{"id":3400,"date":"2020-05-12T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamstox.com\/athlete-stories\/senior-spotlight-qa-with-tom-moonen\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T09:36:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T07:36:50","slug":"senior-spotlight-qa-with-tom-moonen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamstox.com\/en\/senior-spotlight-qa-with-tom-moonen\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Spotlight: Q&#038;A With Tom Moonen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Moonen, captain of MTSU&#8217;s Men&#8217;s Tennis Team, looks back on his four-year adventure in Tennessee &#8211; one full of incredible experiences and victories.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Name<\/strong>: Tom Moonen<br \/><strong>Sport<\/strong>: Tennis<br \/><strong>University<\/strong>: Middle Tennessee State University<br \/><strong>City<\/strong>: Murfreesboro, Tennessee<br \/><strong>Major<\/strong>: Business Administration, Accounting<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Best college sports memory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Winning the first Conference USA Championship in program history in front of our home crowd. No words needed, watch the video below.<\/p>\n<center>\n<p><iframe title=\"MTSU Men&#039;s Tennis Wins First Ever Conference Championship\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B2hahOza53k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/center>\n<p><strong>2. Biggest U.S. culture shock<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The food\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Biggest difference between you as a freshman and as a senior<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A good 20 pounds (muscles, thankfully)<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Most-improved aspect of your sports game<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true what they say: everything got bigger, better, and stronger in America<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Thing you missed most about the Netherlands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The food!!! And my family and friends, of course.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Thing you missed least about the Netherlands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The rain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. Favorite dining hall food?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Farmer\u2019s Market (healthy and fresh!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Favorite thing about being a student-athlete<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being welcomed into a new family, and making lifelong friendships<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. Toughest part about being a student-athlete<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Time management. Tough but crucial.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. Plans for after college<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A little later down the road I would love to have my own Private Equity firm. But first, due to Covid-19, I will have an extra year of playing eligibility, and so I will stay at MTSU an extra year to do a Master\u2019s in Finance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11. Thing you will miss most about the United States as a country<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The hard-working culture and how people are so proud of what they accomplish.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12. Thing will you miss most about college sports?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My team and playing in front of our home crowd.<\/p>\n<center>\n<p><iframe title=\"Tom Moonen Huge Win\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NJmJHupB4xw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/center>\n<p><strong>13. Funniest moment being an athlete?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hahaha, watch the video below.<\/p>\n<center>\n<p><iframe title=\"Tom Moonen Tennis Blooper\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EQvBwwIiZUk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/center>\n<p><strong>14. Tip you would you give your freshman-self?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Embrace the grind and don\u2019t be afraid to reach out to others if you need help. Everyone around you wants you to succeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>15. Main reason you would recommend others to play college sports?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is the by far the coolest way to get a degree, and the memories and friendships you will make will stay with you forever.<\/p>\n<center>\n<p><iframe title=\"MTSU Men&#039;s Tennis Breaks It Down\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mmq15hnx-2Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/center>\n<p>Would you like to pursue your sports career at a university in the United States? Please contact us <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamstox.com\/en\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Moonen, captain of MTSU&#8217;s Men&#8217;s Tennis Team, looks back on his four-year adventure in Tennessee &#8211; one full of incredible experiences and victories. Name: Tom MoonenSport: TennisUniversity: Middle Tennessee State UniversityCity: Murfreesboro, TennesseeMajor: Business Administration, Accounting 1. Best college sports memory Winning the first Conference USA Championship in program history in front of our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-spotlight-english"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senior Spotlight: Tom Moonen - Slamstox<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Slamstox tennis player Tom Moonen tells about his four years as student-athlete at Middle Tennessee State University - a true adventure!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamstox.com\/en\/senior-spotlight-qa-with-tom-moonen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senior Spotlight: Tom Moonen - 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