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Taylor Calton: Becoming A Leader
9/27/2018 10:59 AM | Women's Tennis
By Riley Elliott
Athletics Communications Intern
Starting at a very young age, Taylor Calton had a bigger head start on the sport of tennis than most. She also had an advantage of how she started playing, receiving her first lessons from a local tennis pro who lived on her street growing up. After being introduced to tennis, she grew to love it and decided to put all of her effort into that sport alone.
"I started playing tennis when I was six, I didn't really have an activity that I was doing at the time, so I thought I would try it" Calton recalled. "There was a local tennis pro who lived on my street, and he invited me over for a tennis lesson. He is the one who got me into it, but I've had a lot of coaches since then."
After her introduction to the sport, she decided at age ten that it was something that she wanted to pursue past high school. At that same age, she started playing competitively in tournaments, and was having a lot of success within her age group. Throughout the years of competitive play before high school, she visited many states and competed in many different tournaments, but there is one tournament she will always remember.
"When I started playing competitively around age ten, I did singles and doubles. My favorite memories from tennis before high school, is we used to play at this site in Vegas called the Darlington Club," explained Calton. "They used to have a pro tournament there, there was a barbecue at the venue before everything started, and it was a great opportunity to visit and hangout with everybody."
Once Calton reached the age, she then competed on the tennis team for her local high school. Growing up in Highland, Utah, Calton was a member of the Lone Peak High School women's tennis team as a freshman and sophomore. She was able to help Lone Peak win two state titles during those two seasons, as well as taking the state singles title as a sophomore. After her successful sophomore season, Calton received the award of Utah Female Athlete of the Year, out of all women's sports in the state.
"Winning Utah Female Athlete of Year was really cool, definitely one of the best experiences I've had," said Calton. "The year that I won, the speaker at the awards ceremony was Andre Agassi. The fact that he was the speaker when I won, was one of the coolest things of my life. It was also great because it was based off of votes and it was like an awards show. You got to sit at a table, have dinner, and then come up to the stage when they announced your name."
Following the end of her sophomore season and achievement of Utah Female Athlete of the Year, Calton decided to move on from high school tennis. Competing in USTA tournaments instead of playing high school tennis, her main goal was to get recruited for a spot on a tennis team after she graduated.
"After high school tennis, I did USTA tournaments. Those are the tournaments that schools recruit off of, and high school tennis was more for fun. So, I stopped doing high school tennis to focus on being recruited and not have two things going on at once," said Calton.
From her success in high school play and USTA tournaments, Calton received many offers from different universities. Although, being a local and envisioning herself on the team for many years, Calton declared to come to the University of Utah to pursue her career in collegiate women's tennis.
"I grew up in Utah, and they've always been the best school for tennis in this state. I always looked up to the girls who played on the team, so, I always could envision myself playing there and being on the team," said Calton. "I knew if I accomplished that goal, that would be so great for me. Just because I knew that the program was good, and the competition was going to be hard."
During her freshman season, she held the No. 5 singles spot and finished the season with an overall record of 13-8. As a sophomore and junior, she then earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention. During this past season as a junior, she climbed as high on the singles lineup as No. 4, while also playing at the No. 5 and 6 positions. Since joining the team, Calton has been able to climb and improve every season, which has involved much hard work and the ability to push herself further every year.
"As a freshman, you play like you don't have anything to lose, just because you want go out and show them why they recruited you. I think, as you progress through the years, you gain more maturity, know what to expect and know what dynamics will work to make the whole team better. Along with being able to work hard at practice and off the court, you also grow and learn the mentality that you need to have that's going to make you improve through the lineup," said Calton.
Now in her senior season, Calton expects the team to continue to work hard, and strive for future success. Having four freshmen on the roster, she is also continuously trying to make sure she sets a good example for her new teammates, while also showing them what it means to be a Ute. In her final season with the University of Utah, she is hoping to help her team in any way, and help all of her individual teammates achieve their goals.
"I expect us to keep working hard, and doing a good job at staying positive and lifting each other up. I want us to have the mentality that any match and the opponent we're playing, we can beat them," said Calton. "We've set some goals for ourselves and myself personally, that we want to achieve this year. We're all working towards those goals with the same mindset, so I'm hoping we're able to achieve all of them."
After her time with the Utah women's tennis team is over, Calton would like to pursue a career in the field of finance. Having already finished her degree in business administration, she is now working on her Master's degree for the Science of Finance.
She has taken an interest in the stock market and investments, and her hopes are to work for an investment company or investment firm when she finishes her Master's.
Until that time comes, Calton will continue to put all of her effort into the sport of tennis, hoping to carry the passion she has for the sport into the career she ends up in. With all of the hard work and experience building up into her senior season, expect Taylor Calton to make a lasting impression in her final year as a Ute.
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Athletics Communications Intern
Starting at a very young age, Taylor Calton had a bigger head start on the sport of tennis than most. She also had an advantage of how she started playing, receiving her first lessons from a local tennis pro who lived on her street growing up. After being introduced to tennis, she grew to love it and decided to put all of her effort into that sport alone.
"I started playing tennis when I was six, I didn't really have an activity that I was doing at the time, so I thought I would try it" Calton recalled. "There was a local tennis pro who lived on my street, and he invited me over for a tennis lesson. He is the one who got me into it, but I've had a lot of coaches since then."
After her introduction to the sport, she decided at age ten that it was something that she wanted to pursue past high school. At that same age, she started playing competitively in tournaments, and was having a lot of success within her age group. Throughout the years of competitive play before high school, she visited many states and competed in many different tournaments, but there is one tournament she will always remember.
"When I started playing competitively around age ten, I did singles and doubles. My favorite memories from tennis before high school, is we used to play at this site in Vegas called the Darlington Club," explained Calton. "They used to have a pro tournament there, there was a barbecue at the venue before everything started, and it was a great opportunity to visit and hangout with everybody."
Once Calton reached the age, she then competed on the tennis team for her local high school. Growing up in Highland, Utah, Calton was a member of the Lone Peak High School women's tennis team as a freshman and sophomore. She was able to help Lone Peak win two state titles during those two seasons, as well as taking the state singles title as a sophomore. After her successful sophomore season, Calton received the award of Utah Female Athlete of the Year, out of all women's sports in the state.
"Winning Utah Female Athlete of Year was really cool, definitely one of the best experiences I've had," said Calton. "The year that I won, the speaker at the awards ceremony was Andre Agassi. The fact that he was the speaker when I won, was one of the coolest things of my life. It was also great because it was based off of votes and it was like an awards show. You got to sit at a table, have dinner, and then come up to the stage when they announced your name."
Following the end of her sophomore season and achievement of Utah Female Athlete of the Year, Calton decided to move on from high school tennis. Competing in USTA tournaments instead of playing high school tennis, her main goal was to get recruited for a spot on a tennis team after she graduated.
"After high school tennis, I did USTA tournaments. Those are the tournaments that schools recruit off of, and high school tennis was more for fun. So, I stopped doing high school tennis to focus on being recruited and not have two things going on at once," said Calton.
From her success in high school play and USTA tournaments, Calton received many offers from different universities. Although, being a local and envisioning herself on the team for many years, Calton declared to come to the University of Utah to pursue her career in collegiate women's tennis.
"I grew up in Utah, and they've always been the best school for tennis in this state. I always looked up to the girls who played on the team, so, I always could envision myself playing there and being on the team," said Calton. "I knew if I accomplished that goal, that would be so great for me. Just because I knew that the program was good, and the competition was going to be hard."
During her freshman season, she held the No. 5 singles spot and finished the season with an overall record of 13-8. As a sophomore and junior, she then earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention. During this past season as a junior, she climbed as high on the singles lineup as No. 4, while also playing at the No. 5 and 6 positions. Since joining the team, Calton has been able to climb and improve every season, which has involved much hard work and the ability to push herself further every year.
"As a freshman, you play like you don't have anything to lose, just because you want go out and show them why they recruited you. I think, as you progress through the years, you gain more maturity, know what to expect and know what dynamics will work to make the whole team better. Along with being able to work hard at practice and off the court, you also grow and learn the mentality that you need to have that's going to make you improve through the lineup," said Calton.
Now in her senior season, Calton expects the team to continue to work hard, and strive for future success. Having four freshmen on the roster, she is also continuously trying to make sure she sets a good example for her new teammates, while also showing them what it means to be a Ute. In her final season with the University of Utah, she is hoping to help her team in any way, and help all of her individual teammates achieve their goals.
"I expect us to keep working hard, and doing a good job at staying positive and lifting each other up. I want us to have the mentality that any match and the opponent we're playing, we can beat them," said Calton. "We've set some goals for ourselves and myself personally, that we want to achieve this year. We're all working towards those goals with the same mindset, so I'm hoping we're able to achieve all of them."
After her time with the Utah women's tennis team is over, Calton would like to pursue a career in the field of finance. Having already finished her degree in business administration, she is now working on her Master's degree for the Science of Finance.
She has taken an interest in the stock market and investments, and her hopes are to work for an investment company or investment firm when she finishes her Master's.
Until that time comes, Calton will continue to put all of her effort into the sport of tennis, hoping to carry the passion she has for the sport into the career she ends up in. With all of the hard work and experience building up into her senior season, expect Taylor Calton to make a lasting impression in her final year as a Ute.
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