1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Women's Tennis team preview: December 11, 11:25am

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Nebraska Women's Tennis Coach German Dalmagro breaks down the season, and dives into recruiting. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We are back here on one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket. Thanks for joining us. We're speaking, once again, out for today and tomorrow as he makes his way back to Washington, D.C. But that doesn't stop us from having Nebraska women's tennis coach, Tramon Del Magro, in with us here on a Thursday. A very fun of a conversation going there in the first segment. We'll try to continue it here. But I do want to start to look at the recruiting aspect of it,

because I know you had said that you had just come back from a recruiting. trip. So where did you go and what was what was drawing you to it? I suppose. Yeah. Yes. I was in a little Florida for the last six days. A little warmer than here. Yeah. Yeah. A little nice. Just about 85 degrees there and sunny. You know, actually sweating while watching tennis. I was like, man, it happened happened a while. Yeah. It was cool. It was like a big international tournament. It's called the Orange Bowl. is one of the biggest actually international tournaments in the US

besides the US Open So there's a great tournament Great event A lot of actually one of our Sainees Katie Spencer She was playing in there And then among

You know Quite a few other recruits You know We're looking at Yeah they're players from All over the world Basically you know Under 16s

And under 18s So I would just say it there And you know Scouting And Do some even and watching a lot and have conversations with, you know, a few of them. So it was good.

It was a good event, you know. And then, yeah, we're just trying to, starting to keep building the future here. Yeah. So, so, yeah, it was good. Well, I know Katie Spencer was a big signing for you guys. It was. Yeah, that's very cool to go out there and see her in action. Yeah, she did.

And she actually, yeah, beat a really good player, a Canadian player. So, but it was good. It was good. Yeah, she's doing well. So we're excited to have her here, you know, and about less than a month. you know so yeah yeah yeah that'll be exciting now when it comes to recruiting for tennis too how often is it more kind of one-on-one compared to these big tournaments that you kind of mentioned yeah it's uh you know it's so hard to be everywhere because uh if i if i show you the

tennis calendar right now you know we can i can go to 25 different countries and you know in each country there's two or three tournaments going on every week you know and it's like it's a lot So trying to cover as much ground, you know, and all these players, you know, it's really hard, you know. So we try to go to big events where you see them a lot. And then because if we only base in, you know, things on just results, you know, what you see on paper, I mean, it's a good indication at times, but it doesn't tell you everything, you know, about that player, right? So we try to travel and be there as much as we can. And then that way we get to know them. So we avoid making too many mistakes, which is part of it.

Sometimes I've, you know, I see players play once, you know. Yeah. You can't see them again. And then you talk to them on the phone a few times, you know, and then at times they come to visit you, sometimes they don't, you know. And then the next thing you know, you might have them on campus, you know. So you know very little about them. So it's a, it can be a hit and miss at times, you know, or we're trying to spend a lot of time just getting to know them or get you know their family.

So we know that it can be a good fit. At times it's possible. At times it's not, you know, because some recruits move faster than others. Some move slower than others. Some, you know, they're talking to, you know, 10, 15 schools, you know, and you're just one of them. And then sometimes, you know, times don't match up to go watch them, you know. I like to do home business, you know, a lot too. I like to watch them in a practice setup.

You know, I do that a few times instead of even go into a tournament. Or maybe I see them once at a tournament and then I try to maybe fly and watch and practice, actually, because it just sometimes you find out a few things, you know, when you watch in practice or when you talk to their coach and see kind of a little more how they are, you know. And too, with so much of your roster being in. international. You know, I know, I'm assuming they're coming kind of to play in the States as well for these tournaments, but how much, how much do you have to travel internationally? Yeah, we do some. Yeah, we definitely do some, you know. Yeah, it's part of the game. You know, tennis is a very,

it's a very global sport. You know, actually, I mean, University of Georgia, which they're in the south, you know, and you would think that, you know, they'll recruit Americans, you know, right now they won't end up last year and not one player from their tops from them, from the lineup was American. They were all international. So it's, it is part of it. So we're dealing with that, you know, so we lose, you know, recruits a lot, you know, based on, you know, location, weather and academics and, you know, and missions and English and all that, you know, and it's, it's frustrated, you know, but it's what we deal with and we just have to be working hard. You know, it's very, yeah, I mean, there are, there coaches out there that are basically

traveling you know they send one they have three pay coaches so they send one of the coaches just on the row basically all year long you know so it's a hustler you know so i mean we obviously will miss we're going to miss tournaments we're going to miss recruits because we just can't be everywhere you know it's uh and there's just everywhere you know they're the players from you know uh from Uzbekistan you know that sometimes people you go watch you know from Thailand from you know from yeah uh from everywhere you know so um yeah it's it's a very global sport and it's a very present in college tennis you know international so yeah and it's it's interesting again there's you know you're represented by you know Tokyo Russia Argentina

Italy Bolivia Canada even uh you know all of that on your roster right now what what are the options for and I'm sure it's different from country to country but what what I guess would draw a a player to want to play college tennis at university in in in America as opposed to their other options. Yeah. Well, most countries, I would say just but most of them don't really have kind of like a division one athlete, you know, sports in their home country's universities. Okay.

So, yeah, if they want to continue to play and they want to, you know, get a still studying, you know, basically their option is to come to the U.S. Okay. Otherwise, they either have to quit the sport or if they want to keep playing. you know it's tough to you know to play on the tour and study at the same time you know so they try to continue to grow their game you know well well they they kind of still have those aspirations to go professional so they come to play in the u.s they get an education and then they still play you know it's a high level the level is very very good so there are options there you know in the respective

countries in most of them is you're either playing pro or or you or you basically not play playing anymore and studying. So it's almost impossible to do both because they don't really have the resources or they don't really have the, just the setup that you can do kind of like a high level, you know, sport at university and then continue to play. It's either like, it might be more of a club tennis, you know, club sports or intramural type of deal, you know, in most schools. Yeah, you play maybe some sports, but it's just more as a social. fun, you know, than actually competitive and you're working now every day and you're practicing all that, right? So it's a, it's slightly different. So they choose to, they choose to come here and

they know that, you know, we have great facilities, great resources and, you know, good, really good training blocks and, you know, all the things that will help still help them develop, you know, so yeah. Now, too, I wanted to kind of get a few different questions about these, these tournaments that you go to recruit. It is that is, you know, when you have these kind of major tournaments like the Orange Bowl here in Florida, is that where is that the whole like women's tennis coach, like all the coaches from women's tennis will be there or is there, you know, what's the, what's the community? I mean, it is, you know, and this was a men and women, you know, junior boys and girls,

tennis tournament combined. So, yeah, there is, I don't think that, you know, I used to go. to tournaments. I tried to go, like, find these small tournaments and this, like, kind of little holes in, you know, in places where you know that you'll be one of the only coaches. And nowadays, it's almost impossible, you know, but these big events, yes, you see, you know, I probably saw, you know, I mean, Division I in women's tennis, we have about 310 division one schools. And I would say it's probably 150 coaches there. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's like, it's a lot. It's a lot. So they're all there, you know, doing the same things, you know? So, uh, yeah, it's,

I mean, I've been in Europe recruiting, you know, and then you see 50 coaches there, you know? Yeah. Just literally at a tournament. Yeah. You know, so it's like it's almost impossible to go anywhere where you feel like you're like, oh, man, I can, you know, I'm the only one here type of deal. Yeah. It's like, no, everywhere you go now, there's, you know, 10 to 20 coaches. And if you go to the bigger tournaments, there's 30, 40, 50 coaches there, you know, that are in, you know, in Italy, you know, at a tournament or in England, you know, like there's a junior tournament right before Wimble. um and i've been there and i mean it looks like you're on here in the backyard you know like

yeah but it's not you're you know across the pond and it's like you know 50 50 coaches there division 1 coaches you know and you're like you know so it's like and they tell you yeah i've been here for two weeks you know like i've been you know and so yeah i've been done a home visit in europe you know and then i've i go watch uh this kid i visited and her her home sat down with parents you know, I go to, I go to her training facility, you know, and there's two more coaches there waiting for her to train. And I was like, oh, I didn't even know that, you know? Yeah. They're like, oh, yeah, they told me they were coming to just watch me play. And it's like, oh, it just came from a home visit, you know, and I thought I'd be the only one there, you know?

Yeah. And then it's all the coaches waiting for her, you know? Not so much, yeah. So it's like, it's a grind, you know, it's a grind and it's a lot of time. And to be honest, we don't have in tennis and as an end of lay, we don't really have a recruiting calendar. You know, we have one dead period, which is signing week. That's the only time we can all recruit in the country in the nation. So 360 days out of the year, we can recruit. And you do? I mean, and we do, right? Yeah. Because it's like, well, you know, I'm competitive. I don't want to be left behind, right? Right. Yeah. So you got to be out there. You got to, you know, if we can't be on the road, you know, because of budget anymore,

you know, it's like I, I stopped traveling once I don't have any more money. Yeah. Literally. I'm like, we're all constantly on the road. So it's like, but there's a lot of programs that are, you know, double their budget, you know. So they are constantly on the road. And then you have, you want to keep up. You know, you want to keep up. So, yeah, so we, in tennis, we don't really have a recruiting calendar. So we're, you know, the only time we can all be off campus is students signing week.

That's it, which is four days out of the year. You know, like I'll be recruiting, you know, December 29, you know. I'll be there, you know, like you go recruit the day after Thanksgiving. you know like this tournament that in Christmas you know we used to actually start the 26 and they move it two days to just be like all right you know like I'll give you guys a break you know for families and players you know like yeah I'll be they'll be traveling there and I'll be flying home I think the 30 first you know so now in season are you still recruiting a lot we still recruit but we not as much you know if we have a weekend off you know I might go

somewhere or during the week we have a day off I might just, you know, fly to watch somebody practice or a home visit or something of that. Okay. But I try to, you know, we have families too and we kind of like we need to have a balance, you know, I feel like there is no balance at all, you know, it's a constant, you know, a constant battle. But yeah, we try, but obviously we, you know, we got to be there for our matches and we got to be there for our players, you know, so as much as I want to be out there, you know,

recruiting, but we got to find a balance, you know, between just being home and taking care of our own team as well, you know, besides trying to recruit for the future, you know. Yeah. We are in studio here with Hermando Makro, Nebraska women's tennis coach. Let's take a little break and then let's get a little preview for the season coming up here in just over a month. So we'll do that coming up next year on one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket.