HMT after the Dartmouth match

After the ivy league season we had a couple of weeks to focus on school and attend other events. The most notable event I attended was a talk with Andre Agassi(former No. 1 tennis player in the world). He talked about his experiences with the game and life after he retired. He talked about having a passion and make sure you give yourself every opportunity to succeed. Being a student athlete it was great to hear him talk about his experiences and be close to someone who accomplished so much in the sport. Next up for us is the NCAA tournament this week! Stay tuned for updates!

HMT members with Andre Agassi

Hey Everyone!

Congratulations to all those who got into Harvard this year! You all worked extremely hard and now have the opportunity to visit colleges and decide which college environment fits you best.

For this blog entry I wanted to share a video I made last year. In the video, I give my perspective of what Harvard is really like. I hope you all enjoy it.

Here is a link to the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=or5jLahIHpg

Hey Everyone! I hope you enjoyed your spring break(or are currently enjoying it)! On the Thursday before the break, we had our annual Housing Day. On this day, upperclassmen storm the freshmen yard, and welcome them to the upperclassmen dorm that they have been assigned to. The process is random, and creates a lot of excitement on campus. My roommates and I stormed the yard and welcomed lucky freshmen to our upperclassmen dorm, Winthrop House. Here is a link to the crimson’s video of Harvard’s housing day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVh2B5pDS0M

My roommates and I on Housing Day!

For my spring break, I traveled to San Diego with the tennis team. We were competing in the Mission Valley Tennis Classic hosted by San Diego State University. We left the Friday March 15th, and stayed until Sunday the 24th. I am originally from California, so it was great to leave the chilly east coast for a couple of days. At Harvard, we primarily play indoors for most of the year, so the first couple of days in California were spent training outdoors to get used to the heat and weather conditions.

HMT practicing at UCSD’s tennis courts

In the first round of the tournament, we played the University of Alabama Birmingham. We were able to win the doubles point and 3 singles matches for a nice 4-1 win. The next day we played the host school, San Diego State University. We were able to take the doubles point and 3 more singles matches to take out the home favorite. On the last day we played top seeded Drake University. After a very boisterous doubles point we took a 1-0 lead. The singles proved to be even more competitive as many matches went to a third set. In the end our sensational freshmen, Nicky Hu was able to edge his opponent in a third set tiebreaker to help us clinch the match in a dramatic fashion.My dad was also able to come watch us play so it was nice to see him as well. Living on the east coast, I only see my family two or three times a year, so I am really glad he came down and could watch me play. The stay was also really special because we stayed with host families for the duration of our trip. Most of the families are Harvard alumni, and it is always interesting to hear about their experiences in college, and pursuits after college.

HMT wins the Mission Valley Tennis Classic!

We returned to the East Coast on Sunday night and classes resumed on Monday. The Spring Break was definitely relaxing and I now  feel ready to tackle the last couple months of school! Thanks for reading this post, and best of luck with college decisions in a couple of days!

Hey Everyone! I can’t believe that it is already mid-march. Regular decisions are coming out soon, and before I talk about experiences from the last couple of weeks, I wanted to wish you all best of luck!

School has been going well. This semester I am taking 4 classes While I enjoy all my classes, the two classes that I’m really passionate about are my Computer Science and Economic Tutorial Class. As an economics concentrator, all sophomores are required to take economics tutorial focused on a topic that they find interesting. My tutorial is focused on National Security and has been really fascinating. My computer science class has also been great. It is the very introductory level computer science class(CS 1), and is extremely well taught. I was a little hesitant about taking this class, but it has been my favorite class of my Harvard career so far!

Front Gate of Winthrop House, my sophomore dorm!

For tennis, we traveled to Chicago to play Northwestern and Vanderbilt in a double header. On the first day we took on the home favorite Northwestern Wildcats. In college dual matches you start with 3 doubles matches, and follow up with 6 singles matches. The team that wins the majority of the doubles matches(2 out of 3) receives one point. Then each singles match counts as one point. We won the doubles point, but fell behind 3-1. Our four remaining matches were able to come back, as fellow sophomore, Denis Nguyen was able to help the crimson to a 4-3 victory with a win at the top spot. On the second day we faced tough SEC rival Vanderbilt. We had a tough 4-3 battle with them the previous year, so we knew this year would be no different. After winning the doubles point, we were entrenched in a battle on all six courts. We were able to pull away for a 3-0 lead, but they managed to cut the deficit to 3-2 with a couple of spirited wins. I was able to pull it out for the crimson with a tough three set win, and we held on for a 4-3 win.

HMT in Chicago with alums Ashwin Kumar ’08 and Ali Felton ’12

After an exciting weekend in Chicago, we headed to Cornell for the ECAC Championships. For the first time, we faced other Ivy League teams as a warm-up for the ivy league championships in April. We faced three tough teams, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell. We were able to take out Yale and Princeton, 4-2 and 4-3 respectively, but fell to Cornell 4-2. Overall it was a great weekend of tennis, but it was definitely nice to head back to Cambridge.

In addition to tennis, I had a chance to travel for another one of my passions, chess. Because tennis and school takes up a lot of my time, I have not been as active as I’ve been in the past, but was delighted at the opportunity to compete for Harvard at the Ivy League Chess Tournament. Columbia hosted the tournament, so I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in New York City, and was graciously hosted by the Columbia Men’s Tennis Team. The chess tournament had four rounds, and we ended up taking first in the U1800 rating category! I really bonded with my teammates and we all had a great weekend.

Harvard Chess at Ivy League Tournament in New York.

Harvard Chess Teammates!

So the past few weekends have been filled with school, tennis, chess and travel, but I have had time to hang out with the people that make this Harvard experience so special. While you learn a lot from the classes, and participating in athletic events, you learn a lot from the eager peers that surround you. It’s these people who help you push yourself harder than you thought possible and achieve far more than previously anticipated. It is a really special group of people, and something I will always treasure.

Thanks for reading this entry, stay tuned for next week!

Hey everyone! First of all, Happy Valentines Day! Sorry for a little bit of delay, but I took some time to rest and recover over the break. So, after finals in December, I headed back to Northern California, and enjoyed couple of weeks at home before returning back to the east coast. I came back to campus on January 11th, to start training for the spring season for tennis.

We started off the season by having our annual fitness test of 25 dominators, which are basically line suicides. After passing the test, we enjoyed a couple weeks of intense practice with no academic commitments.

Team picture after passing the fitness challenge

In the last week of January, the tennis team traveled to Oklahoma to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. In the first match we played Notre Dame and came away with a close 4-3 win. In the next round we played against the top seed Oklahoma and lost 4-0. It was great experience to play two high ranked teams, and it was the first time I had ever been to Oklahoma.

Harvard vs. Notre Dame

Team Yoga in the hotel prior to matches

After the weekend of traveling, we started the first week of classes. For the first week of classes, students have the choice to shop any class they find interesting. At the end of the week you have to submit a form with the final list of classes you want to take. After much consideration, I decided to take Economics 1010(2nd year economics course), sophomore tutorial for economics(which is required for everyone majoring in economics), Spanish Ab, and Computer Science 1. After the first week of classes, we headed to New York and played at the Billy Jean National Indoor Tennis Center. This is the same site where the U.S. Open is held, so it was a great experience. We split our matches with St. Johns and Alabama going 1-1.

Before the break there were several great events worth mentioning. The Men’s Tennis Team hosted a luncheon at the Faculty Club where several professors and faculty members attended. We had a great meal and each professor gave us some advice regarding the rest of our time in college as well as plans after.

Team Luncheon at the Faculty Club

I also attended the Eliot House formal, which is a dance formal hosted by an upperclassmen dorm. I went with the senior captain on the girls tennis team, and we had a great time.

Eliot House Winter Formal

That’s it for this post! Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day and stay tuned for the next entry!

Hey everyone! I hope you had great Thanksgiving! The last several weeks on campus have been interesting and full of new experiences!

For the first time I celebrated el Día de los Muertes. This is a Mexican holdiay, that focuses on the gatherings of family and friends to pray and remember friends and family members who have died. For our Spanish class, each student brought a picture of a family friend or someone famous whom have passed away. We then decorated the picture with images, colors, and glitter and hung the murals on the wall to remember and celebrate their lives.

Celebrating the lives of family and friends on Mexican Holiday, Dia de Los Muertos

After celebrating Día de los Muertos, the men’s tennis team headed to Virginia for our last tournament of the fall. In the tournament, we played several matches against William and Mary, Notre Dame, and Old Dominion. After the tournament we walked around William and Mary’s campus, and took our annual picture at the Sunken Gardens.

HMT at the “Sunken Garden” at William and Mary

On November 11th, the students at Harvard celebrated Diwali in one of the upperclassmen houses, Lowell House. Diwali is known as the festival of lights and is one of the most important Hindhu festivals of the year. Commonly it is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities in their homes. While Diwali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”, the most significant spiritual meaning is “the awareness of the inner light”. Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal.  The celebration of Diwali as the “victory of good over evil”, refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one’s true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite,  and transcendent reality. The house masters for Lowell House were kind enough to host Diwali in their home. They hosted an Indian Puja(prayer) and sang several bhajans(songs). Afterword, we had an authentic Indian Dinner to celebrate the occasion.

Class of 2015 photo at Diwali

The weekend of 17-18th marked the 129th Harvard-Yale Football Game. There was a special vibe on campus as many Harvard alumni and Yale students swarm Harvard’s campus. The Friends of Harvard Tennis hosted a tailgate in the Beren Tennis Center, so we had a chance to meet  many of the Harvard Tennis Alumni that were present. It was great to hear about their experiences in college as well as their pursuits after graduation.  The football game was also very entertaining, but the social experience of the Harvard-Yale game was really special.

Alumni Chris Clayton ’09 (far right) joins our team for a workout during Harvard-Yale weekend

Lastly, I once again spent Thanksgiving at a friend’s house. The Steinroeder Family were kind enough to host me again this year, and it was great to spend a couple of days away from campus before returning for the final stretch of the semester. Happy Holidays everyone!

Hey Everyone! Happy Halloween! I know that early action applications are due in a couple of days so I wanted to wish everyone the best of luck!

School has been going pretty well. We finished our first round of midterms a couple of weeks ago, and our second set of midterms are not for another couple of weeks. This leaves a little more time to engage in school activities. I had the chance attend a couple of Indian Puja’s hosted by the Harvard Dharma club, and I was able to be more involved a club called “On Harvard Time”(OHT). OHT is a comedic club that creates weekly segments about various events both on and off campus. While I have only been to a couple of meetings this year, everyone in the club is really nice, and is passionate about what they do.

The highlight of the week had to be attending “Club Ex” which was a dance show hosted by the Expressions(a Harvard hip-hop dance crew). One of the members of the dance team, went to my high school, so I decided to go to root her on. I didn’t really know what to expect, but every performance was full of energy and passion , and it was a highly entertaining evening.

Expressions Dance Company perfoming

The last couple weeks have also been full of intense practice and competitions on the weekends. We first traveled to Yale and competed at the Northeast Regional Championships. Here, every team in the Northeast brought players so it was a good assessment to see the competition we will face in the spring season.

Northeast Regionals at Yale

After the Regional Tournament, Harvard hosted the Harvard Halloween Invite. Here we played at the Murr Tennis Center against players from Dartmouth, Brown, Amherst, Tufts, and Army. Now, the fall season for tennis is almost over as we travel to Virginia in two weeks for our last tournament of 2012.

Harvard Halloween Invite

While we have been experiencing great weather all year so far, Hurricane Sandy has made its way to campus and has made quite the ruckus. Classes were cancelled, this past Monday, for the first time since 1978. While it seems the storm has passed by here, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the families where the hurricane really caused a lot of damage, such as New Jersey and New York. Hope everyone stays dry and safe.

It seems like we have only been on campus for a short period of time, yet we already find ourselves in October! I’ve been in full speed in all areas of my life, so it’s not surprising that the first month has flown by so fast. We are currently in full practice mod, for tennis, which consists of practice, strength workouts, as well as agility conditioning. As for school, we are currently having our first midterms this week.

Harvard Men’s Tennis 2012 Team Picture

Agility Conditioning at the Football Stadium

For tennis, we had our first tournament of the fall, last week, in Napa, California. Here we had the opportunity to play tennis in one of the most beautiful locations I have ever seen. The tennis club was surrounded by trees and wild-life. In addition to the tennis we had several other events to help us explore the beauty of Napa Valley. We were given a tour of a local winery where we learned all the behind the scenes work involved in the wine-making process. In addition to learning about the wine-making process, we stumbled across the owner’s race-car collection. It included several old-school porsches. We also stayed with host families who treated us with great hospitality. Overall, it was a great trip and I hope to return back soon.

Four members competing in Napa Valley

Tour of the winery

The “secret” collection of the owner of the winery

In addition to tennis, school has been going well. I’m taking four classes this semester: Economics 1010, Applied Math 21a, Spanish, and Culture and Belief 22. I am really enjoying my math and culture and belief class, and feel that my schedule is pretty manageable. The next month will get interesting, as all the sophomores will be expected to declare their concentrations(major). Once we declare our concentration, we will be assigned to advisers who will oversee us in our field of study. It is an exciting time as we start to take more classes associated to our major, and less general classes.

That’s all for this post! I have a couple of midterms this week, and will resume the tennis schedule the following week, as we travel down to Yale for the fall regional tournament.

Similar to most years, it seems like the summer months pass faster than normal, and you find yourself at the start of another exciting year. This past summer has been one of the most rewarding summers of my life, but I am definitely excited to be back on campus for another school year.

I officially ended the internship at the Pac-12 Conference in mid-August and traveled to New York for a week before heading back to campus. My time at the Pac-12 Conference was extremely rewarding, as I had the opportunity to work with a lot of really interesting people from really different backgrounds. This was my first time in the work force, and I learned some really valuable lessons. The most important lesson was to always remain curious about what you are doing. If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. I felt that everyone at the Pac-12 really loved what they did and, as a result, it was great environment to work in.

After leaving the Pac-12, I had a chance to compete in a grass court tournament in New York. I made the trip with a couple of Harvard teammates, and this was the first time any of us had a chance to play on the grass, so it was a new experience. The tournament hosted several formal events, so we had a chance to relax and unwind after some intense matches. After the tournament, I headed back to campus for the start of my sophomore year.

Overall, I leave this summer with many positive memories, and I look towards this school year with mixed emotions. I am excited for the new year, but there is always certain feelings of anxiety and doubt as well. Unlike freshmen year, your sophomore year bears more responsibilities, such as declaring your concentration(major), and you start to feel the expectations of the outside world. It is nearly impossible to predict what lessons I will learn, or what journeys I will embark on, but that is where the true fun lies. Looking back on my freshmen year I could not have predicted how the year would turn out. All my four year plans and schedules I made on the first day were inaccurate and are long gone. Each day brought new twists and turns and amidst all the unpredictability, I experienced the most rewarding year of my life. For this very reason I will not try and predict where I will be at the end of my sophomore year because if history is to repeats itself(as it does so often) I would simply be wasting my time. Instead I look to my sophomore year with a smile as I’m sure it will lead to something far greater and more rewarding than I could have possibly imagined.

Pictures from the last couple weeks of summer:

Pac-12 Networks Launch Television Network

Pac-12 Digital

With teammates at tournament in New York

Watching Andy Murray at the U.S. Open

As promised, here is the firsthand account of my experience at the Pac-12. Just to give a quick introduction, the Pac-12 athletic conference consists of 12 member schools (Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah). The Pac-12 conference recently expanded, adding the Pac-12 Enterprises, with one office in Walnut Creek, CA, and a new office location in San Francisco California. When I started working, in late May, everyone in the company worked out of the Walnut Creek office, but once the new office opened in San Francisco,  my group moved there.

The Pac-12 Enterprises is in charge of launching the Pac-12 networks, which consists of six regional networks, and one national network that will be dedicated to broadcasting every varsity sport at the Pac-12 schools. This task is a huge undertaking, as the Pac-12 Enterprises is taking 100% ownership of the scheduling, producing and distribution of the video content, something no other conference has tried to do. To accommodate this extensive project, the new office in San Francisco has several full size studios with multiple “dark rooms” used for editing and processing the videos. Comcast, one of the our television distributors, occupies the first floor, while the Pac-12 enterprises occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building.

New Office Entrance

Interior pictures of the San Francisco Office

The Pac-12 Networks is planning to launch with TV everywhere, where you can watch the Pac-12 channel from any mobile device (Ipad, Iphone, web, etc.) as well as on a television set. As an intern on the Digital Team, we are in charge of creating the visual design and functionality of the digital broadcast (web and Ipad viewing) of the Pac-12 Networks. In addition to creating the digital content, we are in charge of relaunching the Pac-12 conference website.

When I started working here, I honestly didn’t really know what to expect. As my internship comes to a close, I know I will look back on this summer and feel that I was part of something really special. It isn’t the huge studios and office spaces that have made my time here so memorable, but it has been the people I have had the opportunity to work with. They come from many different backgrounds, but they share the same passion and desire to take collegiate sports to the next level. As a college athlete, it is refreshing to see so many people who are passionate about improving the collegiate athletic experience, as well as make it more accessible to high school players who are striving to compete at the next level. Working here has helped me learn more about myself as well as what I would like to do in the future.

Mayor of San Francisco, Edwin Lee, welcomes the Pac-12 Enterprises staff to the new office.

So the countdown has officially started, with the Pac-12 networks scheduled to launch on August 15th! Thanks for reading this post, and I will write a quick recap after we launch to talk about my final thoughts about this summer, before I head back to the east coast for my sophomore year!