MA tennis star Barrera signs with Ball State
Montgomery Academy’s Gabby Barrera signed with Ball State to play tennis on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The biggest obstacle for Montgomery Academy senior Gabby Barrera was never on the tennis court.
She often found it more difficult to negotiate the recruiting process for a college scholarship.
Barrera, a six-year starter at No. 1 singles for the Eagles, signed the paperwork on Tuesday to continue her tennis career at the collegiate level with Ball State.
“It’s a huge relief,” she said. “The college process is not easy. It’s very nice to finally be committed to somewhere that I’m also very certain about.”
The college tennis world is, at times, difficult to sort through. A person with Barrera’s credentials should be a highly sought-after recruit, but your participation in USTA events, particularly the high-profile events those that are attended by college coaches, may hinge on several factors that ultimately determine your recruitment.
“In the 11th grade is when you can start talking to colleges,” Barrera said. “And you have to create an entire email explaining why you’re recruitable, what your GPA is, what your tennis ranking is and you have to send it constantly to college coaches and that’s only if they respond in the first place. It can be really stressful.”
Barrera’s accomplishments are hard to match. On the court, she has posted 82 singles victories over the past five years and 81 doubles matches despite changing partners twice. She won the 2021 Class 6A doubles championship with Jenna Chandler and the 2024 Class 7A doubles title with Mae Mae Voltz. She was the 2022 Class 6A runner-up, the 2023 Class 7A singles champion with a 23-1 record and the 2024 Class 7A singles champion with a 24-0 record. This past summer, she was selected as one of the South all-stars for Alabama All-Stars Sports Week.
Off the court, her accolades are just as plentiful. She boasts a 4.1 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) and is an accomplished artist who has had her work displayed in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts for three consecutive years.
In fact, it is her love for art that led her to sign with Ball State University on Tuesday.
“I wanted to get away because I like change,” she said. “I wanted to have different experiences. I looked at some schools in North Carolina, one all the way in Connecticut, I had connections with others that I never ended up visiting and I just landed on Ball State because they have such an awesome program for my major.”
Barrera is interested in becoming a 3D animator in movies and can major in animation production at Ball State.
“At Ball State, the man who created Garfield (Ball State alumnus Jim Davis) dedicated an entire building toward art,” Barrera said. “Each room is personalized and set up for each art medium and it’s super cool. There are four different degrees you can get through animation.
“I like the idea of helping to create a storyline and presenting it to an audience. I just really like showing people on a screen and making them feel emotions through a screen or any type of production.”