ITA Cissie LEary sportsmanship award
Carol Lee holds an overall 88-46 singles record at Georgia Tech and an overall 66-43 doubles record. Lee is a 2x All-American (once in doubles, once in singles) and a 2x All-ACC.
This is her 3rd year qualifying for NCAAs in singles and second time qualifying in doubles. She is an NCAA singles quarterfinalist, fall nationals singles semi-finalist, regional doubles champion, regional singles finalist and semi-finalist. She has also played the No. 1 spot in singles every match since the end of her sophomore year.
This year, Carol was an ACC Excellence Award recipient and was awarded Georgia Tech Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Carol has consistently earned dean's list honors and has a 3.35 cumulative GPA. Carol has been committed this year to become a better leader.
At Georgia Tech in place of captains, there are weekly leaders. This year, Carol took over our weekly leader program at the end of the semester. Instead of the coaching staff directing the topic of what should be discussed in our team meetings, Carol created the last three weeks of team meetings and singlehandedly planned and dictated a team meeting called "Road to the Sweet-16" which helped the team almost get the upset over Texas in the Round of 32.
Carol has set the standard in terms of work ethic and consistently pushes her teammates to be better.
A Quote from the Head Coach
Carol: It gives me immense pleasure to congratulate you on winning the prestigious ITA Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award.
This is no run-of-the-mill award. Coach Catherine “Cissie” Collins Leary is a legend in our college tennis world. The University of Pennsylvania became a tennis powerhouse because of the dedication Cissie evoked to first building good humans who, in turn, became great players. That was her life’s work.
Carol, you are the personification of the values and the discipline that Coach Cissie instilled in her players. And that is just one of the many reasons why you are so deserving of this award.
The moment you decided to leave home in Saipan, to travel over 7, 500 miles to Atlanta to attend college, was admirable in itself. You came to us on a mission to give your all to the team and to make your parents proud.
We saw potential early on, as coaches. Through your own hard work and determination, you proved you were deserving of a team captain position this year. You have never been afraid of hard work and thrived when put to the test. While you live and breathe tennis, your ultimate goal was to obtain a first-class education. And so, you hunkered down on your academic work and will earn a degree from one of the most rigorous academic institutions in the country. And, along the way, you became a two-time All-American and three-time all-ACC player on the court, no small feat.
These are the qualities Coach Cissie dedicated her life to promoting and instilling in young people. I wish the two of you could have met as you have a lot in common.
My time working alongside Cissie at Pennsylvania gave me a front-row seat to her theater of the possible. She believed in her athletes and they in turn kicked it up a notch to live up to Cissie’s expectations. Cissie believed that optimism is best when paired with confidence, dedication and hard work.
That is why you are so deserving of this award and that is why your teammates, coaches and our entire athletics department are so very proud of your accomplishments. You have set the bar high in an institution that believes in always raising the bar.
Hats off to you, Carol, for giving us another reminder of why the legacy of giants like Cissie Leary live on. Hats off also to the ITA for keeping Cissie’s memory alive through sponsorship of this award.
What I learned from Cissie is that the corollary to winning awards is giving back by helping others. I know that the youngsters of Saipan with tennis dreams and ambitions have a lot to look forward to from you. That’s precisely what Cissie would have wanted. Congratulations, Carol! - Head Coach Rodney Harmon