After a year away from competitive sports, we are all excited to see Varsity Blues athletes return to competitions this year. Sports have a unique ability to bring people together, and it will be nice to cheer on our fellow athletes from the stands again. Fans and athletes are awaiting the Varsity Blues’ return to the field, the court, the ice, and more this season.
Recently, The Varsity talked to Andrea Kuntjoro, a Varsity athlete in the third year of her undergraduate degree who plays for the women’s tennis team, about how she felt about returning to competition in the upcoming academic year, as well as other parts of her daily life as an athlete. After such a long absence, it’s clear that Kuntjoro is ready to compete. The Varsity wishes her all the best in the upcoming season.
The Varsity: How are you feeling about playing competitively over the next year?
Andrea Kuntjoro: I’m feeling slightly nervous as I have been away from people for so long. But I am also really excited to be competing in the nationals, which was supposed to happen during my first year. Overall, I’m really excited just to see everyone and start training again.
TV: What is the typical day of a student athlete at U of T?
AK: All of our matches take place over the weekend. For our usual match day, we are away from campus for the entire day as we play either in a different city or at UTSC. I remember that I wouldn’t really go out on Friday nights as much, because I knew I would have a long day on Saturday, so I would get up at 7:30 am, and sometimes I would get home at 10:30 pm. So they were really long days, and that meant I had to study a lot during the week. That made it stressful, but it made me better at time management.
TV: What is the atmosphere like on the tennis team with fellow athletes and coaches?
AK: I think the environment on my team is really good; everyone is really supportive, and everyone just watches each other and cheers everyone on. It’s so much fun, because even though the girls and boys are technically on separate teams, we’re all really supportive of one another and we became super close during my first year. So I’m really excited to see everyone.
TV: Would you be able to describe some highlights from your first season with the team?
AK: The highlight I can think of was competing in the Ontario University Athletics tournament and trying to qualify for the nationals. Our women’s team had not qualified for many years and we always used to lose to Western. It was super tight, it was like a tie break. Everyone was watching. We ended up winning, but it could have gone both ways because it was so close.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
