Being a top level athlete in two different sports: something not many athletes can say. Our student-athlete Joyce Nouws is a good example though! While playing competitive soccer until age 16, she decided to focus more and more on tennis over the last few years. During the summer of 2017, Joyce and her younger brother Bart landed a spot with the Amjoy Tigers tennis academy.
From that moment on, Joyce started to play tennis more than twice a week. Not much later, Joyce and Bart decide to leave their parental house in Sprundel to move together to Eindhoven, making it easier to work on a full time tennis program while still going to school. Not without success: Joyce plays her first national tournaments in the summer of 2018 and quickly cracks the Top 200 of the Dutch women’s rankings. Big steps in a short period of time.
Sprundel and Eindhoven have made way for a new location: Fort Lauderdale. Joyce recently completed her freshman season at Keiser University, where she has improved her game rapidly. This summer we have seen her practice at the Amjoy Tigers academy again, and late August she will return to the Seahawks. She won’t be alone this year: younger brother Bart is joining her and will become a Keiser Seahawk! Bart will travel along with his sister, and together they will strengthen the tennis teams at Keiser University while getting their bachelor’s degree. A very special experience for the siblings, and much more experiences will be coming their way over the next few years. Time to take a deep dive in what Keiser University has to offer.
Keiser University is a beautifully located university in Fort Lauderdale. We’re going to tell you much more about it in this article. What’s the most special thing about Keiser? We asked Joyce:
“What I like most about Keiser University is the small and beautiful campus. The small number of students makes it very personal. Almost all students and professors on campus know you, and you know them.”
Joyce Nouws – Slamstox tennis player
Interested in learning more about KU an d the Seahawks? Keep on reading….!
The Campus
Keiser University was founded in 1977 by Arthur and Evelyn Keiser. Over the course of its 43 year existence, KU has grown to the third largest non-profit university in Florida. The university teaches classes on 21 different locations across Florida, with the main location being Ft. Lauderdale. Approximately 22.000 students enroll at Keiser University every year. This might seem like a big number, but for American standards it’s not even THAT much. Just like Joyce mentioned: The smaller and personal touch is what makes KU special.
In last weeks’ University Spotlight we talked about the beautiful location of Pepperdine University, but Keiser’s location could be found in holiday brochures no less! Fort Lauderdale, sometimes referred to as “The Venice of Florida” thanks to the miles of waterways running across the city.
Ft. Lauderdale is a very popular destination for holidays offering nice bars, restaurants and pearl white sandy beaches covering over 11 kilometers. In addition, the average temperature is around 24 degrees Celsius and Ft. Lauderdale enjoys around 3000 sunshine hours a year. Just FYI: The Netherlands could be happy with just half of that. Not bad Bart & Joyce..!
And if that wasn’t enough good news: Miamiiiii Baby… is located at just a 40 minute drive South. Spotting alligators in the Everglades or checking out Ocean Drive: just a normal day off for the Seahawks.. Work hard, play hard!
Would you like to learn more about the campus specifically? We got you! Check out a campus video tour, a dorm room tour or even a virtual tour!
Sports
The Seahawks compete in the NAIA and The Sun Conference. The Football team is the only KU team that that competes in the Mid-South Conference.
During games, the Seahawk logo and the light and dark blue colors can be found all over the place. This creates an awesome atmosphere across the different stadiums. The “Spirit Squad” is important too for creating the perfect game atmosphere.
Ever since 2003, the Seahawks have won 7 NAIA-Championships. Three of those championships were won by the golf team, the swimming & diving team won it twice, and last but not least the tennis and soccer team have won the national trophy once.
Next to the “regular” sports, KU has its own E-Sports team! E-Sports are becoming increasingly popular and the American universities are all but an exception. All 18 E-Sports athletes at KU are active within the following games: League of Legends, Counter Strike and Fornite. E-Sports offer a wide range of opportunities in the US. Let the games begin..
As you might know, fishing is one of the main activities in Florida. So yeah, you guessed it already: KU has its own fishing team! Even though this is not an official varsity sport, it’s taken very seriously across the state. Every fishing lover within the Florida university system is allowed to participate in KU’s fishing event, which is organized on a yearly basis. No matter your fishing level, everybody can join the fun. Biggest catch wins. As the legend of Billy Currington once said: A bad day of fishing beats a good day of anything else!
Academics
It all sounds like a fairytale pretty much, right? Well, we can ensure you that the Seahawks actually work pretty hard: on and off the field. KU is divided over 21 locations across Florida and offers over 100 bachelors, masters and associate degrees. They even offer studies abroad through their partnerships with international universities in San Marcos, Nicaragua, Taiwan, Seoul and Shanghai.
All majors and studies are divided within the following categories:
- Accounting
- Business
- Chiropractic
- Criminal Justice
- Culinary
- Education
- Engineering
- General studies
Hopefully you’re good at decision making, because KU offers quite a large variety of programs! Do you want to check if your desired major is offered at KU? Check out this list with all programs!
Do you, just like Joyce and Bart, want to become a student-athlete at Keiser University? Or do you just want some additional info? Reach out to us!
