2021-22 Academy Graduate

Every young player who is a part of the Aforza Academy is in elite company. Emily Niers is no exception and her dedication to the sport and years of hard work paid off. As one of our recent graduates, Emily signed with Texas State University in November 2021 and will be studying Biochemistry.

The love of tennis was truly what fueled Emily’s journey here at Aforza. She started at 9 years old, with coach Will Hotomanie, and describes herself as “the worst player at the time.” She lost brutally in her first tennis match, but rather than accepting defeat, she fell in love with the sport and with competition. Coach Will encouraged and developed that love of tennis and was Emily’s source of inspiration and the motivation behind her passion.

Emily’s biggest challenge in obtaining her tennis goals was maintaining that competitive nature. She had to continually work on being aggressive on the court. Clearly, she found her game face; Emily achieved an international rating of 800 and her highest UTR was 9.35.

Most importantly for Emily, Aforza was her happy place as she grew up and it became her second home. She said, “I loved it all. I loved my coaches and the relationships that I built. My teammates were my best friends and I just absolutely loved the relationships and the community.” That’s truly what our programs here at Aforza are all about.

We are so proud of Emily and her success, but are most proud to have her as part of our Aforza family. We wish Emily all the best!

Director Jeff Spiers says, “Emily’s hard work and determination has had a great influence at Aforza. It is that hard work and determination that has helped her become one of the top tennis players in Canada and the world. We will all miss her greatly but know that she will have tons of success while attending Texas State University.”

Aforza Academy had 3 Graduates in our 2021-22 season, standby for upcoming Spotlight features on co-grads Arshjot Bhatti and Chenny Amadike. To read more about Emily and stay tuned as she shares her accomplishments, check out her alumni profile. Read about our junior performance programs for more details.