This blog was a difficult one to write, so I will be directing you to the podcast instead. Answering this question is straight forward, but finding that type of environment is difficult. There will always be a higher level training group so at some point, a coach has to say no, they can’t move you up. So here are the main points of the podcast, and I encourage you to watch or listen to the podcast to get all of the details behind my thoughts:

This is all just my personal preference. I’ve spent some time training at many different places. At the end of the day, I think this type of environment will best help a junior develop into a great tennis player, while having a great experience. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find our unicorn, but we can sure get close!

It’s not that I don’t believe kids should get private work in with a coach. On the contrary, they need to get as much of that as they can.

They just came up with a “better algorithm” where you can still lose a close match and move up, and win a close match and move down.

It’s one thing to see a player play one match. It’s another to see how they handle different scenarios on back to back days. That’s where you really get to know the player. But in regards to the overall tournament, when the juniors I was responsible for weren’t competing, I was watching everyone else and learning. These were the 3 most important things I took away from the event:

This blog reveals the fastest, most efficient way to improve your UTR dramatically! Nothing we want comes easy though so prepare yourself.

For that to happen, to be completely focused on every little detail, an athlete has to care about the immediate present as if it’s the most important thing in the world. Mentally. Physically. And emotionally. Only when you care that much about the present can you be 100% focused.

If someone’s tournament schedule isn’t handled appropriately, they won’t be prepared to play well. And if they don’t know what constitutes an appropriate tournament schedule, they’ll incorrectly have high expectations going into an event. They’ll be all excited as they’re playing their first tournament in a while. They’ve practiced a lot. They think they’re ready to compete!

And then boom!

They experience nerves under pressure for the first time in weeks.

We need to get back to our roots. The roots that made us known for being the hardest working people on the planet. The roots that taught us that if we wanted something, we went to work for it. And if we worked for it, we could accomplish whatever we wanted. The American Dream.

“Most of our fears and most of our anxieties don’t exist in the present.”

There is zero upside to looking at the draw, and immense downside.

We ask the kids to commit to do whatever it takes, but we never ask the parents to do the same.

“Albert Mehrabian created the 7-38-55 rule. That is, only 7 percent of a message is based on the words while 38 percent comes from the tone of voice and 55 percent from the speaker’s body language and face.” Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference

“Does my child need to homeschool to make it to division 1 collegiate tennis?” - Junior Tennis Parent

No.

But the things home school programs offer must be done some how and this is where a lot of after school programs fail. 

And since most coaches don’t go to any junior tournaments (we all know how I feel about that), the parent are the first and last person the player is going to talk to. They need to be prepared to handle the pre and post match situations. And how they handle those situations can make things better or worse for their child.

Let them learn the consequences of their decisions, and don’t let them quit. Not until they’ve at least learned to problem solve.

Can you think of a sport where the coach works with their players throughout the week, then doesn’t watch them compete? Can you think of a sport where the coach has to ask for the parent’s and player’s feedback on what to potentially work on after a competition? Especially a parent that has no experience in developing a junior tennis player?

I can……..

You don’t want to look back and realize the money you spent on your child’s coaching was actually for an expensive baby sitting program.

When you’re focused on beating your current opponents, you’re only focused on marginal improvements. But players make their biggest jump in playing level when they’re under the age of 18. Their bodies are growing. Their muscle memory is still open to big changes. Their brains are ready to learn new things. Players need to take advantage of this and think of how they can make the biggest long term improvements in their game to reach their ultimate desired level of play.

The biggest difference between the best junior tennis players and everyone else is how well structured their development was. No child made it to the top by random chance. By the age of 12-14, their development started to be planned for success. And the development plan for those lagging behind was consistently missing four things.

“A jack of all trades, master of none.”

If a player works on too many things at once, they’ll be mediocre at everything, great at nothing. It’s better to master the most important things first, then start adding in everything else later/

Theres are the 5 most important things a junior player should work on once they have the basic skills down: