When Nina Chavez was 9 years old, she walked up to her father with a clear goal.
“Dad, I want to compete at the national level,” she told him.
Growing up in Guatemala, Nina was surrounded by tennis. Her father, Jacobo, introduced her to the sport at a young age after playing professionally and coaching.
Her father’s coaching style involved tough love, something he says Nina still thrives on today.
“Nina is a very disciplined girl,” Jacobo said. “She trains very hard and is very determined about the goals she wants to achieve.”
Creating her own identity
In Guatemala City, people often recognized her as Jacobo’s daughter. While proud of her father’s career, Nina wanted people to recognize her for her own accomplishments.
So, she got to work, training three hours a day after school and four hours a day on the weekends. In her first year competing in national tournaments, she became Guatemala’s national champion. She later became the Central American champion, competing against players from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
After reaching the national level, Nina wasn’t ready to stop. When she graduated from high school, her next goal was to play collegiate tennis in the United States.
Path to college tennis
Instead of using a recruiting agency, Nina handled the process herself. She contacted 80 U.S. schools and reached out directly to their tennis coaches. Despite receiving several Division I offers, Nina ultimately chose a school she never contacted.
Miami head coach Ricardo Rosas discovered her on Facebook and realized he knew her father from the professional circuit.
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“When he spoke with me and offered Nina the opportunity to come to Miami University, Nina immediately said, ‘Dad, I want to go to Miami, Ohio. I want that university,’” Jacobo said.
In August 2025, Nina moved more than 2,000 miles to Oxford. Her parents stayed in the United States for a few weeks to help her settle into her new surroundings, but when it was time for them to return home to Guatemala, reality hit.
“We cried a lot, especially my mom,” Nina said. “I feel like she was actually suffering a lot because I’m an only child and I’m super close to her. But I said, ‘It’s okay, we're going to see each other again soon.’”
Finding new family
While she didn’t always feel homesick, she sometimes missed small moments with her family. The first day of practice came quickly, and Nina immediately found her people.
“When we first met, we got to the courts, and when we saw each other, we were so excited and screaming,” Nina said. “I think we practiced for 15 minutes.”
Instead, the team spent the rest of the practice sitting on benches, talking and getting to know each other.
Off the court, Nina quickly formed close friendships with her teammates and embraced the independence that came with living in a new country. Her roommate and teammate Evelyn Risner said she brings energy and discipline to the team.
“We all get tennis journals, but she writes in hers a lot,” Risner said. “She writes about her experiences and what she needs to improve on.”
Even thousands of miles from home, Nina has found pieces of familiarity in Oxford. Rosas often speaks Spanish with her during practices and matches, something that reminds her of her father’s coaching style.
Years after telling her father she wanted to compete at the national level, Nina is now playing Division I tennis in the United States, still chasing the same dream that began on the courts of Guatemala.
This story was produced by Miami University journalism students in partnership with The Miami Student newspaper.
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