Check out this great blog post from Weil student Nima Movassaghi from the blog site AutzenZoo.com on all things Oregon sports. Nima recently turned 17 and is a junior at the Weil Academy. We look forward to reading more from Nima, and following the Weil students in the Pac-12 for the next four years.

Click here for the link to the article.

By Nima Movassaghi

When the University of Oregon Men’s Tennis team begins its dual season on January 16th, two former Weil Tennis Academy and College Preparatory School athletes will begin their Oregon careers. Armando Soemarno and Ethan Young-Smith each trained at the academy, located in Ojai, California, as they prepared to play college tennis. Young-Smith signed with the Ducks in November of 2014, while Soemarno signed in May.

The Weil Academy is Southern California’s first full-time tennis academy with boarding, and hosts students from all over the globe as they work to achieve US College Tennis scholarships. Director Mark Weil and his staff work tirelessly to achieve great college placements, just like those of Soemarno and Young-Smith.Young-Smith, an Oregon native (Bend), attended Weil Prep for all of High School, where he had a highly successful junior career which included finishing top 75 in his graduating class. He graduated from Weil with Highest Honors, and is majoring in Sports Business at Oregon. He won a singles bracket at UNLV during an individual tournament during the fall.

Soemarno, who grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, had a very successful junior career as well, especially on the doubles circuit where he picked up a win against world number 28 Treat Huey. He played several ITF Junior events, and reached a career high ranking of 382 in the world. Soemarno and his doubles partner Jayson Amos took the doubles title in their flight at the Santa Barbara Classic in October. He will be majoring in Business. His younger brother Fabian, also training at Weil, will be attending Oregon next year.