Burnet tennis’ Dietrich sign to play for the University of Dallas

CAPTION: Burnet senior Nick Dietrich (center) shows his National Letter of Intent to play tennis for the University of Dallas as his parents Crystal (left) and Dwayne look on. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

Burnet High School senior tennis player Nick Dietrich made his commitment to the University of Dallas official recently by signing his National Letter of Intent.

The Burnet High School athletic department celebrated with a signing ceremony.

Once Dietrich made his decision to attend that university, he contacted the tennis coaches about playing there.

“I want to play college tennis because the level is significantly higher than high school tennis, especially when playing in Dallas,” he said. “It’s even higher than certain other colleges. And so you get really good competition and you can improve a lot faster because you basically get free coaching all the time. And it’s a team aspect as well. You can build relationships with teammates when you’re playing doubles, when you have your own partner on the court and even if you’re playing singles, you still get that team aspect because everybody is trying to cheer you on your game and making you feel confident and the school spirit is also a really important aspect, too.”

Dietrich is serious about his tennis. He watches what he eats, makes it a point to get quality rest and stays in shape so that fitness isn’t an issue. He has played in United States Tennis Association events and is on the court at least four hours a week depending on weather. He makes his own protein shakes and omelets, gym workout plans and finds hitting partners. Lunch and dinner has meat, Spanish rice and vegetable all designed to “fuel the body.”

The result is playing No. 1 boys singles for the Bulldogs this year. He was the District 24-4A runner-up and advanced to the Class 4A Region III tournament.

“I have my own training plan, I have my own coach outside of Burnet,” he said. “I’m going to be doing as much as I can before I actually go to college.”

He first began playing tennis in the seventh grade along with baseball, basketball and track and field.

“Tennis is the one that appealed to me the most,” the Bulldog said. “It’s kind of the only one I’m good at. And I’ve determined myself to improve as much as I can because college again is a higher level, so I have to just play more. And I love the sport – it’s fun. Even though you have your bad moments and you have your high moments, it’s still one of the greatest sports on earth, in my opinion.”

The son of Crystal and Dwayne Dietrich plans to major in general business.

He anticipates playing challenge matches to try to get on the tennis ladder.

“Everybody plays challenge matches against each other and the coach seeds the players based on the results,” Dietrich said. “And so that’s what I’m going to have to do and I’m preparing to do that and I’m going be competing during the summer to also prepare for that.”

CAPTION: Nick Dietrich has been the Bulldogs’ top singles player for quite some time thanks to his commitment to playing the best competition he can, nutrition and fitness. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography