TEMPE, Arizona – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association “ITA” is pleased to announce Army’s Caroline Vincent as the 2022 ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award Winner as endowed by Billie Jean King.
“Caroline is a championship human being on and off the court, embodying what is great about college tennis,” said ITA CEO Dr. Timothy Russell. “Caroline has exhibited leadership that follows in the footsteps of both Billie Jean King and Ann Lebedeff and exemplifies how tennis is a leader in the world of intercollegiate athletics. We congratulate Caroline and wish her well, knowing that she will continue to do great things.”
As a four year starter and current team captain of the Army Women’s Tennis team, Vincent will be honored with a postgraduate scholarship and special recognition at the ITA Awards Weekend in New York later this year. Additionally, the Army Women’s Tennis team will be awarded a $1,000 donation from the ITA in her honor.
“I am extremely happy and proud of Caroline for receiving the Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award,” stated Army Women’s Head Coach Paul Peck. “Caroline epitomizes all the qualities of a leader and student athlete in college athletics. She is the ultimate team player and sets an example for the younger players on our team. I look forward to seeing what she will accomplish in her future endeavors.”
Even before her time at West Point, Vincent’s upbringing had been rooted by two principles; public service and tennis. Following these two principles, Vincent has not only made a lasting impact on the court but off of it as well.
Coming out of high school, Vincent was a highly-touted recruit who had multiple Division I scholarship offers available to her. However, for Vincent, her decision to attend Army was an easy one as she knew here she would continue to work towards goals larger than herself while fulfilling her passions of public service and tennis.
On the court, Vincent’s career at Army was special in and of itself. Earning First Team All-Patriot League honors this season, Vincent has also earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors in 2021, Patriot League Doubles Team of the Year honors in 2021, and helped her team to a Patriot League title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2022.
As impressive as Vincent’s accolades were on the court, where she really shined and made the biggest impact was off the court and in the community.
At West Point, Vincent is a leader within the Corps of Cadets and has recently been named Battalion Commander where she oversees over 380 cadets ranging from freshmen to seniors.
Additionally, after Vincent was named a team captain in the 2021-22 season, she immediately took the initiative to reach out to several local nonprofits that serve the community. Just these past few months alone, Vincent and the Army Women’s Tennis team volunteered at a soup kitchen and food shelter while serving as outreach representatives within their local communities.
Through it all, Vincent has been able to build on her personal foundations of public service and tennis during her time at Army. Even though her time at West Point has now come to an end, Vincent’s impact will be felt for years to come.
“I am so grateful for tennis and the ways it has impacted my path, the people it brought into my life, and the lessons it taught me,” says Vincent. “Although my college tennis days are over, I am eager to remain connected with the tennis community and find ways to give back to the sport I love.”
The ITA Ann Lebedeff Leadership Award endowed by Billie Jean King was created to honor a recent college graduate who played college tennis and demonstrated excellence on and off the court, leadership on his or her team as well as on his or her college campus and in his or her community. The recipient of the award will have demonstrated grit (i.e. passion and perseverance towards long-term goals), a commitment to social justice and equality, and will have pushed others to be leaders in addition to demonstrating his or her own leadership.
Vincent is the fifth recipient of the award. She joins Victoria Flores of Georgia Tech (2021), Daniel Park of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2020), Andrew Akins of Duquesne (2019), and Nithya Kanagasegar of Case Western Reserve (2018) as winners of the award.
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Source: Army West Point
