What Is The Biggest Problem in American Tennis?
Javier Palenque
I think the biggest problem we face in American tennis is not that there is poor training (which no one would disagree), it is mostly that none of us work together, to top that off, most parents are truly ignorant of tennis (need to do a better job at educating them) and that it is really expensive. Worst of all, the thing that kids need most is match play and that is nowhere to be found. I live in Miami, great weather 98% of year, don’t know any coaches who set up match play on regular basis, the solution is working together (coaches, parents, kids, clubs) and reducing costs. Otherwise it becomes cost prohibitive and logistically impossible.
Last week I met a mom who quit work to drive kid around 40-60 miles to get good coaching 3-4 times a week, plus the high priced lessons, plus in order to do that kid has to do online schooling. Problem is kid is alright,not great, parents out close to $1000 week or $52K, mothers income loss approx $45K year. Tennis lessons and no work is close to $100K, kids with no schooling, spell disaster.
So, I meet the parent and she tells me her story, I ask her if I can do a coordination test of the talented girl, to see how her motor skills relate to her tennis. Well, a simple coordination drill that involves foot and hand and eye coordination is an impossible task for the girl at 13. She need not spend $52K, leave school and quit a job. I can assure you this parent is misled and the kid will not be a pro. This is the state of our tennis.
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I agree with the post plus this from a tennis Hall of Fame athlete.
“The best tennis players have yet to be discovered because they are not in country clubs, but in the Hood / Inner Cities!”
Arthur Ashe,”Days of Grace”
Think about it!
The USTA has been good to me! But they have never asked me or men and women like me about the future of tennis in America. Back in the mid eighties and early nineties I thought we were going to get there with regional training centers! What happened? They went away! Give me five years and the funding required and I will give you the stars our Country needs! But more than that, I will give you young men and women who are going to go to college on tennis scholarships and be productive tax paying, home owning, members of our society. Not take hundreds of dollars in tennis scholarships back overseas! Opps, I said what other people want to say and should.
The paradigm must change or tennis in the USA is going to die! Tennis businesses are eating hand to mouth! We need a new direction, a new plan of attack, the old ways do not work anymore! Hello, the old ways are not working anymore!
Please give those of us who know the resources to get it done!
Coach Dave Owens
PTR Teaching Professional
Community Leader
First step is to lose that PTR certification and join MTMCA.
This article makes me realized, one more time, tennis and its soundings (people), are ripping parents off. Like I said before (in another article) I pay for my son in Hamburg, Germany around 250 Euros for four weeks tennis clinics, and 30 Euros one hour private lessons. Where do you find this in the US?
Dave,
You are right on the money! The US dominates in other sports because we utilize our best athletes…except in tennis. 5 years; 5 “hoods”; and we are back!
Hey Bob !
You are one of those folks I’m talking about!
Duey Evans in Texas is another.
Stayed tuned, the revolution will not be televised!
Peace & Blessings
Happy Easter!
Dave
443-310-0795
Dave:
Football – only US plays in the world
Baseball – only US and a few caribbean countries play, can hardly say
its global
Soccer – US is pretty bad ( worlds best known sport)
Basketball – only US and a few euro countries have leagues
Last Olympics – US was not #1
TRack – Jamaica beats us handily
Tennis – We have a #12 Isner, who is basically a tall guy who wins his serves or 50% of the points, his tennis is OK.
The issue is that we don’t work together and now a days all the information is out there so countries like Serbia have same access to knowledge as the US.
While the “hood” may help, the system wont help.
We need to work together.
We too have been down this path. I drove my son to so many locations as I felt my son was not getting the right training, and he nearly quit due to ball compression changes. Thankfully, our location brought in the right individual and who motivated our kids. As a result, many set up their own match play sessions. Additionally, if your kid is loaded up with AP classes it adds another layer of complexity, and mine is dreaming of home schooling just to play more tennis.
Hey Javier!
Agreed! We do not work together!
Another point is that I feel we are being dictated too and not full partners with
the governing body ( USTA ). My point being they do not ask us what we need!
If they did I would tell them!
Let’s keep the dialog up!
Paz,
David
In my opinion, there is not just one thing that is the problem with American tennis. It is a colossal of things that is compiled into one big mess. I think with American tennis there are technical issues with training and development, there are problems with monetary disburstment of player develop funds, there are problems with USTA, and much more. The accumulation of all these things is the build up to one hugh problem.
Who are u to be a predictor? Do u have a crystal ball & magical powers? I think u should slow down & look in the mirror before u make such bold claims. It is naive to think that motor skills alone on 1 shallow “simple coordination task with foot & hand eye” predict a pro career. A good coach would think, “how can I help this person?” – not label or judge, “this is not a good athlete.” People learn at different rates in different capacities.
We don’t do this for ourselves. We do it for them.
Coaches with better qualifications than a U have come to resolute decision that no one can accurately predict a players endgame, as the word “talent” is an elusive term that means many things, & has more to do with commitment than any physical ability u throw out onto this article without any real consideration. A Harvard man should know better & do some research. Perhaps U should travel to Tallahassee & meet A. Ericsson & open your eyes to the science of success, or perhaps to Stanford to meet Dweck so u can join the real discussion on talent. Or pick up a Daniel Coyle book for god’s sake. Writing for this site, u should at least check w/ Saviano before u say anything out loud.
At first say sorry my poor english.
I lived in USA and Know something about tennis. I´m PTR Proffessional level and 35 years teaching tennis, but studied 5 years Physical Education to be a teacher.
1.- USA has a lot of publics courts and big stadiums since 25 years ago, but USTA hasn´t a national structure to develop young players around the country.
2.- In others sports you can start about 13-15 years old and can reach a world level, But tennis must start at 5-7 years old with good training if you want to be a world class player. In USA tennis starts in middle schoool and teacher´s are not tennis coaches.
3.- USPTA and PTR certification courses are good for neighboord players, but not enough to work at competitive level and useless to work at world class level ATP – WTA.
4.- USTA make thousands of League Tournaments around USA, but that means nothing if you want to develop world class players.
5.- USTA have to learn about development tennis structures like Spain, France, and others east europe countries who theirs playes fills the top 100 ATP or WTA.
6.- USTA have to put the conditions every tennis school have to atend. Have to ask USPTA, PTR, and Coaches Associations to work hardly in Certifications Courses. A few days (4, 6, 10) Courses are not enough to make a Coach or sport teacher.
7.- USTA and the City have to control about levels and qualifications standars of people who teach tennis in public parks and every place teach tennis.
Dan
I think you miss the point, let me try to make it clearer for those who may have not understood.
1, if your motor skills are not fully developed by age twelve it is a good predictor that you will not be elite. You may be a pro, but not elite.
This happens if you only do many sports and tennis. Kid I’m referring to is 13 (missed the boat) and has done only tennis.
2. Indeed people learn at different stages, her stage to Learn motor skills passed. Research shows that part of the brain in only receptive for that up to 12.
3. Point of the article is to showcase the poor state of tennis and how parents are misled, and make horrible decisions based on ignorance.
4.stanford , Harvard Tallahassee receive elite athletes or they would not scholarship them.
5. Coles book basically says what matters is the proper training at the right time. In the example given the proper training was not done at proper time. 13 year old kid missed 4-5 years of motor skills training.
6. A little statistical knowledge tells you this only 0.002 percentage may make it to the tour, I have also the privilege of watching every year the orange bowl which is played in my town, so I can see the best of the hrs worldwide.
7. The odds of me being wrong are 99.998 in my favor.
8. No need to attack me , just disagree with me.
Javier, ur ‘intellect’ thought my words were offensive, eh? Possibly filled with muddied waters of so-called truthiness?
Maybe I was wrong, eh?
Well that’s what ur former clients felt like when u told them bc of BS numbers that their kid had no future. Kids learn in different ways & at different rates. Even geniuses & success stories find a range of learning speeds & ages.
Learning happens in many ways & occurs at many curves & rates, & even Harvard backs that up w/ relavant studies.
Here’s a better coaching question than any that u have even considered asking: what is a better coaching move?: telling people they can’t, or finding ways they can?
Let’s imagine someone told u that u had some BS % of no chance to make it in the pros, & u told that to all?
Then u just eliminated everyone from achieving outlier status, & becoming elite. U just killed the Beatles. U just killed Tesla. Thank u for killing anything cool.
Congrats!
In the real world, we laugh at the books but respect them. Beyond grad school, we live in a planet that contains facts, but so much more – like work & life experience & dealing w/ people regularly instead of words on paper or the internet.
Because real experience comes with seeing that real world experience comes with seeing that life spins in many directions, & that people who claim to be Nostradamus often then turn out to be the same who claim to see the locness monster.
Dan
If you had a son or daughter who loves tennis and thinks he/ she can be pro, would you rather hire a coach that feeds into your weak beliefs and does not tell you the total truth and you waste close to $100k per year, plus take her out of school? Based on what you write you would, and while I wholeheartedly disagree I respect it.
Or would you rather hire a coach who tells you like it is an respects your time, money, effort and gives you a cruel reality check. If after receiving this advice you then still decide to try your odds, that would be different.
Certainly I would hire the coach that is honest with me and clear, as I would have benefitted from the actual knowledge.
An outlier is precisely that, an event that is so very random, why would you bank your time, money and false beliefs in a random chance.
Academies charge 50k year for this, hundreds of students , fact is maybe, and that is a big maybe 1-2 will be pros, and make a living.
Lastly, I would not take anyone or advice anyone to quit school, to quit their jobs to try to be an outlier. I would ask them to read what usta says about their real chances, then to read what outlier means, then that if by 17 if they are top 100 juniors in world thay have a7% chance of being a pro and a 1% chance of being top 20.
I would respect that person or coach for being honest. would you do the same if your kid wanted to be an actress, quit your job, spend 100k per year, you would not. No chance. Why would you do it for tennis.
I guess that we have to agree that we disagree .
To better understand my point,
Good article. I think you are right, American tennis doesn’t have a “fit” problem, although the newest Americans on tour Isner, Sock, Townsend seem to struggle with theirs. Tennis is still as what my dad would say a “rich man’s sport” from equipment, lessons, clinics, tournaments, it is one of the most, if not the most expensive sport. I see guys in Northern VA charging $65 per hour for a private lesson, which to me is ridiculous, unless you were on tour and (ranked) you should not be charging that much. Just because you can play, does not mean you can coach.
Tennis is also to individualized. Every club has decent players, why aren’t parents and kids connecting with kids in their own area to play more competitive matches (it happens), but at my club, it is a constant battle to get children to play tennis with one another (we are a seasonal club).
I was with you all the way till you used your motor skills coodination test. The fact that you judge young kids so early and condemn them to failure is the problem we have in this country especially the USTA. Motor skills are learned. They may take time on others but they do not guarantee success or failure. Kids are glorified as though they have arrived, when in all honesty they have not done anything. They become spoilt and uncoachable because they are told they are great. You creat monsters then criticise them when things dont work out which is the case 90% of the time. It is grit, hard work, patience and passion that will get you there. While you are looking for this ideal athlete, hood kid, whatever you want to call them, trust and believe they will all turn out to be the same if you do not start rewarding hard work and not talent.
Woukd you invest. $100, 000.00 per year with the hope of becoming a pro annually? Your odds are 0.002%. How many years would you support it.
To put it in another context, would you invest in any business that much money if the odds of it succeeding are 2 in 1000.
Seems to me that that while it may happen, it most likely will not. That is the point of the comment. Had the parent s the proper guidance they woukd have developed the mitor skills earlier, that neglect only increases the odds against the kid. Sad byt true.
Everyone posting here!
By having this dialog whether you agree or not is good for our sport, period!
Money is not the only answer but a BIG part of it.
There is a distinct difference between Competitive tennis training and what I call “hit and giggle.”
The powers that be want to teach Inner City children hit and giggle tennis.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. There is a social, healthy and enjoyable place for hit and giggle tennis. But, Let me go into a elementary or middle school and talk about how much money they can make in the sport of tennis and all bets are off!
In my program as with some other pros I know we teach our students everything we can about the sport we love. Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for life!
We teach our students not only how to hit a tennis ball, but how to string tennis racquets. How to run tournaments, how to teach tennis to others, good manners, etiquette, Math, English and reading.etc… I could go on here. So often the powers that be are afraid they are going to lose their meal ticket if others come along with a better idea. So they protect the house for all its worth. I know a few men and women that have been black balled simply because they spoke out! Why?
If the powers that be truly loved the game like they say they do then they would have
a tennis teachers conference that;
a. Would be free of charge!
b. Would offer a call for papers / ideas from the tennis community at large
c. Would provide an organized forum for tennis professionals from across
the Country and territories to present their ideas.
d. Be willing to listen and change where applicable
e. Provide funding for those programs that offer the best opportunity for success
not based on cronyism, nepotism, good old boys network, or biased staff.
Again, there are folks that say; well that’s what the Semi-Annual and Annual meetings are supposed to do. The question is do they really do the job or just rehash old out of date ideas and recycle volunteers from one committee to the next? No one wants their dirty laundry washed in public, I know better! But, myself and folks like me are tired of being ignored!
Lastly, Like I said before the USTA has been good to me. But, we can and should do a better job!
The USTA should have a tennis summit and invite every tennis professional that wants to attend
Not just teaching professionals but tennis industry reps, sales people, club owners and managers, etc…… It is time to circle the wagons, take the bull by the horns and make tennis relevant again!
I thank my 90 year old Aunt and the men and women of the American Tennis Association for giving me my start and supporting my tennis career early on.
In tennis as with life, as much as things change they stay the same!
Peace & Blessings,
Dave
TENNIS DOES MORE FOR KIDS THAN BECOMING AN ELITE PLAYER. PUT A TENNIS RACKET IN A KIDS HANDS, AND YOU GIVE HIM MANY DOORS TO OPEN. THE MORE HE PLAYS, THE BETTER PERSON HE BECOMES. IT’S ALL ABOUT DEVELOPMENT. HAVING FUN, AND PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES. YES, MANY TENNIS COACHES ARE THE SAME AS A POOL HUSTLER! YOU DON’T HAVE TO SUPPORT THEM. FIND A COMMUNITY TENNIS PROGRAM, OR A NON PROFIT PROGRAM FOR YOUTH. PLAY WITH THE KID,( EVEN IF YOU DON’T PLAY MUCH) UNTIL YOU CAN PASS HIM OFF TO A BETTER COACH. BY THE TIME HE IS IN HIGH SCHOOL, IT WILL BE CLEARER IF HE NEEDS, OR WANTS TO CONTINUE PLAYING. WHAT “HIS” GOAL IS, AND HOW MUCH EFFORT HE HAS PUT IN UP TO THAT POINT, DETERMINES IF MORE PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION. ( NOT THE ADULTS DESIRES,OR EXPECTATIONS ) THE MORE KIDS THAT PLAY, THE MORE SUCCESSFUL PLAYERS YOU WILL HAVE. SO…. SOME WANT A RANKED PLAYER. SOME WANT A HEALTHY , HAPPY, WELL ROUNDED PERSON.
Dan
You can’t dismiss factual numbers . They are the truth.
An outlier by definition is a random occurrence outside the norm.
Would you support the hopes and dreams of your child in becoming a movie star and quit your job, spend 50k year and take her out of school?
And would you trust and encourage the coaches who feed this.?
How many years have to go by before you realize that the math is against you, or would you rather hear the truth from an honest coach.
I know what the vast majority would choose,and it’s not to spend 100k pursuing outliers.
Predictions = naïveté. Physical talent is elusive to judge. IQ is also elusive to judge, as there are different types, particularly in sports. Emotional IQ, Adversity IQ, spatial, etc. Learning occurs in many ways & at any rates. Physical tools & helpful practices are 1 thing, but there are different strokes for different Folkes.
Only long term commitment is the common denominator for elite success.
Those who think they just tell people they will or will not make it are full of themselves. Maybe they think too much of the pieces of paper hanging on their walls. Let the families make their own decisions once the variables are laid out. Formulas & pre-requisites for young athletes are ridiculous. Everyone is different!
I coach in Southern California and serve on the SCTA Junior Tennis Council. First we are trying to develop the right competitive environment in Southern Cal, which is a work in progress. Next comes offering the training environment. In Southern Cal, we have 6 competition training center (CTC) teams for the top ranked juniors 10-13 years old. The CTC players are required to serve and volley in doubles and mixed doubles, which forces the players to learn to volley and play the net. Unfortunately, there is no developmental team program after CTC, with the result that player development starts to slow down around 13 years old. The USTA is spending a lot of time and money on 10 and under programs, which may pay dividends with more kids starting tennis in 10 and under, but the problem still remains that American junior tennis development tends to stagnate around age 13 when international juniors are starting ITF tournaments and focusing full-time on tennis and American juniors are getting involved with school and social activities.
Dear Dan
I like this discussion, we don’t have to agree, we just need to have our opinions heard. On 9/6/2013 Forbes.com published and article on American tennis called American tennis in not dying but it needs help”
From it I quote Todd Martin who worked for USTA player development and has his own academy here in Florida, maybe he can better explain what the numbers prove,pursuing an outlier is just not going to happen.
“One thing he’s aware of are the odds of training the next Andre Agassi and Serena Williams, especially with such a long, trying process as tennis development. “How many CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations were groomed to be CEOs when they were 12? None of them. In tennis it’s hard to groom people who are not only in that top 500 but top 100, 50, 10. It’s a ridiculous achievement to aspire to.”