Profile of the Week: Allison Corfield

Photo by: Stacy Edwards 

Allison Corfield is from the beach town of Jamberoo, Australia, on the outskirts of the large city of Sydney. Surfing is one of her favorite things to do back in Australia. She describes Jamberoo as, “Chill and always nice,” and when it snowed here in the United States, she thought, “Oh my God, I’m gonna die!” 

Corfield, a junior at Ottawa University majoring in communication studies, is an only child, the daughter of a primary school teacher and a high school teacher. Tennis and the opportunity to see the world are the main reasons she came to the United States, despite a fear of planes and flying. She has made the incredibly long flight from Australia to America more times than she can exactly remember and calls it “hell.”

She came to Ottawa because she didn’t want to go to a university in Australia because it is “boring” since universities in Australia don’t have sports. Even though everyone else in Corfield’s class was going to the university after graduating, she wanted to do something different.

“There is a whole other world out there,” she says.

She is undoubtedly right, as she has been to Singapore, New Zealand, France, England, Scotland, Ireland and the United States.

“So boring staying in one spot when there’s a whole world out there … you see how other people live and you’re like: ‘Wow, I’m just being in my own little world,’” Corfield says.

She first went and hit with her neighbor’s tennis racket when she was eight years old and actually ended up stealing the racket. She started taking tennis lessons as an 11-year-old in Jamboree. She described a favorite moment in her tennis career when as a teenager she upset a cocky player who was presumed to win and a crowd favorite. Corfield was able to turn the tide of the match, and her victory secured a spot on the state team while her adversary was left out.

She came to Ottawa University after leaving Ashford University, an NAIA school in Iowa, because it was closing down. The closing made her mad, and she was on the verge of going back to Australia but her coach in Iowa knew the tennis coach at Ottawa. Corfield jumped at the opportunity.

“I’ll just go to Ottawa -- didn’t look at anything, didn’t know where it was,” she recalls.

Corfield says she is in fact superstitious as she listens to German rap before playing tennis. This ritual started back at Ashford, where she had a German teammate who listened to it. Every time she listened to it she won, and now she listens to it all the time.

As an outstanding tennis player for the Lady Braves, Corfield was awarded the Braves Athletic Hall of Fame scholarship for good grades and athletic achievement in the fall of 2016. She and her doubles partner have been ranked as high as no. 17 and she was ranked no. 41 in singles. As a team, they were runner-ups in the KCAC last season.

Her favorite thing about Ottawa is “the tennis team.” The Campus asked her why she thinks young people should play tennis growing up, and she advocates on behalf of the sport saying tennis, “Can take you anywhere in the world.”

She says tennis could have taken her to Europe and “tennis can take Americans to Australia.”

Mexican and sushi are Corfield’s favorite foods. “Disturbia” with Shia LaBeouf is her favorite movie. “Pop punk, specifically blink-182 and Green Day” are her favorite music. As for a dream car, she says a Black Range Rover Sport will do.

Corfield is undecided on whether or not she wants to live here, depending on if she is able to get a visa. She says, “It would be nice to stay in America.” She is leaning toward doing marketing or public relations after graduating.

To celebrate graduation however, she says she is going to “bring all my friends from Australia over and just go to Cali or Las Vegas.”