Each Sunday during the 2016-17 school year, the Carson-Newman athletic communications department will shine a spotlight on a current or former Carson-Newman student-athlete looking to tell a tale of life outside of his or her respective sport.
Schwarz was only 17-years old when he came to Carson-Newman and he described his first semester on the tennis courts. "The hardest thing for me in that first semester of playing, was adjusting from the clay courts in Brazil, to the hard courts that are in the U.S."
After a decent freshman campaign, Schwarz made the most of his sophomore campaign and was named to the South Atlantic Conference second-team. After his sophomore season Schwarz decided to take a break from college and head back home.
"I decided to go back home because I missed my family," Schwarz replied. "It was a tough decision that I regretted right after I did it, but I was already back home in Brazil."
While back in Brazil, Schwarz decided to pursue an education in mechanical engineering, over the next few years Schwarz realized that it wasn't meant for him. His next career path took him to med school, but once again he realized that it was not his intended path.
"Then I realized that I was getting advanced in age, not like I was old or anything," Schwarz said. "But I'm 25 years old and still don't have a degree and I had just been studying a few years here and there. I decided that I needed to finish my degree."
In January of 2016 Schwarz decided that he wanted to not only comeback and finish his degree at Carson-Newman, but he also wanted to play on the tennis team again. "I always loved tennis, I wanted to keep playing and improving on my skills to the best of my abilities." Schwarz recounted, "I hadn't played competitively in the five years, so I began to get in shape and practice tennis again."
After talking to Carson-Newman head tennis coach Jean Love, he came back and joined the team that he had left after the 2010 season. Coach Love was excited to have Rodolfo back on campus, "It is a good thing for Rodolfo to come back," Love said. "He needs to finish what he started both academically and with tennis."
Both player and coach have high expectations for the upcoming season, "I'm looking for him to bring back some maturity, Love responded. "He was one of our better doubles players when he left a few years ago. Rodolfo will make an immediate impact for us in doubles, just bringing that leadership and skill level that we need in doubles play."
"I came back here and now I expect to play some good tennis," Schwarz replied. "I still want to prove to myself how far I can go with tennis. My individual goals for the upcoming season are to get back in shape and play good tennis. I want to see some progression with myself throughout the season and to get in some good matches against good players. Hopefully I can work my way back on to the all-conference teams."
In the classroom Schwarz started as a business major in his first stint at Carson-Newman, since coming back to Mossy Creek he has decided to pursue a psychology degree. Schwarz also discussed his new approach in the classroom since coming back, "It's been good since I've come back to campus, when you're older you kind of face things differently. Especially with classes, you become more responsible with assignments."
Schwarz and the rest of the Eagles tennis team will open the 2017 season on the road in Orlando, Florida against Florida Tech on February 10th.
