Tennis comes second to Cochran’s studies
Waynesburg men’s tennis player Isaiah Cochran is one determined individual. So determined, he doesn’t know much outside of the game he’s grown up playing and his studies, which go beyond the classroom.
Head coach Ron Christman would even go as far to say that the so-called perfectionist doesn’t even know what a video game is.
“He’s driven in everything he does; probably almost to a detriment in some cases,” Christman said. “The combination of perfection and the combination of his injury he’s dealing with makes it tough for him on the tennis court.”
Since his freshman year, Cochran has dealt with a nagging stomach muscle injury, which can be commonly found in baseball pitchers. However, this kind of injury is even more detrimental to tennis players. In her prime, the same injury caused Serena Williams to miss an entire year of action.
“It’s tough to rehab,” said Christman. “College players don’t want to take a full year [to rehab], and it’s probably not enough.”
But thankfully for Christman, Cochran’s tremendous academic accomplishments kept Waynesburg’s number-one singles player off the court for the summer. After receiving a fully paid fellowship to the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at Yale University the summer after he concluded his freshman year, Cochran will spend this summer at Harvard University, thanks to a fellowship focusing on research in neuroscience. But for Christman, these fellowships come as no surprise.
“He will be studying when other kids aren’t studying,” Christman said. “At the end of his first semester here as a freshman, he bought his organic chemistry book and his computer science book and took them home over Christmas. First day back, he tested out of computer science with an A. He couldn’t do that with organic chemistry because he still had to do the labs. That’s the kind of kid he is as far as hard work and academics go.”
That week, Cochran met with Christman to lay out the rest of his time at Waynesburg, in addition to how he wanted to start an American Medical Student Association chapter at Waynesburg. Christman said he started working on gaining interest in the chapter the night the two discussed it. The AMSA was so impressed with Cochran; it invited him to speak at a conference, and was ultimately named one of five regional student directors for the organization.
With all of the academic dedication, it’s surprising that the Akron, Ohio native did not attend an Ivy League school. After being accepted to the Honors Program at Ohio State, Cochran elected to attend Waynesburg thanks to scholarship money, which could come in handy down the road when he looks to gain post-graduate degrees.
“Maybe we’re not an Ivy League, but as [Cochran] said, he was there with other Ivy League schools,” said Christman. “[Waynesburg has] a gem in Stewart [Hall].”
With Cochran moving up the coast from Connecticut to Massachusetts this summer, Christman only hopes Cochran remains busy on his research and professional development.
“Most really good tennis players play all summer long,” Christman said. “The nice thing about these fellowships is he doesn’t have much time. If we stay after him, he might stay away from the tennis court long enough to rest and heal.”