At 12 years old, Christian Welte was playing soccer in the back of a school where there was a rusted swing set. At the time, Welte was a soccer player, but after that day, he would turn to tennis.

“I fell on the ground, and there was a pipe. And it went almost through my knee,” Welte said. “It went three quarters of the way through, and it was pretty bad. It chipped the knee cap, severed the patella tendon…I came back a year later, tried to play soccer and couldn’t play. My knee would just stop.”

Welte was unable to play soccer for a year and a half. During that time, his mother, who played in a tennis league, turned him on to the game of tennis, and he has been in love with it ever since.

The junior from Philadelphia, Pa., said he doesn’t play with a knee brace, despite the freak injury that he suffered when he was 12.

“What happened when [I was] 12, the doctor said that if I continued to play competitive sports that I would probably need surgery when I was 20, 21,” Welte said. “And I saw a specialist a year and a half ago and they said that if it’s not broken, just don’t fix it.”

Three major schools, including N.C. State, looked at Welte and were interested in inviting him to join their program. He said that each one was distinctly different.

“Michigan was pretty cold, and they didn’t actually offer me a lot of scholarship money,” Welte said. “It was probably between here and Maryland. Maryland offered me a full ride, and [State] was not quite a full ride, but enough. And I just felt like I could develop as a player here better. The climate here is much better because it stays warmer a lot longer than up north.”

What also helped was his high school coach, Christian Hill, talking to N.C. State’s coach, Jon Choboy.

“My coach, Christian Hill, he knows Jon Choboy pretty well,” Welte said. “Jon saw me play at national clay courts when I was 16 or 17. He took a pretty good interest in me. He thought that I had a pretty good attacking game and thought that I could really develop.”

Along with junior teammate Jay Weinacker, Welte came to State, though according to him, college was a lot different than he thought it would be.

“Freshman year was really adjustment to doing school work and tennis at the same time,” Welte said. “[I was] really making the adjustments to try to do both. That was a good transition that I made from freshman year to sophomore year. It wasn’t so much on the tennis court, just trying to set my goals and trying to stay on track because you really don’t have too much free time. Everything has to be exactly on point for you to really do well.”

Weinacker said Welte has transitioned well from his freshman season to his junior year.

“He’s really evolved over the past couple of years and as he’s grown up,” Weinacker said. “Especially this year, he’s playing a big role on the team. He feels like he is one of the leaders on the team. That’s the biggest change. He’s really matured over the last two, three years since he’s been here. It’s helped the team out a lot.”

Sophomore Frideric Prandecki said he considers Welte once of his good friends.

“He’s a very good teammate,” Prandecki said. “He always cheers us up and [has] high intensity. He’s a very good teammate, good friend to have around.”

Choboy, impressed with Welte when he recruited him to State, said Welte was a fairly immature kid when he arrived, but has grown up a lot.

“[He was an] immature kid for quite a while,” Choboy said. “He’s learning to really have his affairs in order, taking care of his homework. He got on the Dean’s list last semester. He’s a really intelligent kid. I talked to him about that a lot.”

Majoring in history, Welte said that he enjoys learning about the past and where he came from. After college, he’s interested in going to law school. His coach said it’s a good idea.

“I want him to reach is potential academically,” Choboy said. “I think when he’s done here, I want him to apply to law school. I think he has that kind of capability. I think he sees it too. He’s really pushing himself academically, and it really carries over to the tennis court.”