With a spot claimed in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Championship on May 13-17 in Tucson, Arizona, Morgan Academy graduate Will Brackin’s first year on the Wallace State Community College (WSCC) Hanceville campus’ tennis team has been filled with achievements.

Brackin graduated from Morgan Academy last year, and since then he has been preparing for his first year of college level sports.

“When I graduated that summer, I trained just about every day,” Brackin said. “Did tournaments, worked out at CrossFit and just really started getting in shape to go play.”

Brackin said the first year has gone well.

“All of the guys on the team had played high school tennis together on different teams and I didn’t know anybody,” he said. “It worked out well though. We all get along. We had our fall season and we did pretty good. We got one extra guy in February. He plays No. 1 for us, and he really took our team to the next level. I think we’re 16th in the nation right now, and we won a conference, and now we are going to the national tournament next month.”

Brackin’s college plans were still unfolding when he decided to play for WSCC.

“I knew I wanted to play somewhere I just wasn’t sure,” Brackin said. “I was really working hard and praying about it was really all I could do. There was a showcase in Tuscaloosa that I was in and there was a lot of colleges there. About three or four coaches talked to me and I wasn’t really convinced, then the coach from Wallace State talked to me. I had never heard of Wallace State in Hanceville, but I went for a visit and I loved it. I was definitely not planning on it though.”

Brackin is studying sales and marketing and plans on transferring to a four-year school where he hopes to continue playing tennis.

Nesbert Vaval, a tennis instructor in Selma, also worked with Brackin getting him ready for the WSCC team.

“We started working together in 2017,” Vaval said. “I had to get out of my comfort zone. I play, but it is a whole different ballgame when you coach. At first it was a little bit intimidating because I knew where he wanted to go, and I started thinking about my ability. I remembered how I got to college [and] my coach played in college. The talent and potential was there, but what I wanted to add was the mental aspect and take him to the next level. I wanted to really push him and challenge him. He will probably tell you that in a season you play maybe 12 matches, but then your body takes a pounding, but I knew where I wanted to go with him. I know there’s times where he probably thought I was crazy pushing him so hard but I knew that if he could survive in practice he could do it in college.”

Vaval said that Brackin already had a good foundation with Morgan Academy tennis coach Baxter Stinson.

“While at Morgan, Will was a highly coachable player,” Stinson said. “He was able to see and understand new concepts easily which contributed to his success.

“Will and I played twice during Easter weekend and I asked him if he was learning anything new that he didn’t already know,” Stinson said. “He said that except for the fact that everything is at a higher level, all of the strategies, skills and tactics that he learned at Morgan still apply and he already knew most of what they try to instill in them at college. As a coach, I was glad to heard that. I am also proud of Will for sticking it out. A lot of kids have plans to play at the next level but ultimately are not willing to put in the work and quit.”

“I think the training I have done really helped me get ready,” Brackin said.

Brackin added he is ready for nationals in Arizona.

“I think this year our team is talented and we are just ready to play,” he said. “I think everyone can make a run for it. Everyone is really pumped up for it. We know we can make a run for it and we are working hard every single day for it.”

Brackin said he has learned a lot in his first year as a college level athlete.

“It is a whole other level,” he said. “The teams are all there to win. The margins for error are so much smaller. We went to South Carolina and played three matches in four days and we went to Mississippi for Spring Break and played four matches in five days. It’s been grueling and more physically demanding.”

In the end, Brackin said hard work is the only way to achieve.

“You can’t be content once you get to that level. You have to keep working,”  he said.