This week we take a look at Texas Christian University: a university in Texas with students from no less than 84 different nationalities! And Slamstox tennis player Sander Jong brings Dutch nationality to Texas Christian University! Have you heard his name before? That’s possible since Sander is in the first (!) place in the list of college tennis players with the highest UTR rating.
Sander left for Texas in August 2018 to embark on his adventure as a student-athlete. Before his departure, the tennis talent from Vught had been playing at the highest level in the Netherlands for years and gained a lot of experience within the ITF Junior Tour. There was a lot of interest in Sander from coaches, to make a good choice he visited various universities in the USA and eventually chose TCU.
TCU is known for its strong coaching team that specializes in player development. For example, Cameron Norrie who’s currently #41 ATP is from TCU! During the past 2 years, Sander has made great steps in tennis. In America, he has become important for TCU in the singles and doubles line-up. Also, he managed to penetrate the top 30 in the Netherlands and won several NRT Tournaments. He was also one of the most successful players in the Eredivisie Men!
Do you want to know more about Sander’s home in the USA? Keep scrolling!
Campus
TCU was founded in 1869, at that time under a different name and with only 13 students! It became one of the first universities where both men and women could study together. Within five years, the university grew to 450 students. In 1896 the American Football team started at the university and the current purple and white university colors were selected. The university was given its current name in 1902.
The campus of a total of 295 hectares is located in a beautiful area with lots of greenery. Over the past 20 years, the university has invested more than 1 billion (!) dollars in renovating and building facilities. Historic buildings that have existed for more than a century have been refurbished so that future generations can still enjoy them sufficiently. The university has been designated as a “Tree Campus USA” university and that is not surprising, because there are more than 3,200 trees on campus! TCU was named the third best American university accommodation to live in by The Princeton Review. So it’s no surprise that 50% of all students live on campus! Below is a photo of part of the TCU campus.
As in any spotlight, we also take a look at the sports facilities: these are often the facilities in which a lot is invested and what makes American universities so important.
One of the athletic facilities is the great American Football stadium, the ‘Amon G. Carter Stadium’. The stadium looks great and serves as a business card for the university, but work is still being done to make the stadium even better. You’ll wonder why, but it’s simply necessary to create more seats for all fans who come to cheer. There are currently 46,000 seats in total. Bizarre right?! You can see the stadium in the photo below.
Another great facility is the ‘Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena’, which is where the basketball games are held. It seats approximately 7,000 spectators and is used for many major events in addition to the Horned Frogs games. Check the photo below. We all want to sit and cheer over there right?!
In addition to the above facilities, there is much more to be found on campus, such as the beautiful tennis courts on which Daniel trains, facilities for volleyball, a golf course and much more. Would you like to see more? Then check this page with athletic facilities.
The university made the video below about the American Football Facilities. Check it out!
Want to see more of the campus in general? Click here for a virtual campus tour.
Do you also want to become a student-athlete at an American university?
Athletics
TCU is a member of the NCAA and plays at the highest level, so Division I. All sports teams play in the Big-12 Conference. In total there are 21 varsity teams on TCU. Of these, 9 are men’s sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor athletics and outdoor athletics. And 13 women’s sports: basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, shooting, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track, triathlon, beach volleyball and volleyball. You can imagine that it is a large group of student athletes!
This group of student-athletes is known as the ‘Horned Frogs’. The university’s mascot is known as the ‘Superfrog’. He owes this to his bad ass muscles and impressive introduction to sports games. You can see him in the photo below. That’s what we call a Superfrog!!
Superfrog ensures that all student-athletes are optimally encouraged, in order to do this as well as possible with tens of thousands of fans at the same time, the university has made its own fight song. The lyrics of that song can be found below:
We’ll raise a song, both loud and long
To cheer our team to victory.
For TCU, so tried and true,
We pledge eternal loyalty.
Fight on boys, fight with all your might
Roll up the scores for TCU.
Hail white and purple flag
Whose heroes never lag,
Horned Frogs, we are all for you.
Check out the video that the university made with ‘Best moments of the decade’ below!
Academics
According to the US News College Rankings, TCU is one of the top 100 universities in the United States! On average, the student-faculty ratio is 13:1, and nearly half of all lectures consist of fewer than 20 students.
The university offers a wide range of different degree programs at both bachelor’s and master’s levels. The largest and most popular studies are business administration, communication and health sciences. Check out TCU’s academic website here to see if your desired study is offered!
And did you know that…
- About 11,000 students study at TCU every year?
- 52% of students live on campus?
- 117 different studies are offered at TCU?
- TCU has more than 200 different student organizations?
- 46% of the students are not from Texas?
- Is a graduation ceremony at TCU absolutely crazy?! You can see it in the picture below!
Did you start thinking: “What Sander does, I want that too!”? Then contact us quickly and we will discuss your options together.
