Women’s tennis signee Margaret Polk may be the top rated player in the state of Alabama, but it was coach Lee Walker’s high school basketball coach that helped secure Polk’s spot on the TCU roster.

“I’m grateful for all the relationships that intersected in order to lead Margaret to TCU,” Walker said in a press release on GoFrogs.com.

Walker’s high school basketball coach is a friend of Polk’s father, who asked Walker the simple favor of watching Polk play at against a ranked opponent at nationals. Initially, Walker wasn’t sure Polk had the abilities to make it as a collegiate tennis player, but her performance proved him otherwise.

“Her character and competitive maturity is a big draw for us, and I think she has the discipline to embrace our system immediately upon arrival,” Walker said to GoFrogs.com. “Margaret has the ingredients to be a great college tennis player.”

Walker and the Polk family’s relationship led Polk to verbally commit to TCU, and Walker said he is eager to have Polk as the sole addition to the women’s tennis squad for the 2019-20 season.

The five-star recruit of the Birmingham Tennis Academy is ranked nationally as the No. 59 player and is the No. 6 player in the USTA Southern Region, according to TennisRecruiting.net.

Most recently, Polk secured three wins at the Southern Winter Level 1 Championships and made a quarterfinals appearance in doubles. In December 2018, Polk captured two singles victories and a doubles win at the USTA National Winter Championships.