Commitment Profile
Daniel Gealer Commits to the Bruins
by Keith Kropp, 18 November 2014
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Because of his hard work and results on the court, Danny Gealer has earned the opportunity to play in prestigious events like the Ojai (Calif.) Championships, Junior Davis Cup and Junior Boys Nationals. And during the course of all those experiences Gealer's father Mike, who also serves as his coach, has noticed playing tennis in such a competitive environment while being watched by fans and other players hardly fazes his son.
"Danny likes playing before big crowds," Mike Gealer says. "He's always liked crowds and wants to be on center stage."
As Danny Gealer prepares to make the transition from a highly-recruited junior player to college freshman, the Los Angeles resident recently announced he has committed to play college tennis at UCLA starting in the fall of 2015. He will be will be joining a program that contends for NCAA Division I championships and plays many of the nation's top teams, including Pacific-12 Conference rival and defending national champion USC.
Naturally, those matches tend to draw a lot of big crowds.
"It's exciting to have the pressure and thrill of a lot of people watching," Gealer said.
As a lifetime Southern California resident, the five-star recruit is obviously thrilled he won't have to travel very far to move on to the next stage of his tennis career.
"From the beginning (of the recruiting process) I let the schools contact me," said Gealer, who took official visits to UC Santa Barbara and the University of Washington. "I kept my options open. UCLA was one of the first schools to contact me."
UCLA coach Bill Martin, on the recruiting trail in Kalamazoo, Mich., for Junior Nationals in 2013, happened to see Gealer play a round-of-16 match against the nation's No. 1 junior, Francis Tiafoe of College Park, Md. Tiafoe won a very close match, however, Martin was impressed with the way Gealer competed.
Even though it will be more than nine months before he will take the court as a Bruin, Gealer plans on using that time wisely.
"Since I have now made my commitment I need to make the necessary changes to improve and be ready for college," Gealer said. "I'm already working on the form of my serve. UCLA is one of the top teams. I know I have to keep working hard to be as good as I can be by next September."
