TEMPE, Ariz. — Over the course of the 2025-26 college tennis season, members of the ITA Student-Athlete Council will be featured in monthly spotlights that will give the greater college tennis community an inside look at some of our Student-Athlete Council members and what they are accomplishing on and off the court.
The next spotlight of the season features Martin Capdevilla, a Graduate Student at Huntington University, who hopes his background and experiences can benefit international student-athletes who are also making the transition to college tennis.
“It is also important to understand that every athlete brings a different cultural background, and support should not look the same for everyone. When coaches listen with patience and curiosity, they help athletes feel valued not only as players but as people.”
Read more about Martin in this spotlight below:
Why was it important to you to apply to the ITA Student-Athlete Council, and what does it mean to you to represent college tennis athletes from across all levels of play, as well as specifically the level of play where you compete?
Applying to the ITA Student-Athlete Council was important to me because I wanted to give back in some way for what tennis had given me. College tennis has given me so many opportunities, and it is important to help athletes from every part of the world. Representing the level where I compete means showing that leadership, commitment, and impact are not limited to one division or one type of program. Every student-athlete has a story that deserves to be heard.
Moving from Argentina to Indiana, you experienced how much cultural context shapes a student-athlete’s journey. To ease this transition, you proposed a peer-led mentorship network connecting new international players with upper-level students. What advice do you have for student-athletes who are arriving from another country and feeling overwhelmed by the simultaneous adjustments to American culture, academics, and college athletics?
My advice to international student-athletes is to be patient with yourself and understand that feeling overwhelmed is normal. You are not only adjusting to a new team, but also to a new culture, language, academic system, and daily routine. I encourage them to feel free to ask me questions if they need. If not me, find someone who has already gone through the same transition. Having support from people who understand your experience can make a difficult adjustment feel much more manageable.
With a background in architectural project leadership and your MBA studies, you have a distinct perspective on career readiness. What message do you have for student-athletes who are struggling to translate the highly specialized skills they build on the court, like precision, strategy, and grit, into tangible advantages for the professional job market?
The skills student-athletes build on the court are extremely valuable in the professional world, even if they do not always appear obvious at first. Precision, strategy, discipline, resilience, and the ability to perform under pressure are all qualities that employers look for. My message to student-athletes is to learn how to communicate those skills with confidence and connect them to real examples from competition, leadership, and teamwork. Tennis teaches you how to solve problems, adapt quickly, and keep improving, and those are powerful advantages in any career.
As a native Spanish speaker, you’ve advocated for making mental health resources more linguistically and culturally accessible. Because language barriers often cause international players to internalize their struggles, how can coaches better build an empathetic, globally informed team culture?
Coaches can build a more empathetic and globally informed team culture by recognizing that international players may experience challenges that they do not always know how to express. Language barriers can make it harder to ask for help, especially with mental health, so coaches should create an environment where conversations feel safe, normal, and judgment-free. It is also important to understand that every athlete brings a different cultural background, and support should not look the same for everyone. When coaches listen with patience and curiosity, they help athletes feel valued not only as players but as people.
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The ITA Student-Athlete Council is a committee of student-athletes who play college tennis assembled to provide insights regarding the sport with a special emphasis on the student-athlete experience. The goals of this committee are as follows: Present a student-athlete voice within the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) (1), Offer input regarding matters pertaining to the sport, particularly issues impacting the lives of student-athletes (2), Work to enhance the student-athlete experience specific to college tennis across all divisions (3), Invest in the leaders of tomorrow by creating leadership and professional development opportunities (4).
