India Overseas Report
NEW YORK, June 14, 2023 – Natasha Subhash, a Senior at the University of Virginia, has been named the national recipient of the 2023 Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced, earlier this week.
The ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award recognizes outstanding student-athletes in all five divisions (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and JUCO) at the regional and national level, reported Virginiasports.com.
This prestigious award, which dates back to 1982, is presented to the men’s and women’s national student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements in ways that embody the legacy of tennis icon and humanitarian Arthur Ashe Jr.
Subhash, a two-time Academic All-American and four-time ITA All-American, has reached a top-10 singles ranking in three different seasons and has been ranked in the doubles top-10 twice, including reaching a career-high No. 3 ranking this season, the report said. She was born and raised in Virginia.
She earned her bachelor’s degree last month from the McIntire School of Commerce, earning the 2023 Walter B. Doggett Accounting Award in recognition of distinguished academic achievement and outstanding scholarship in the discipline of accounting. She will pursue her master’s in accounting at McIntire in the fall. She has twice been named UVA’s female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was the 2022 recipient of the Ralph Sampson Scholarship Award, an honor given annually to UVA’s top third-year student-athlete who best demonstrates excellence in academics, leadership and athletics. The two-time team captain has been working with Madison House’s Athletes Committed to Education (ACE) program since 2019, volunteering as a tutor working with elementary school students.
Congratulations to Natasha for being named this year’s ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership Award recipient,” said head coach Sara O’Leary, reported Virginasports.com. “As a representative of the UVA tennis family and our university, Natasha has demonstrated excellence in so many parts of her life since she arrived in Charlottesville in 2019. Whether on the court, as a four-time (and counting) All-American, or in the classroom where her achievements are many, I’m sure I speak for myself, her teammates, her family and the entire UVA community when I say we could not be more proud of Natasha.”
Subhash is the first Virginia student-athlete, male or female, to earn the honor. This is her second time earning a national honor from the ITA after being voted the 2020 ITA National Rookie of the Year.
“My personal philosophy has always been to do whatever I can to help others,” Subhash said, in a statement. “I have always loved to work with children and those with special needs, and I think the love for this came from my mom who is a middle school special education teacher. When I was growing up, the tennis academy I trained at participated in a program called Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) where once a month, children with physical and developmental disabilities would come to the academy and we’d run a tennis clinic with them. It was always so rewarding to see the joy on their faces as they participated in an activity that they might’ve thought to be impossible.”
An earlier report in Virginiasports.com noted that Subhash, who plans to become a CPA, hasn’t decided if she’ll pursue a pro career after earning her master’s degree next year. She had an internship last summer in Tysons Corner with FORVIS, one of the nation’s top 10 public accounting firms, and will intern there, in a different department, again this summer.
Natasha is the daughter of Subhash Kongassery and Sulekha Subhash, who emigrated to the United States in 1997, from Delhi. The couple, who are from Kerala, grew up in Delhi. Sulekha is a teacher, while Subhash Kongassery is an IT professional in the Washington, DC area.
