Saint Mary's Men's Tennis players James and Aidan Watt are brothers from New Zealand who are keeping the family feel of SMC going. Big brother James has helped little brother Aidan shape his game and his path to collegiate tennis and is easy to spot on campus at six-foot-nine, though younger brother Aidan is not far behind at just a shade under six-foot-four.
 
James attracted a lot of attention on the court in fact at a young age due to his height, being about six-foot-six at age 15, as it helps with a big serve along with generating a lot of power and kick in a player's game.
 
"I was very tall at a young age," James said. "Even when I first started primary school, I was a head taller than everyone else. I've been the height I am now since I was 17."
 
Whereas Aidan had a more traditional growth spurt.  "I was actually sort of averaged size and maybe a bit shorter than others in high school," Aiden said. "I hit a growth spurt about 15 or 16, before getting to around six-foot-three now."
 
But it's more than their height that they share, as they also had similar paths into tennis and to Saint Mary's.
 
"I first came across tennis when our parents were trying to introduce me to a summer kind of sport, because we were big on playing rugby in New Zealand of course," Watt said. "I fell in love with it, the competitive nature of it, and never looked back, and as a result a younger brother followed in my footsteps. The junior tennis in New Zealand is very competitive and there are a lot of New Zealand players playing in the states and in college in America right now."
 
For Aidan it was almost the exact same introduction to the sport and similar early experiences in learning to play it and improving his game.
 
"Mom and dad asked if I wanted to play tennis with James," Aidan said. "I picked up a racket, struggled with it at first, and got into and enjoyed it quite a bit. I always looked up to James, I thought his game was quite cool. And I wanted to play similar to him with the big serve, thinking I'd be as tall as him some day. I'm not quite as tall as him, but I have a similar game."
 
And older brother James wanted to make sure he imparted some wisdom to younger brother Aidan of lessons he learned along the way.
 
"I didn't want him to follow in my shadow," James noted. "I wanted him to take his time, and told him it comes to people at different times, just keeping working hard and the results will come. I hadn't seen him play in a few years until he came to Saint Mary's, the improvement I've seen since he's come here has been cool to see as an older brother."
 
Aidan certainly appreciated the advice and took it to heart. "Like he said take your time with your game, I wanted to rush things and be super good super-fast," Aiden added. "Having him say that helped me slow down a bit and work on my game and I built on that."
It can be a tough balance for an older sibling already in college to let the younger sibling make their own choice about where to go for their higher education, all while they've share what their experience has been like at the college they're attending.
 
The younger sibling has heard the stories, seen the campus, and maybe helped the older sibling move in on campus. But the Watts seem to have similar tastes in higher education and are enjoying being on campus together.
 
"James being here definitely played a big role in me coming to Saint Mary's, for myself and for my parents knowing I'd have an older brother here to help me out in case I didn't know what to do," Aidan said. "When I first got here I met a lot of new people and you're able to really meet people here from the small campus, and I really enjoyed meeting a lot of the other teams.
 
"I didn't mind either way if he wanted to do his own thing," added James. "But at the same time, it's pretty cool to have family over here, it's like a different world, I haven't really seen my family all year and for him to come over and I'm with him all year is kind of a breath of fresh air."
 
"When I came to America in 2018, I visited a lot of colleges as I looked to make a decision on what college to go," James said. "The first thing you see is it's a very beautiful campus and the other thing I saw was it's a tight-knit kind community where it made me feel like I was at home, compared to visiting USF in the hustle and bustle of the city, when I'm coming from New Zealand on a farm where I grew up, the campus on a nice countryside felt like home."
 
Having Aidan on campus has been a reconnection with his family for James, who has been in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been away from his family most of that time.
 
"When COVID first hit, I was kind of at a crossroads of whether I go back to New Zealand and train there and see my family or whether I stay and train here in California and ride it out," James said. "I stayed here and trained with the other guys who stayed behind as well, I've been home for one Christmas since the pandemic started, but haven't been home for about a year and a half now and am looking forward to going back.
 
"I'm sort of used to it going through boarding school back home so I've gotten a taste of independence and handling things myself," James added. "But it was a little difficult not seeing them for that amount of time, but at the same time did allow me to build my independence even more and really focus on my goals over that period."
 
In that time that James has been away, Aidan has gotten a chance to be the big brother, applying and dishing right back out the advice James gave to him.
 
"Yea, I was the older brother back home when James was away and fitting into that role while he was away, just trying to grow my game." Aidan said. "It's a hard balance when you're trying to give advice to our younger brother who's just two years younger than me about things I'm still trying to figure out myself. But the big thing is staying positive and helping him focus on his game, and about not rushing your game and staying calm during play and building on your game, keeping him calm when he gets frustrated, I've definitely used the same advice I got from James."
 
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