Passion on the court: Ramirez talks about love for tennis

By Michael Potkay | gargoyle@flagler.edu

As a junior, Gino Ramirez of the men’s tennis team feels at the top of his game

Born in Bogotá, Columbia, he began playing tennis at age 6. At the time, Ramirez was simply a recreational tennis player, as soccer was his bigger passion.

That all changed when he moved to the United States. At 8 years old, Ramirez and his family moved to Aventura, Florida, located just north of Miami. He quickly realized soccer was not as popular as it was in Columbia, causing him to focus on his other passion — tennis. He started developing his game at the Extreme Tennis Academy with the help of Diego Dominquez, his coach at the time.

Flagler College was not on the top of Ramirez’s prospective college list. However, he decided to attend Flagler because it had a city feel, despite being smaller compared to Miami and Boca Raton.

Ramirez was recruited out of high school by Walter Shinn, head coach of the Flagler men’s and women’s tennis teams. When looking for players, Shinn said he likes to recruit from Florida. Ramirez was a perfect fit.

Shinn described Ramirez as an aggressive, off-the-ground base line player and a great doubles player. He also described Ramirez as a class-act with a great sense of humor and the perfect attitude for the team.

As Ramirez’s college career is coming to an end, he is starting to think about his future. Despite the incredible amount of time he has invested in tennis, Ramirez wants to find a new passion in life. He plans to attend graduate school and receive a master’s degree in either accounting or business.

“But for right now I’m just going with the flow, which has worked out for me so far,” he said. “So I’ll just stick with that plan now.”