SMC Women's Tennis continues to promote athletic and academic excellence on campus.
Posted: Nov 03, 2025
The SMC Women’s Tennis Team had 8 players earn scholar-athlete honors for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The team was also honored for the 4th consecutive year for the ITA All-Academic Team Award. Since the inception of the award in 2004, the SMC Women’s Tennis team has had 56 players earn ITA Scholar-Athlete honors and 8 teams win the All-Academic team award (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2004). Among California Community College teams, SMC leads the state in individual and team ITA Academic Award winners. No other California Community College tennis team has had as many scholar-athletes and all-academic team award recipients as the SMC Women’s Tennis team. To earn the ITA Scholar-Athlete award, a student must earn a minimum 3.5 GPA and to earn the ITA All-Academic team award, the team must have a combined minimum GPA of 3.2.
Coach Richard Goldenson commented “that our students do so well in the classroom is a product of the institutional culture at Santa Monica College that values and prioritizes academic success. It’s no accident or stroke of luck that we are the number one school in terms of the ITA Academic awards." SMC has also been the leader in total transfers to the University of California system for 34 consecutive years. Coach Goldenson added, "Administrators, faculty, and staff work hard to provide an environment that will help students succeed. But most importantly, the students put in the time and effort in the classroom. I always tell SMC tennis players that if one is not happy and successful in the classroom, it will be hard to have happiness and success on the tennis court. I am very proud of all the students and teams that have won these academic awards over the years."