Ideal tennis academy. Is it possible?
We decided to publish this reply from Mike Erwin as a separate post. Join the discussion and express your opinions.
I disagree with the idea that a great tennis player automatically makes a great coach. I do believe those ex-players have something to give back but playing alone doesn’t qualify them to develop the next generation of American tennis players. I have worked with many former touring pro’s who were bad coaches/teachers. They got into coaching for the money, attention an ex-pro gets, and sadly for some because it’s all they can do.
I have also witnessed many instances where the pro is trying to teach the student to play the way they played 20 years ago. The saying goes “experience is the best teacher’ not “the teacher with the experience is best’. I have also worked with Pro’s who were top players who are now top notch teachers and coaches. They use their experience playing to motivate their students but don’t promise to turn all of their students into the next superstar.
I am currently partnering with a coach who was top 5 in the world in the juniors, top ranked in college, and who toured professionally. He was a player. He is now a teacher of the game. Some of the best stories he has shared with me are from when he was 5 and crying because his dad wouldn’t let him hit with the big kids and of times he battled against other young players who turned out to be professional players. Those things have shaped his thinking about the game and are great for the kids to hear but they hold no promise other than that every player can enjoy the journey.
As far as your question goes: How to create an ideal tennis academy? The answer is you won’t. The bigger question is can the collective “We” come up with a way to produce more Champions? Before I give my answer to that I’d like to give credit to the USTA for what they are doing to answer that big question.
The USTA is giving players/parents more opportunities than ever. Players have chances to train with other players and parents are getting access to experts in coaching, sports psychology, and sports science. Those things are happening at the sectional level regularly at no cost to the families. USTA is also providing coaches and players with clear parameters for technique, footwork, and tactical development.
The USTA gets a lot of grief but I must say that the clarity of their message and the delivery is much better than anything I’ve seen from either teaching pro organization. I have a few ideas for aiding in the development of future champions:
- Train and certify tennis coaches using the USTA parameters. Give the coaches the information so they can teach the players the right things.
- Require competition. The ratio of practice (lessons) to play in tennis is severely out of whack. I tell my players that you practice to play better so play!
- Instill discipline and self reliance. Coaches work with the player NOT for the player. Parents, STOP carrying their bag and fetching everything they need. When your player or son/daughter is playing a tennis match and looks at you like they have no idea what do it’s because you’ve done everything for them.
The things I mentioned above are simple and have been said before. They don’t come with a guarantee of professional tennis success. What they would bring is a culture change. We would have generations of tennis players with technique that would allow them to develop to a game style based on them personally and not based on limited technical ability.
Our players would compete better. A lot can be said about strategy, but it still comes down to making more balls and winning more points than your opponent. You learn to compete by playing.
Last and most important we would develop excellent people. Tennis is a great training ground for the real world. NONE of us can guarantee Grand Slam success, but we can do a great job and definitely enjoy the ride.
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I certainly agree with much of the above. High level former players often teach by saying just do this, because they really don’t know how they produced their tennis, or they repeat those things coaches said to them without understanding why these teaching tools were used. I have had a dozen kids who i have coached into the upper end of their USTA age group sectionally and nationally and a half dozen that made it into the top 100 in ITFs. I have solid teaching techniques, but no great playing pedigree. I do have a good diverified coaching pedigree. If i need to bring someone into the picture to discuss how they felt in a particular scenario (playing your first supernational) I take the route of looking to contemporaries of the player and having them discuss their feelings and how they handled it or looking to articulate legends in our sport to talk about it. There is never a shortage of people to add that piece to the coaching equation. Play more train less. So many juniors have solid technique but have no decision making skills precisely because decisions are made for them. Parents can help in this area by refraining from simply making decisions for their child and guiding the child to making good decisions. Granted it takes more time but this is one of the biggest contributions parents can make to a kid’s development as a tennis player, and I would argue as a well rounded person that reasons their way through problem solving. Ideal tennis academy would mean that there is one right way to teach, or more importantly one right way to learn and we know that’s rubbish. I do feel the USTA could do FAR more to support diverse ways of training players as opposed to the route force method of saying our way is right. My view of the USTA is an organization that supports the various coaching outlets in our sport, runs a large variety of tournaments, develops through dialogue a set of rules and they vigorously enforces those rules. My dream of course, but I’m afraid in many cases what’s happening is exactly the opposite
Please define “tennis academy.” In the US, it seems anyone can call themselves a tennis academy. Should there be basic requirements to call yourself a ‘tennis academy’ such as having a certain method of teaching, staff qualifications, etc. Or is it just a matter of hit and miss – i.e., if you produce a champion or two, you’re now a bonified academy . . . I know of one local Miami Beach facility in particular that calls itself a tennis academy and I have no idea why, as I’ve never seen any grooming of future champions, etc., or any system of teaching or program offerings. Also the facility is publicly owned, and I would think most academies are privately owned from facility to management. Any opinion on this?
There is a good question Rebecca. You can find some answers for your question in my article “Tennis academy. What is it?” http://wp.me/p2iyrR-3t
I wanted to add that some tennis academies have nothing with “academy” as well as with “tennis”. For some owners of a “tennis academy” is just a tool to make more money from inexperienced tennis parents.
In my opinion, a tennis academy is a team of well known tennis and fitness coaches (most of them are certified by USPTA or RTP), with experience of producing good players, including top 100. At least 10-20 tennis hard and clay courts. Better if an academy has its own courts. Constant medical control. Nutritionist specialist. No advertisement, but the tennis academy has a waiting list from the good players.
I do not know any academy that matches this description. But I know private coaches and team of coaches which are very good and have waiting lists.
“I do not know any academy that matches this description. But I know private coaches and team of coaches which are very good and have waiting lists.” Dear Valery, god gave us daughter(she is 12 years old) and now she is in love with this sport. Please, if you would be so kind to share that list with me, three things will happen: we will really appreciate your help, we will be your alive reference, when she will become a pro player, we will be honored to invite you as the highest guest to her title match. Respectfully.
Evgeniy. My point is that you need to find a really good tennis coach, who is able to understand your kid and her potential as a tennis player. I do not know all coaches in the world 🙂 I just want to give you one example: I live in Irvine, CA. Irvine has a large number of really good junior tennis players, like Mayo Hibi and Gage Brymer. Also there are more than a dozen players who are in the top 50-100 in America. Most of these players play tennis at Woodbridge Tennis Club with Chris Lewis, Chuck Brymer and some other really good coaches. When I tried to send my son to the club last summer, I was told that they did not have room for him and I was supposed to place him on the waiting list.
This club never advertises or spends money for aggressive sales and marketing, like many others do. Think why, because they have had a strong reputation and really good players for many years.
I cannot give you any specific advice, but if you are ever in So Cal, let me know and we can meet and talk.