Tennis student assistant coach discusses transition from Russia

By Santiago Martinez-Caro | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Dyann Busse

For Flagler junior Yegor Romashov, playing tennis internationally has resulted in more than passport stamps. Romashov is now the student assistant coach of the men’s tennis team.

Romashov, a 20-year-old from Ekaterinburg, Russia, said he was advised by his principal in Barcelona, Spain to go to college in the southern region of the United States.

“I liked two schools, Georgia Southern and Flagler College,” Romashov, a sports management major, said. “My first year I went to Georgia Southern, and I didn’t really like it so I decided to transfer to Flagler College.”

When Romashov got to Flagler he took an apprenticeship with Walter Shinn, the head coach of the tennis team, and at the end got offered the chance to be an assistant coach for the team.

The tennis team is probably one of the most international teams in school and the players enjoy Romashov as a coach.

“I think the cultural difference does not affect the team at all,” Inigo De Landaluce, a freshman from Spain, said. “I think it makes other players learn more things and it’s a plus for the team.”

Before arriving to the United States, Romashov lived in Spain for four years.

“I used to play professional tennis, when I was 14-years-old, so I went to Spain to practice in the Academia Sanchez-Casal,” Romashov said.

Romashov eventually got injured and had to quit his dream of becoming a professional tennis player.

“I couldn’t continue with my career so I decided to study,” Romashov said. “My doctor told me to stop playing or by the age of thirty I would be on a wheelchair.”

In the future, Romashov wants to go back home. He will try to get a job in the IOC, International Olympic Committee, for Russia, and maybe one day get to work for the Russian Professional Tennis Federation.