Rouse retires Rose
WED.| 5-3-23 | SPORTS
Stockton Rouse, captain of the Rose men’s tennis team, continues to thrive in his last year playing for Rose. After this season, he will continue his passion
for tennis on the University of South Carolina club tennis team.
Rouse did not start playing tennis at a very young age. He grew up playing baseball and then was inspired by his family members to pick up tennis in 2019.
“When I was growing up, my mom and grandparents always told me to play tennis, but I didn’t listen because
I loved baseball,” Rouse said.”Then I got tired of baseball and wanted to play something new, which ultimately was tennis.”
Rouse practices whenever he can and has played on every court in Greenville at least once. To better his tennis skills, he went to a tennis academy in Greensboro all summer before his junior year called Greensboro Tennis Program.
Photo by Owen Simmons
“While I was there, I played for five to eight hours every day and sometimes we would also play tournaments in the afternoon,” Rouse said. “After I did that[all] summer I saw results quickly and I think it helped me to be where I am today with all the success at Rose.
Rouse has been playing as the number one seed since the start of his junior year. Rouse has brought a lot to
the team including leadership and skill.
“I think I benefit the team in terms of skill level and someone to look up to for how to work hard at something and that it does pay off,” Rouse said.
Rouse has had very successful seasons while playing for Rose. He has won the Conference Tournament and
the East Regional Championship for singles.
While competing on this team, he has not only learned a lot about tennis, but also how to be a better person.
“I think tennis has really helped me with hard work,” Rouse said. “I create goals for myself and work everyday
to achieve them even when I don’t want to play or work on my game.”
Rouse was able to manage his school work and tennis well resulting in him maintaining a high grade point average.
“I played as much tennis as I could and whatever time I had left I studied and did school work,” Rousesaid.
With Rouse being as successful as he has been at Rose, colleges have reached out to him, but he had a different plan in mind.
“I’ve had several smaller D2 [and] D3 schools reach out to me about playing for their team, but I’m not really interested in being at a small school so I just want to play fun club tennis and not be so serious like being on a college team would be,” Rouse said.
As Rouse moves onto the next level, he is going to miss Rose tennis and the impacts it had on him.
“I definitely [will] miss [coach] Marv the most because I love him as a person and what he has done for
me,” Rouse said. “I’ll also miss the matches and the team camaraderie that tennis usually doesn’t have
because it’s an individual sport.”
