Junior Player Spotlight: Cal Wider, Professional Children’s School
Later this fall, Cal Wider will begin the next stage of his tennis career and embark on the newest chapter of his life when he heads off to college. Wider is headed to Amherst College in Massachusetts where he will compete for the Men’s Tennis team and pursue a degree.
Wider fielded an array of offers from different colleges before deciding on Amherst, and chose the school because it checked all the boxes on what he was looking for.
“From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to go somewhere very academic, and that was definitely at the forefront of my recruiting process,” he said. “I looked at some top tennis schools in Division I, as well as some of the top academic schools across the country. I landed on Amherst because, first of all, it’s a great academic school, they have great tennis coaches, Todd Doebler and Assistant Coach Kip Rogers, who have tremendous amounts of experience coaching at the highest levels of college tennis, and I really connected with all of my future teammates when I visited there. It ended up being the right atmosphere, and the perfect blend of academics and tennis. I’m very excited to start at the end of August.”
Wider has always taken great pride in his education and his work ethic when it comes to academics, so that was a top priority for him when he was making his decision. He plans to pursue a degree in economics, but also has a wide range of interests that Amherst allows him to explore, including mathematics, biology and engineering.
His dedication to academics has been evident since the beginning of his junior tennis career, and is part of the reason he will be graduating from Professional Children’s School (PCS) with the highest of honors in the spring. PCS is an independent day school in NYC that provides flexible scheduling options to accommodate top athletes to ensure they don’t fall behind academically while not interfering with the training and traveling required of a top junior tennis player.
Wider played both chess and tennis, as well as baseball, growing up but stopped playing chess and baseball as he got older so he could focus primarily on his tennis, a sport he showed great promise in from an early age. As he pursued his tennis passion, he and his family chose to attend PCS because of the school’s support system, and it has turned out to be the right decision.
The flexibility, and the expertise of the school’s teachers and administration, have allowed Wider, a New York native, to spend many of the winter months down in Florida so he can train and focus on his tennis, but also maintain his academic standing.
“I came to PCS in eighth grade. The school has an excellent academic program. The teachers are phenomenal and really make PCS what it is,” said Wider. “It’s a great school that gives you the opportunity to pursue your profession at the highest level, without restrictions. It gives you a lot of freedom and flexibility. Just recently, I was in France for a month playing tournaments and the teachers re-worked their schedules so I could do Zoom calls with them despite the time difference. Overall it’s just been such a great experience, and I am very grateful to all of them for helping me to get where I am.”
Training in Florida has given Wider access to a lot of sparring partners as well as the ability to compete in the abundance of tournaments that are available there year-round.
“There are so many more tournaments in Florida, they seem to be ubiquitous here, between UTR, ITF and USTA events. Every weekend there is a UTR prize money event, and that’s been beneficial for me,” said Wider. “You also have a lot of young pros here, guys who are ranked in the 700-1,000 range on the ATP Tour, and they’re here grinding and trying to make it on tour. I have been able to train with them and play practice matches against them, which has helped me a lot.”
Wider is a player who is relentless on court and exudes a lot of effort in order to be successful, so another benefit for him has been an improvement in his stamina on the court.
“There are a lot of coaches here from South America and they have a different style of coaching, one that’s based more on endurance,” he explained. “We do a lot of side-to-side running drills and for someone with a game style like mine, it has helped me to get into great shape, and prepare for those grinds during matches.”
And Wider is now prepared for the next step both on the court and in the classroom, and is counting down the days before he arrives on the Amherst campus.
As a junior tennis player who travelled extensively throughout his career, there is a lot to look forward to when it comes to college, both competing with and for a team, but also all the social components that come with being away at a school.
“I’m really looking forward to a lot of new experiences at college. Because tennis is such an individual sport, I’m very excited to compete with a team, especially Amherst. I’m also eager to continue my academics at such a great institution.”
Dr. James Dawson, Head of School at PCS, said:
“We are so incredibly proud of Cal for his success, both on the tennis court and for his academic achievements, as he represents the very best of PCS through his work, his effort, his care, his tenacity, and his accomplishments. Bravo!”
