University of Tennessee Athletics
Serve & Volley: Brandon Fickey
April 08, 2015 | Men's Tennis
By Amanda Pruitt
UTSports.com
Like many Vols before him, Brandon Fickey is as surprised as anyone that his own Senior Day has finally arrived.
Fickey, a Knoxville native, is one of four Tennessee seniors who will be honored thisweekend in their final home tennis matches at Barksdale Stadium. The three other seniors include Mikelis Libietis, Hunter Reese and Andrew Dromsky.
As the team prepares for matches against Auburn (Friday at 4 p.m.) and Florida (Sunday at noon), Fickey took time out to talk about his fellow seniors, door-related pranks and future plans in physical therapy.
Q: Can you believe it's been four years? Senior day is Sunday.
A: It's gone way faster than I thought it would. You go through three other senior days when you're here starting as a freshman. You kind of think about your day, but all of a sudden, it hits you that you're coming down to your last home weekend. It's kind of bittersweet, but looking back, I'm glad I came to UT. It's been an amazing experience, but it's going to bittersweet on Sunday, I think, but I'm looking forward to it.
Q: What's unusual about this senior class is that there are four of you. That's more than normal. You've been here all four years with two of them. Could you sum up the senior class for us?
A: I think Hunter, Mikelis and I have a special bond. We've been the class that's been here all four years. We have that bond that can't be broken with the three of us. Dromsky joined us a year ago. He was planning to redshirt, then I got injured -- story of my career -- so he had to burn his redshirt. A big chunk of our lineup, our team, is playing their final home matches on Sunday. They're all great guys.
Dromsky, I've gotten to know him really well, especially over this last year. Everyone was playing catchup with Andrew a little bit, getting to know him. That's a hard situation. But he's a senior. He's played four years of college tennis, just two of them have been at UT. He brings a lot of spark to the team, especially on the doubles court. He's been phenomenal for us. Hats off to him for stepping up and playing as well as he does.
Hunter and Mikelis, it's going to be excited to share that with them. Looking back on our first days here, especially for Mikelis and I -- Hunter was here before us -- it's been us for four years. That's special.
Q: You were talking about the "story of your life" with the injuries you've had. Many people may not realize the long road you've been on the last year to get back on the court.
A: I tore my labrum at some point my sophomore or junior year. I had surgery last May, almost a year ago now. I actually recovered quicker than I thought. They were telling me it would be March or April before I'd be fully back. I did rehab every single day of summer. Every single day throughout the fall. It had to be done. I couldn't really serve with the way my shoulder was feeling. Looking back, it's been a long process, but I'm happy I did it. It set me back a little tennis wise, but I feel like when my name is called, I'm ready to play now, which is where I wanted to be going into my last few months on the tennis court. Even if I'm not playing, at least I'm healthy enough to practice and get the other guys better.
It's been unfortunate, but looking back, I couldn't say I would've done this or that better. It's just genetics. I laugh at it now, but I went through periods where I was upset and angry, but you can't really control that. We hit so many serves, there are shoulder injuries. It's just one of those things as an athlete you deal with. It gave me time to reflect on a lot of things, and you get kind of rejuvenated. My spark to get back on the court came back, which is exciting.
Q: We've talked about the seniors, but when you look at the court, there are also so many new guys. What have you tried to teach them? What do you think they'll take away from you?
A: I'm more the guy who keeps it light and funny with jokes. I try to keep everyone laughing. There is a lot of pressure, but you're playing tennis. You're playing a match. Sometimes you can get wrapped up in the pressure of a big match, playing in the SEC, a lot of nerves can be built up from that. I hope they can look back and say that I helped them realize that everything's in perspective. I have two viewpoints: I've been there, I've been in the big matches, I've played in the big matches, but I've also sat back and watched the big matches as well. Especially this year, I see things now how I can help people off the court, which people don't realize is a massive deal. It's not just about how you hit the ball on the tennis court. There's a whole lot of mental work, nerves and strategy. It's a long season, so I hope the guys put it in perspective what they're actually doing and just enjoy the process. It'll go real quick.
Q: You're from Knoxville and have had teammates from all over the world during your career. You being here has probably been a home base of sorts for them. Are there any teammates' homes you'd like to visit after your career?
A: I have plans to go to Australia. I do have those. that's one place, probably No. 1. Starting with Jarryd (Chaplin) and now Jack (Schipanski), Australia seems like a fun place. It seems like when schedules match up, we'll make that happen down the road. That would be my No. 1. I'd also love to go to the UK, to London and all those places and do some traveling down the road. I can't say when I'll make it to Israel or Poland, I joke with those guys about that. Or Latvia. I joke with Mike about that all the time too. I don't know when I'll make it there, but I want to travel.
Being from Knoxville and going to college here, I was fortunate and blessed that we have a good tennis program 30 minutes down the road from my house. That just worked out and played a large part in my decision to come here, but I think it's come to a point where I need to get out, I need to travel, I need to experience what else is out there. You talk to these guys and you hear about it, but you know, you need to see it for yourself. There are so many places to see and so many diverse people to meet. That's something I'm looking forward to down the road.
Q: Adding on that, what are your plans after graduation? I know it's a question you're probably hearing a lot now that you're entering the last few months.
A: That's a fair question when you are about to graduate. I'm graduating this May here in a month. Then I will take six months to a year off, applying for physical therapy schools. This summer I'll be working teaching tennis at a club, saving up some money while also getting more shadowing hours from licensed physical therapists and figuring out where I want to go to school. While you're doing this, you don't really have a lot of free time to head off and travel and visit or find out what's the best fit for your or best place to go. I'm planning to go to physical therapy school. That is my goal down the road. I do have some more schooling. I'm graduating and will be doing more schooling down the road, probably three more years of intense coursework, but my passion has always been in academics, in medicine and the body. I would love to get back in athletics as a PT and work with athletes. That's my end result goal.
Q: Now going into some random questions. Everyone's favorite here. If you could be dropped into the world of any movie, what would it be?
A: Any movie? Give me a second. A quick second. ... I'm a fan of truth-based movies or war movies that are based on true stories, but I wouldn't say I would want to be dropped into those environments. I'm not a huge cartoon guy, but I've liked the Dark Knight series and the Batman movies. I would probably say "The Dark Knight Rises" is probably one of my other favorite movies I like to watch. Let's go with that one.
Q: What musician have you not seen live but would like to?
A: The Zac Brown Band. I love his music. His style is kind of country based, but he's got some more mainstream stuff. From what I hear, his live performances are amazing. That or Mumford & Sons. Those are my two. I can't decide between them.
Q: What's been your favorite artist to see in person?
A: It's kind of a small band, but they're getting bigger. The Dirty Guv'nahs. That's my favorite band that I like to see live, and they're based out of Knoxville. They're getting a lot bigger now, but they always come back and sometimes do free shows in Market Square or the Bijou Theatre. I always make those if I can.
Q: Favorite TV show?
A: King of Queens. That's actually one of my favorite show besides Prison Break.
Q: What was your favorite action figure that you've ever had?
A: Probably am going to go back to Batman. I don't know why. He's always stuck with me. I'm not a huge animated action figure type of guy, but that for some reason, that's been my go to. I love the Batman movies and TV show.
Q: What's been your best costume?
A: My Buzz Lightyear costume got a lot of pictures. It was pretty nice.
Q: Have you pulled any shareable pranks in your time here?
A: Last year, I lived with Jarryd, Mikelis and John (Collins) in Vol Hall. Jarryd and I would always give Mikelis a hard time. He's more of an introvert. He likes to stay in his room, but we liked to give him a hard time and get him out. There are a million things we've done. We put goldfish in his bathtub. We've taken the couch and blocked him in his room, so he can't get out. We put the couch up vertically, so he couldn't get out. Probably the one that irritated him the most is that he likes to go into his room and have his quiet time after long days in his room. We took the door off his room. We unscrewed it and hid the door, so he went in and realized he didn't have a door to shut.
The other good one was this ... Days are busy days, so if you can catch a nap, that's great. One time in Vol Hall, I have an iHome -- and you'll get where this is going -- and found a fire alarm on my phone. I turned the volume up real loud on my iHome. We played it and Mikelis was taking a nap. It sounded like a real fire alarm and we slammed the door really quick like we'd left. He gets up, so confused, and runs out the door. That had to have been one of the funniest times, waking him up like that. There's a whole list of stuff we've done to him. It's just non-stop when Jarryd is in town. I think he likes it, but he probably gets annoyed with it to a little bit, but it is good for a laugh or two.
Q: Now Mikelis did compliment your driving ability. He says you are the best driver on the team. Do you agree with that assessment?
A: I am a cautious person when it comes to that. I don't like to speed or do anything crazy. He probably said that so he thinks I'll lend him my car more. I've lived with Mikelis for four years now. That's a fact that most people probably don't know. I'm a pretty careful driver. We're actually picking his dad up from the airport today, so that's exciting.
Q: Worst driver?
A: Jess Jones or Sunay (Bhat), but I'm going with Jess Jones. That kid cannot focus. Cannot focus.
Q: What's something you've collected?
A: I'm a big change collector. Some people get change and throw it out, but I used to have a big Mountain Dew bottle of change. I'm always one to save change, but as far as collecting things, I haven't really gotten into that. I haven't really gotten into cars or Dromsky's hotel keys or anything like that. For a while, any place we would play I would try to get a T-shirt of that school for my brother because we go to so many school and so many places. He's got 20, 30, 40 T-shirts of random schools. I tried to do that for a while, but I've personally not collected much memorabilia.
Q: Pets. Have you had any?
A: I have a dog right now. Well, my parents do. I got it when I was young and it's still going, which is good. I want to get a dog soon. I'm thinking about that. We've had two cats at my house, a dog. My girlfriend has been pestering me as well about getting a dog. I think I'll get a dog when tennis is over and everything settles down. It'll be fun to have. Probably a golden retriever. That's what we're leaning towards.
Q: Anything else you'd like to be asked about?
A: I'm surprised I didn't get asked the music question.
Q: Oh, I'll ask that then.
A: The guys give me a hard time because I love playing the drums, but I don't play around them.
Q: But you do really like the drums?
A: I love playing the drums. It's interesting. They're fun for me to play, but they're not necessarily fun for a large group to sit there and listen to. It's not something that soothing to hear all the time, so I want to find something -- probably guitar or piano will be the next thing for me to start learning. Something that's a little more soothing to listen to.
Q: Who would be the lead singer of the team band?
A: I can tell you who would want to be: Hunter. He thinks he's a good singer. I'm going to tell you he's not. I'd say Hunter or Sunay. They'd be fighting for lead vocalist on stage. Hunter would probably win that battle.
