Unknown Speaker 0:00
Well, today we're joined by Kim Bruno, the head tennis coach of the Michigan State University women's tennis team. And one of our great student athletes, Sammy Mummy, hey, who is a five year member of the team and currently a graduate students. So Sammy, let me start by asking five years on the team and and currently in graduate school, what what are you studying?

Unknown Speaker 0:30
So I'm currently pursuing my master's degree in speech language pathology. So I'm part of the communicative sciences and disorders program here at state what caused you to be interested in tennis growing up, I played a lot of sports from soccer, karate, and then I started playing tennis was up when I was around eight years old, my dad introduced me to the sport, we just went to a park and we just started playing. And I grew in the media that attraction to it. I liked the individual aspect of the sport that I was able to control what I was doing, and not having to rely on anybody else. I think of myself as like more of an individual person. So I thought the sport really suited me and then I just stuck through it throughout throughout all these years. And here I am. So

Unknown Speaker 1:17
yeah, no, that's a It is interesting that way in that it's an individual sport, and yet there's a yet there's a team and so it's a in some ways the the best of both worlds. So yes, coach, Coach, Bruno, how did you get your start in in the game of tennis?

Unknown Speaker 1:38
Oh, I guess on the same lines as Sammy, I loved all sports. I actually, I should tell coach Jackie Joseph, but I was like, like all star softball player, I prefer and softball actually. Because for the opposite reason, there's family, tennis is a quite lonely sport. You know, you can't, you only can blame yourself, you can also you know, your team kind of went down but especially through juniors, obviously collegiate tennis is is different. So playing all you know, softball, tennis, all these other sports and my mom and kind of pushed me towards the tennis route, just because they love it. Like they still watch everything that we're doing, they watch every pro pro event and we that's how I started tennis in the first place, we would go to a local park together and just play like compete with the metal fences in Chicago. So so much fun, so many childhood memories of that my sister and I getting insights, I think I drew her out of the sport entirely, because I was so obnoxious, but so yeah, just getting pushed in my parents were finally like, you know, you kind of kind of decide, and I was excelling at tennis. And then I guess I kind of embraced the lonely struggle of the sport. And it kind of makes you it just makes you tough in a lot of different rounds, I think you know, because you can rely on yourself and all sorts of situations. It just, it requires you to be self sufficient and understand yourself a little bit more than I guess, per se the other sports that I was into. So that was my my start. But once college tennis started, I loved it. Like that was more of like my jam because it was team oriented. And I think that's why I was still a part of it. I

Unknown Speaker 3:28
still I still just think college tennis is so much fun. So much fun. Jim, you came to us five years ago, and and you and you and Sammy actually started in the program at the same time. So you sort of grew up in MSU tennis together. Tell us a little bit about your, your your philosophy of how you you know, how you structure the team? And what's your sort of what what's your philosophy of, of college tennis?

Unknown Speaker 4:01
Well, first, regarding kind of your first thing the whole five years with family. I mean, I think, you know, people say that, you know, you're kind of meant to be in an area. I truly feel like Sammy might think I'm crazy saying this, but I truly felt like I was here and Sammy was not my recruit. She's the only person left on this team. That was not my recruit, but I don't know, just right off the bat. I feel like any program would die to have a kid like her like she just worked hard. She does what she's asked, she really really cares about the green and white, you know, all those things in the student athlete that you just like, this is this is great. And I think, you know, a lot of those I truly are, are part of like my values too, you know. So I think that's kind of why we even to this day, I mean, she can talk more about it, but even her match yesterday, I just kind of know how to get to her at certain moments and kind of help her help her through and I mean From the day she stepped on campus till now she's a totally different player. She struggled even getting the lineup her freshman year. And now the lineup now she's, you know, winning at one through three singles consistently become an outstanding doubles player has also grown. I mean, in the classroom, she's leading her class and her, you know, masters and things like that. So that to me is, you know, kind of starts with my philosophy on things like, I think we have a really balanced program. Meaning like, encore is one piece of it, but off court, I truly want them to look back and be like, that was awesome. You know, my four years there were great. Like, we can talk about some memories. I think we have really good relationships, our coaching staff to with the players. That doesn't happen in a lot of schools, like, I know, Sammy, I know, she might not like it. But I know, yesterday, she was, you know, struggling to put put too much pressure on herself to play a match. Like I knew those things were kind of happening just because we know, and she knows me too. All the players do all the bad parts about me and the good. You know, I think that's unique to kind of here. And, you know, tennis is just different, you have to individually know them. Plus create a team environment. And that's, that's difficult to do a lot of times. But I think philosophy being a ton of balance. And you can even see that with our girls how they've been excelling in the classroom. We're not going on golf and swimming dives door, right? For that top GPA, we're right there. Just the things that they accomplished to outside of the classroom. And all those things to me are important and life like, I just have a lust for it. And I hope that they see that and we can we kind of bring that in our graduate with a family might have a totally different experience. But I think we've met only men, she's seen me grown and go through some stuff. And same with her. You know, I think that's what makes it Yeah, we've every step of the way. We've been together her and I we call incoming freshmen together where I know what I'm going to do when you're gone actually.

Unknown Speaker 7:21
So Sammy, your your what what is your experience been like at MSU? And maybe why have the the the many places that that you could have considered why Michigan State,

Unknown Speaker 7:36
it's been so memorable. These past five years here, I'd say I chose MSU. Because so I visited my senior the summer before my senior year of high school, I had no expectations whatsoever. I knew I wanted to go to a big 10 School ultimately, I already had offers from other schools. So this was on a like a last minute trip to state. And as soon as I stepped on campus, I had this overwhelming feeling that I belonged here. And I met with Coach Tyler and he had this presence to himself that he was very calm and comforting. And I was immediately comfortable with him. So like, he was a big part of why I came to MSU I knew I would be able to grow into someone completely different than how I started and in a positive way. And I knew MSU had exceptional athletic programs as well as outstanding academic programs. So I knew I would excel in both tennis and school, and also just grow as an individual person.

Unknown Speaker 8:46
So So Sammy, one of the things that's unique about tennis is that you can play singles, or you can play doubles. So you're sort of, you're playing the same sport, but sometimes you can, you know, obviously do it alone and, and other times you've got a partner, you have to me so as a person that plays tennis about six times a year and does it very, very badly. It seems easier to to do it alone, because what when when you're playing with someone else on the same side of the court, at least for me, and again, I'm the most novice of novices at all of this. I feel like I'm always running into the other person. How much of a different game is that and what are the what are the differences between singles and doubles? And is there one that you prefer?

Unknown Speaker 9:40
over the other before college tennis I was more of a singles player I didn't really play that much doubles. I wasn't that good doubles player. But coming into college tennis coming into MSU I played both singles and doubles and I still played both singles and doubles. And I think there is a difference between singles and no I think with doubles, you have to understand your partner, mentally and emotionally as well as physically, I guess. You have to have that chemistry with them. And like, you just have to have like a bond on the court that you understand each other. And you can play well with each other's playing styles. And that's how I've grown to become successful in doubles. And that's, I'm actually enjoying doubles now in college tennis more than ever. Yeah, it's all it's it is different than singles is. When you first play doubles, you're kind of it's kind of weird that there's another person on the court, and then you have to work together as a team. But being part of a team at MSU has helped me grow to become more, I guess the word would be together, in a sense with your partner, as well as a team as a whole. So yeah, but then I do prefer singles. I do enjoy singles more, I like being in control of my own, like my own points and stuff. So.

Unknown Speaker 11:04
So Kim, you're one of the things that's interesting about about you is that you start each each practice with a quote. So how did that? How did that come to be? And? And do you have a? Do you have a particular favorite or two?

Unknown Speaker 11:24
Oh, yeah, that came up a while back. Even before MSU I just, sometimes I'll just lie, a lot of times, I'll just look stuff up on the internet, kind of what we're going through whether like they have to stick with the process or the you know, the mental toughness part and things like that, and just kind of like to gather them up in the beginning of practices, and then you know, have them actually, a lot of times they they lay into me about this quote is dumb coach, this is that they're always like this. They're sitting there discussing and they're like, okay, we like that one, you know, like, I can never I have like a really hard group to please every single person with it. And I'm like, okay, girl, but probably ones that, for me, personally, that I like, is probably Billie Jean King, she's champions keep plan till they get it right. To me, that just means just keep working, keep working, keep working, you know, no matter where, wherever you kind of been. And I, I think, you know, we just keep doing that. And I like to live by that. And then let's see, I just read. I just read Ronda Rousey his book. What did she say? She said in there. She had a ton of really good quotes in there. But one of them was I trained to be the best in the world on my worst day. And I think, you know, a lot of times more than a lot of times we're having, we're not having our best day, but what can you be like on your worst day? Because that's when it really matters. You know? So that one kind of just recently resignated with me just because I just finished, finished her book. So those things. But Sammy can probably, what's your favorite Sammy that we said?

Unknown Speaker 13:13
So coach Tyler keeps mentioning? Oh, yeah. What a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. And I think it's in the football facility. But he mentions it pretty much every single day of practice.

Unknown Speaker 13:31
So that's a good one mine, one of my favorites. Yeah, it's been over in the football building for a number of years is, is something similar, it's a champions are built on 1000 invisible mornings. That's a good one, that sort of speaking to the the grind of the the sort of anonymous sort of grind of daily, daily work. And, you know, in people, you'll see it, particularly in tennis, sometimes you'll see some young person, make it to the finals of a Grand Slam event or what have you. And it says no, that person sort of came out of nowhere. And you know, and inevitably, that person didn't come out of nowhere, they came out of 1000s and 1000s of hours of practice. And that's the you know, the the piece that I think so many people miss is the, the incredible commitment that that Sami folks like you and our student athletes have to to perfecting their craft while while going to school and and being so busy with so many other things. So Sammy, let me ask you to switch gears and let me ask you a different question. Tennis is an interesting sport where you play you can play both indoors and outdoors. Do you have a preference and why?

Unknown Speaker 14:57
My personal game style is best suited for indoors, but I tend to adapt to whatever environment I come across. So if I do have to play outdoors, I can change my game style up a bit to make sure I'm the most successful outdoors. And if I do play indoors, I would just change it to how I usually play and it's been successful. So I can't really complain,

Unknown Speaker 15:24
Kim, you know, you, you've been been at MSU for five years. So you just sort of seem like, you know, old hat like you've you've, you've been here forever. When you're out recruiting and talking to young women about potentially coming to Michigan State for their college career. How do you talk about, about your program, what what makes your program special,

Unknown Speaker 15:48
you know, you have to tell really like your story, just the truth of what you kind of do. And I think the balance part piece that makes us unique, is is really important. Like if you're not going to eat, breathe, and sleep, tennis, and we're not going to jam things down your throat here, like we're just, that's just not how it's gonna happen. You know, we're some programs, that's how it is, you know, you're going to be respected by your coaches, and we expect the same in return. But I also think, not just, you know, that part of the story, I think, also, you know, where we are as a program, which is, frankly, you know, since Danny has been here, she's seen us grow, grow, grow, grow every year better and better. You know, this year, we're struggling a little bit, but that's not that we haven't been in every single match we've played. So I think we're on the cusp of, you know, being an NCAA qualifier consistently, I think we're right on the cusp of that, okay. You know, we need that kid who is going to come here and wants to help make that happen. So, you know, we kind of just tell really the story of what we are and where we're at, and, you know, where we want to be headed, and, and that, so that might not be the best selling routine, but it's, you know, on paper, we've had some of the best recruiting classes since I've been here. We just got to keep plugging away.

Unknown Speaker 17:18
No, and that's a really authentic message, which I think probably, from my perspective is the most important thing is I appreciate that. That's what you're going to get with us. Yeah. When students come to Michigan State, they, they know what they're signing up for, and they know what they're going to get. And if it's the right fit, that's great. And if not, that's okay, too, but, but they, they they know what, what they're going to get when they come here, Kim, I thank you so much. We've been joined today by a women's head tennis coach at Michigan State University, Kim Bruno, and one of Kim student athletes on the tennis team. Sammy mummy. Hey, and we thank you both so much for joining us today. Thank you guys. We really appreciate it.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai