Douglas Nover ’19 is a Saint Peter’s University tennis player. He is the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee (MAAC SAAC) vice chair, was named to the MAAC all-academic team last year and is a two-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) scholar-athlete.
Q. Tell me a little about yourself.
A. I am from Bayside, N.Y. and I am in the 4+1 program or the accelerated M.B.A. program. I am a business management major with a minor in sports management.
Q. Being an ITA scholar means you have a high GPA. How do you maintain your grades?
A. I always do my work and check Blackboard. I always go to class; I am always on time. I also research the teachers and take those who I know. I pay close attention in class and I have a good memory. If I don’t know something, I ask; I ask my teachers, I ask my friends and I ask Google lots of questions.
Q. How do you balance being a good student with being a good athlete?
A. I have been an athlete all my life and I have good time management skills. I have a twin and we are competitive. We would rush home from school to see who could finish his homework first. I like doing schoolwork, even though I am a perfectionist and sometimes things take me a long time to complete.
Q. How do you stay motivated?
A. I have my goals for the future and everything I do has a purpose. I am looking toward to the future as far as internships and I am focused on getting those. For example, right now, I am focused on an ITA internship. I am committed to doing what is going to help me get the job that I want as an athletic director or a position with the MAAC or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Q. What are your plans for the future?
A. I want to be an athletic director or work in sports marketing. I also like doing social media. When I got here, I took the initiative to manage the tennis Twitter and Instagram pages. Follow us @SPUTennis. I also started posting live scores for matches on Google Docs.
Q. What are your responsibilities as president of SAAC and being the MAAC SAAC vice chair?
A. SAAC is the student-athlete advisory committee. It gives student-athletes a voice in the conference, the NCAA and the athletics department; student-athletes run it completely. We discuss complaints, ways to change the MAAC and how to give
back to the community. MAAC SAAC facilitates conversation between the MAAC and the NCAA.
One of the major topics we have been discussing lately is student-athlete mental health. Some things we have been working on include a mental health initiative conference-wide, and “green games,” which is the color of mental health. Our main goal is to raise awareness for mental health and break the stigma of having a mental illness. There is a focus on informing student-athletes that there are places to get help. Our goal is to implement the motto, accept, tackle, overcome.
The SAAC allows students to provide feedback on the MAAC and the NCAA. This collaboration helps to make the student-athlete experience the best possible. It allows us to implement and initiate changes in the conference and implement and initiate changes at Saint Peter’s.
Q. What are some of the benefits of being part of the MAAC SAAC?
A. Being part of the MAAC SAAC allows me to meet people in the MAAC and be able to graduate with connections. I also help to make the student-athlete experience the best possible. Student-athletes can say that they had fun even if they didn’t win conference championships.
Q. What are you looking to improve personally right now?
A. I am trying to improve everything in my tennis game. We are a big team so it is very competitive. I love to play, but sometimes confidence can be an issue. I think if I find my focus and work on my confidence, I can improve my game. One way I can start improving my confidence is by practicing my weaker shots.
Q. Do you have a pre-match ritual?
A. I like to relax, especially by listening to music. When game time gets closer, we have a team meeting and I start to get pumped for the match. Then, hopefully, we put on our best showing out there.
Q. What’s interesting about you that we don’t already know?
A. I write left-handed, but I do everything else, including play tennis, with my right hand.
Keep up with the latest tennis news here: men’s, women’s. View the full athletics schedule here. In addition, The MAAC Choices Sober Tailgate will be held by the MAAC on April 18 at Jaroschak Athletic Field to educate students on alcohol issues, negative consequences and how to decrease alcohol consumption. Food, giveaways and games will be provided free throughout the event during the baseball and softball games.