Dec. 11, 2014
By Jerome Boettcher | Subscribe to Commodore Nation
Recently, Vanderbilt women’s tennis coach Geoff Macdonald stood in the Olympic sports weight room flanked by two men who know a thing or two about pumping iron.
With strength and conditioning coaches Garry Christopher (men’s basketball) and Teddy Thompson (football) listening, Macdonald made a bold proclamation about one of the university’s smallest student-athletes.
“I said if Vanderbilt athletes had the heart Frances Altick has we would win national championships in every sport,” Macdonald said. “She is just driven to excel. I say she may work harder than anybody on campus at her sport. She is just an inspiration to me.”
Frances Altick measures in at 5 feet 2 inches tall. But Macdonald sticks to the old expression that you can’t measure heart. If you could, Macdonald says, the size of Altick’s heart would be off the charts.
The junior from Monroe, La., currently is sidelined with wrist tendonitis. But even an injury can’t really keep Altick sidelined.
She has been working out with new tennis strength coach Emil Iankov six days a week. She often is the first person on the team to arrive to the court and the last one to head home. If Macdonald suggests in passing to the team that it might be good to get in a bike ride or two during the week, Altick kicks up the kickstand and is on our way.
Her drive has spread throughout the team, too.
Macdonald likened Altick’s impact to that of Peyton Manning. Throughout his Hall of Fame career, the quarterback has made the equipment managers, video staff and coaches better because they’re inspired by his work ethic.
“I feel that way about Frances,” Macdonald said. “Those of us who coach her will go the extra mile because we see her going the extra mile. I think Emil (Iankov) is inspired by her drive. When you’re around that in athletics it is infectious. She has lifted up our whole team with her passion and work ethic.”
While her teammates and coaches draw inspiration from her, Altick’s motivation hits home.
On May 21, 2008, Frances lost her best friend, practice partner and only brother. Trey Altick died tragically in a jet ski accident near their home a week before his 16th birthday. Frances was only 14.
She took his death hard but vowed to honor her brother with how she lived her life.
“I’m trying to make him proud every day,” she said. “The way he lived his life is something I want to emulate. He lived it to the fullest. I know it is a cliché. But he really enjoyed life and worked as hard as he could. Every opportunity, he would always be going to the gym or going to run and trying to get better. I just want to try to do that.”
Frances picked up a tennis racquet when she was 5 years old. For long as she can remember, she always had a practice partner.
Older brother Trey and Frances would hit the courts often. Separated by two years, a sibling rivalry was born on the tennis court and ping pong table.
Actually, any sport Trey tried, Frances wouldn’t be far behind.
“We were best friends growing up. Anything he did I would do,” Frances said. “We were practice partners always. We were really competitive.”
Trey’s death shook the Altick family, especially Frances. She was upset. She was at a loss for why this could happen. The grieving was painful and long. But she found comfort in tennis.
On the courts – the place where she and Trey spent so many honors competing – she could lose herself. A week after his death, Frances played in a big summer tournament. Though her parents thought maybe she needed a break, tennis served as a diversion.
“I think it was a way to cope,” she said. “It was really nice to be on the court and not thinking about anything. Tennis was very helpful.”
The Altick family also grew closer after Trey’s death. His passing helped the family realize they couldn’t take each day for granted.
“I remember my mom saying, ‘We are somehow going to use this to be better somehow,'” Frances said. “There has to be some reason. God didn’t just let this happen. We’ll bring some good out of it.’ I wouldn’t have come out of all that with the same mind  without believing in something or someone. Having a relationship with Jesus and God. It definitely helped my whole family. My mom has a really strong faith. Getting through those tough times would haven’t been possible without that.”
Frances’ mother, Helena, came up with the brilliant idea to raise funds in Trey’s honor for one of his favorite charities. Trey volunteered his time and money to Water For Life, a non-profit organization that not only provides safe water to underprivileged countries such as Uganda, Kosovo and Cambodia.
About four years ago, Helena, Frances and her two younger sisters, Hannah and Abi, began making bead necklaces with freshwater pearls. They sold them to family, friends, at their dad’s office, at school and the proceeds went to Water for Life. In the last four years, they have raised more than $350,000 for the organization, with a generous donation of $75,000 from an anonymous donor.
In addition, the family began a baseball tournament in Trey’s name and started the Trey Altick Scholarship Foundation for students at Trey’s school, Neville High School.
Six years later, Frances continues to honor Trey by living every day to the fullest, not falling into a complacent trap.
In fact, Macdonald said her resilience and fight were qualities that caught his eye, along with assistant coach Aleke Tsoubanos, during the high school recruiting process. They remember watching a tournament where she lost in the round of 64 and fell into the consolation round. Instead of giving in and bowing out early, Frances kept battling through the back draw and finishing fifth overall.
“That’s character,” Macdonald said. “It is a real red flag for us (in recruiting) when we see somebody who doesn’t do well in the back draw, defaults in the back draw, pulls out with an injury which may or may not be that bad. Then we saw Frances Altick winning the back draw. So we knew we were getting a great character kid and competitor. But what has been fantastic is her desire to improve herself and polish it. Get more aggressive and learn how to win points.”
As a freshman, she won 18 matches for a promising start. Last year, with a season under her belt, she began to really adjust to the college game and take more risks.
She played at the No. 1 position in several matches, helping lead the Commodores to victories over ranked South Carolina and Kentucky.
She went 30-9, joining teammate Marie Casares as the first two players with 30-plus wins in a season in school history. She also made the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles Championships and earned All-SEC First Team honors.
“I think she loves the game of tennis as much as anyone I’ve coached in 27 years,” Macdonald said. “She just digs into an opponent and doesn’t let go. I just have utter faith in her.”
