Between the holidays, a busy work schedule and being ill, I’ve be out of touch too long. I have a few guest articles that were written for me that I’d like to share with you. But as usual, I’ve been learning, learning, learning about being a tennis mom, so over the next couple weeks I’ll be switching between the guest posts and my own thoughts.
To get this blog back up and running, I’m going to start today with a guest post from Tennissmith‘s Steve Smith. Just prior to the holidays, I asked Steve a question. Why do I see kids changing coaches so often? It was what I call musical coach season and several players in our area were switching coaches, shopping for a new one, or being recruited by another. Since Coach Dad has worked exclusively with our daughter since she was 6, I couldn’t wrap my head around all the action I was seeing. Sure Lauren has a footwork/conditioning coach and has hitting partners from time to time, but they all form part of a larger team, all working to help her become the best player she can be. It works for us.
Steve agreed to weigh in on the subject. I can’t say his reply surprised me, but it may some of you. Steve ran the first two-year college degree program for tennis pro-managers at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. Steve is a teacher’s teacher, a strong advocate of teaching fundamentals that are supported by scientific rationale, skills development and consistent coaching. It’s a philosophy that has worked well for players like Texas A&M’s Austin Krajicek and for teachers like Coach Dad.
Here is his response to me.
Why Do Juniors Change Coaches So Often?
By Steve Smith
One short answer would be juniors change so often because pros do. Juniors do copy pros.
A longer answer would be the role of the ‘buyer’, the ‘seller’ and the ‘taker’. The buyer is the parent(s). The ‘seller’ is the tennis coach. The ‘taker’ is the junior tennis player.
Yes, as always, there are exceptions to the rule but this is how the typical scenario plays out.
The buyer (parent) has no idea what they are buying. They are writing checks with little or no experience and little or no tennis knowledge. The buyer is an under-educated consumer.
The seller (coach) knows what they are selling and it is not tennis development. They are selling credibility and credibility is not product knowledge. Credibility means you are believable, not necessarily truthful. To be truthful as a tennis educator, one would need information.
Teaching is information transfer. Unlike the buyer (parent), the seller (coach) has experience. But the seller generally does not have an abundance of tennis knowledge. Actually, it is a tragedy how little product knowledge the seller usually has. The seller is a street entrepreneur. If the seller were selling cars, he could convince you that if you bought a car without tires you would save on air.
The taker (junior player) just takes. They take private lessons, groups, clinics, camps as well as one-on-one fitness sessions. The junior player, like the parent, has little or no experience and little or no tennis knowledge. Of course, the junior player, like the parent, gains experience the longer they are in tennis. But seldom do they truly gain tennis knowledge because the seller does not have it.
Note: If there were such a thing as product knowledge, the product, which in this case is tennis, would have to be produced. Players would have to have serves, volleys, specialty shots and the list goes on. Players would have complete games and be a ‘ finished player’; which used to mean that you can play all over the court and finish a point at the net.
Back to the buyer (parent). The parent is going down a path for the first time. Siblings are usually close enough in age that their tennis path with coaching is the same as their brothers and or sisters. The parent is going down a path that they have not been down before and with no directions. The parent usually can only rely on their opinion or the opinion of others, on how to evaluate a coach, but the method in most cases has little or no merit because their judgment is usually not based on fact. Coaches generally are 98% people skills and 2% product knowledge. The parent loves personality. The upbeat, cheerleading coach that is full of optimism, has pockets full of money.
Back to the seller (coach). The coach knows their customer is both the buyer (parent) and the taker (junior player). The coach knows the parent is their kid’s number one fan and fan is short for fanatical. The parent may not be crazy, but there is definitely emotion involved. Often the parent wants their kid to be happy and this is one of many red flags. Usually it is the kid with competitive goals who often changes coaches. Bill Cosby’s statement, “I do not know the key to success but I know the key to failure, make everybody happy”, applies because parents and players choose what they like, what they want and not what they need.
Close to a decade goes by before the parent figures out junior development. By this time their kid is neurologically hard-wired with poor technique and limited tactical options. Through the process the parent becomes frustrated because their kid is frustrated. Simply put, the kid is not getting better. If lucky, the parent may come across a true teacher of the game as a coach, but unfortunately the parent becomes impatient. Developing a fundamentally sound game is like watching grass grow, it takes huge amounts of time. So, the bopping and shopping on almost all fronts begins.
Back to the taker (junior player). The junior player typically becomes empowered and entitled. They formulate their own opinion on what they want and it is the ‘fast food, instant gratification, I want it and I want it now’ attitude. Players want to be successful. Success is a delayed gratification process. Becoming an accomplished player is a marathon not a sprint. It is a decade of 10,000 plus hours just to become a respectful college player. But the junior wants to find a shortcut. There is no shortcut but the entrepreneurial coach presents a shortcut through their program. And the parent writes the check. The shortcut sounds like this, “your kid has upside potential, your kid is great, we need to advance them, they need more intense drills, especially footwork, and of course more match play.’”
The coach can deliver this action method. It is relatively easy for the coach to pump out balls and deliver a ‘busy, happy, good’ program. The junior wants to be treated like they are advanced and be accelerated through the ‘run and gun’ approach. I can tell you from experience that the juniors typically do not want to do the basic boring routines with daily dosages of repetitive drills to hone their skills. At training sessions I conduct for parents and players, I always tease that I have been fired by hundreds of kids under the age of twelve.
The seller (coach) kills the kid with kindness. The only good lesson is a repeat lesson. The motto is ‘bring them back’. Parents should know that with most coaches coaching is about money not coaching. But the parent figures it out when it is too late. The junior player does not end up burned out, they are frustrated, which is misdiagnosed as burn out. The kid is bummed out. They spend four hours a day practicing but start to plateau. They have hit a wall because the proper foundation for development was not put in place.
Now the tennis teaching industry is entrenched in a concept called ‘game-based’ approach. There is some positive merit to creating situational, match simulated drills. One would not want to just have ‘form-based’ training. A combination of both is called ‘principal training.’ The problem is that the parent and the junior player want games and not form, which suits the coach who cannot teach proper form anyway. So long periods of time go by. By the time a parent and junior stumble upon a coach that will skill test, film and chart the kid and be honest with them, it is too late. It is now a matter of letting the kid go with what they have, because it is so, so, so difficult to de-program and then re-program the brain to be more efficient.
It is no secret that each year there is a long list of veteran junior players with impressive national junior backgrounds at top universities that have to play at the bottom of their line-ups and only play singles because they were never trained to go to the net. Most juniors do not get beyond the junior and high school level despite their parents, to make a modest estimate, having spent over six figures on coaching.
The parent should figure out the coach is on a commission. Granted salary-based coaches can cross the line and be too tough and rough. Yet the tennis culture is just the opposite when compared with most team cultures. Can you imagine the basketball kid telling the coach that we just want to scrimmage and if we do not I will not sign up for the next practice?
Parents need to do their homework and not fall for the oldest trick in the book. Just because the program has great players does not mean it has great instruction. Even at the grassroot level, kids are recruited and given a ‘back room deal’ by the coach. Parents and players think that one improves merely by playing against better players.
Parents and players need to take a lesson from the great-late John Wooden. The legendary basketball coach had so many thought provoking quips. One great one is, ‘don’t mistake activity for learning’. Parents and players often will call a drill session a great lesson. For it to be a lesson, learning has to take place.
Parents should ask a coach how they learned to coach and who their mentors were. They should ask how long they have coached, who they have coached and how long they have coached the players they are currently working with.
Vic Braden always has said, look for the kid with the least amount of ability, the one who buys the ice cream cone and puts it in his forehead. If that kid has respectable ball striking skills then the coach can coach. So don’t fall for the trap of the smooth talking recruiter. Look long and hard for a developer.
Parents should ask about filming sessions. Parents are far too often worried about the student-teacher ratios and who’s in their kid’s group. Parents should seek a system, an organized plan to make sure that improvement is taking place. Accountability and competency are key.
There are so many ways to measure improvement. It is sad when the parent, player and coach are just looking at the win-loss record and or the ranking. Tennis is about the acquisition of skills. Find a coach who can teach skills and stay the course.
A coach should not be possessive. A coach should be open to work with other coaches and have the inner circle of their player be open to outside input. Parents should be up front with the coach and periodically have a meeting to assess the overall growth and development of the player’s game and character.
When parents and players become upset with a coach, there is a good chance the coach is right. The parents and players are usually too quick to jump ship. The parents should at least give the problem 24 hours to settle before they address it. Most parents will find other parents that are singing the same song of criticism.
Coach swapping becomes like musical chairs. It is a merry-go-round. The parent, based on various day-to-day circumstances, can only go so far down the road to find a new coach. It is unlikely the parent goes on a national search for another coach. The next coach is right around the corner. The grass is not usually any greener on the other side. But parents and players seek out someone who will tell them what they want to hear and give them what they want. When the new coach does not work out, if they live in a densely populated area, the parent can easily find another coach.
I lived in a small town, Tyler, Texas, for ten years. Our small program based in a small town, in its second five years, produced more state champions than Dallas and Houston combined. I have been in a city, Tampa, Florida for more than ten years now. To make an understatement, it is next to impossible to develop players in Tampa because the consumer is so confused with so many coaches to choose from. In the small town, you have the theory of isolation and you have sufficient or at least more time to coach a player.
Go to Tennis Recruiting.Net. They provide a great service. Pick a town small or large, see where the blue chip players are from. Then find a way to interview, ask the parents of top players a battery of questions. Parents, do not talk to other parents with children that have what Tennis Recruiting.Net labels a low standard of play.
Last year I conducted a coaches clinic in Austin, Texas. Among the attendees were approximately a dozen coaches that I trained and have continued to work with for more than twenty years. I asked each of them to make a list of players they worked with for the duration, from beginning to end, of a junior’s career. It was shocking how short the lists were.
My list is short. I have a business where my former students, who are coaches, send me players. So I do a great deal of project work with players and coaches on a short-term basis. The local players in Tampa for the most part do not stay the course I offer. Keep in mind Tampa is the land of the car trunk pro. Tennis instruction is actually more structured indoors because the number of positions for coaches is limited by the number of courts available due to the weather.
The sparring partner in boxing wears a helmet and a mouth guard. They do not have a speaking part. The sparring partner in tennis charges so much that they feel compelled to say something when they have nothing worth saying. The parent looks at the so-so player right out of college as a shortcut to success. So overnight the ex-college player is hired and the coach is fired. The parent is not loyal to the old coach and looks for the quick fix through the young so-called over-night coach. There is no quick fix.
On another note, I am a supporter of Quick Start Tennis but the name is a problem. The turtle wins the race. So, I am not a fan of the word quick when it comes to player development. Quick to the ball but not so quick to develop life-long tennis skills.
Each year I attend international tournaments. Definitely on the boys side, there are a large percentage of players that have put education on a back burner and put tennis on the front burner. When the dream of playing the pro tour for these young players falls through, it is okay because they have a built in job. They hit the ball well and the parent will pay them to pretend they are coaching their kid.
I have a kid, who as a milestone, finished junior tennis ranked #1 in the 18′s in his section, Florida, and #2 nationally in the 18′s. He is a good player but his national ranking is misleading because of kids who do not play USTA events but play ITF and ATP events instead. Nonetheless, he has an impressive credential to put in his bio. It will get the parent’s attention. The junior player will enjoy hitting with him. So, he has a built in job as a coach. But the question would be if he were to start to coach would his interest be passion or paycheck. Parents look hard and long for a coach who truly cares about your kid, other kids and the welfare of the game. Far too many coaches are just parasites living off the game. They had no plan to be a coach and based on personal circumstances ended up coaching because the work was easy and the pay was a lot better than minimum wage.
In tennis, coaching is easier than teaching. Feeding and hitting balls is much simpler task than teaching beginners, brats and boastful ball bangers. One has to be trained to teach. The consumer should know that in the U.S. it takes a day, and a hundred dollars or two, to be certified and approximately half of the people teaching tennis are not certified. Most clubs and camps do not even have an orientation program for staff members.
If you were to equate the tennis scenario with baseball terms. The kid has to cross home plate to score. There is a ‘first base’ coach and a ‘third base’ coach. In tennis we have an abundance of so-called coaches that want to be a ‘third base’ coach because they want to coach the kid who is about to score. The third base coach can often be found at local tournaments working as a ‘merchant of flesh’ passing out business cards to kids who all ready play at a decent level. In city after city throughout America, coaches fight over the small group of players at the tournament level instead of growing the game by teaching beginners.
Parents should realize that tennis is not an impulse item. Why do you think the candy bars are placed by the cashier at the grocery store? You cannot microwave tennis.
If you really want to be a confused tennis consumer move to Miami. Tennis academies are opening up on every street corner. Tennis academies are spreading at a faster rate than 7-11′s. The buyer (parent) will buy, the seller (coach) will sell and the taker (junior player) will take. The saga will continue. I do not foresee the scenario of changing coaches slowing down, only speeding up. The coaching carousel should have seat belts because with each passing year, it spins faster and faster.
As a ex-college level player myself, I primarily coach my young son – but also use a higher level coach (with real life ATP experience, etc) about once every two weeks. I’ve used lower level coaches (no ATP expereince, minimal college level play, hanging on to old school techniques, etc) and found that many are very threatened if I make a even a few comments about tennis technique, etc. Interstingly, I found that the higher the level of coach that I use, the less likely they are intimidated by comments. They listen, process what I’ve said, and give me a thoughtful appropriate response. Even when I am wrong. When I am wrong – I want to know specifically why? If they cant formulate an organized coherent reason for “why”, then I question the knowledge base of the coach. My parent friends tell me I have a huge advantage because I understand the game (to a college level) and filter out the salemen from the coaches.
Continue:
If you do some reading and research you will find that almost ALL players during the ERA of John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova to name a few that we may all know had ONE coach. They may have bounced around to different coaches when they turned professional and a high ranking on the professional tour, but they all had ONE coach as juniors and sticked with it. The KEY is to stick with it.
As Parents we are always a big part of coaching too, because we tend to think we can make better judgements. Many parents are looking for a short cut, so they run around to coaches for one thing or another. Be aware, that the child and player can get confused emotionally and fundamentally. When a player has a coach player relationship they start building a self-esteem that is only understood when experienced. If you doubt the coach you have selected and start bouncing around for others or combining them, the young player will also start losing that bond and belief in his or her coach. It’s easy to say that results don’t matter, but aren’t we all measured and rewarded with our results in life? How is a parent suppose to measure success when not a tennis expert. Why should my child play tournaments if he or she is not able to compete with every player in the draw? If we play, we play to win. If we chose not to play, we are working on fundamentals or what ever they are working on. It is also not that difficult to chose a coach. Watch player that they have worked with 3-6 months and see if they have improved. Good luck to you out there and stop bouncing around….
Correction on this article. It started out saying that pros switch coaches all the time. That is actually not accurate. Let me explain.
Nicole,
Thank you so much for posting this article by Steve Smith, I just happened upon it on Facebook when a friend posted it. As a junior I was so incredibly frustrated by the status quo on the court: so few kids took it seriously while I was busting my butt to catch up with the lead pack. I loved tennis and wanted to being a pro more than anything, meanwhile they seemed content to try hard 10% of the time, I just couldn’t understand their attitude and wastefulness.
However, that frustration was NOTHING compared to being slapped in the face by the full time teaching pro gig’s I had after graduating with a Professional Tennis Management degree from Ferris State University. Tennis was my passion, I did it because I loved it, was I naive to assume that the people who spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on lessons with a pro must actually love to learn? The answer was “yes”, haha.
I think Steve hit the nail on the head so many times in this article, especially with lines like these: “But the question would be if he were to start to coach would his interest be passion or paycheck.”
A very, very large percentage of full time teaching pros are just collecting checks, and a very, very large percentage of tennis students (kids and adults alike) are simply killing time with “activity” as Steve said, as opposed to “learning”. You know what? I’m OK with that. Who am I to say that people have to love and pursue the same things that I do? How many people do you know that actually LOVE the job that they go to every day and are there because it’s their passion? If you’re like most people you probably literally don’t know anybody for which that is the case. Sad? Yes. The way life is? Yes.
So anyway, I guess my point is that there is no fixing this problem that Steve has pointed out. It’s a huge breath of fresh air to finally hear somebody say out loud what I have been internally agitated by for years and years. Most students will never pursue tennis as a passion and most teachers will never teach it as one either. It’s just an activity and a paycheck and that’s the way it is.
This is why I got out of the club game and now teach tennis via the internet full time. The impact that I make on tennis players worldwide is now literally thousands of times larger than what I was doing previously, even if I had grown to be some kind of regional big shot tennis coach doing it the traditional way. Plus the people who come by my site for help are the passionate ones! They’re searching for any way possible to improve, including the internet and often times when they find my stuff they’re super excited. Talk about gratifying! If I got that one time per week at my traditional teaching job all of the frustrating hours of time wasting with people who didn’t really care was worth it. Now I get feedback from appreciative, enthusiastic tennis players multiple times per day, nothing can beat that when you’re somebody who really loves to teach.
Steve, thanks so much for the article. Nicole, thank you so much for posting it.
After reading Steve’s article I felt compelled to reply. I think Steve offers great insight to parents on what to look for in a tennis coach. I think players/parents change coaches because they feel like their game in not improving, or they are not keeping up with the other kids their age. I can definitely understand the frustrations parents go through during this process of finding a good coach, so hopefully I can help by sharing my experience. I would like to start off by saying that I have a full time corporate job and make plenty of money. I teach my players on weekends and after work. I’ve been teaching tennis for over 20 years and my enjoyment comes from watching my players excel in this game that I am so passionate about. Hopefully they will pass the knowledge on to their kids or teach tennis with the same passion as myself. The groups of kids and adults I coach have been with me for several years, and yes they are all top ranked Florida players.
First of all tennis is a game and should be treated as such. Honesty and integrity as it relates to keeping score and calling lines has to be the top priority while learning and playing this game. The first couple years should be mostly dedicated to fundamentals and technique. This is the foundation that will be the main determination of how far a player will go. Make sure the player is learning effective and efficient ground strokes, volleys, overheads, a slice backhand, and be able to hit a flat and kick serve. During this time the players should be playing challenge matches where they can work all this shots into their game. Also during this phase of development a player should gauge his/her progress by how many shots they’ve learned instead of win or losses. It’s been my experience that as long as a player is learning something new they will continue to come back.
A good tennis schedule should include a private lesson at least once a week, group clinics once or twice a week and I do recommend playing tournaments at least once a month. The private lesson is to get the one on one work with the pro/coach to answer any questions or concerns about the prior week and have a chance to work on fundamentals. The group is to keep the game social and see how hard the other kids are training while getting more repetition with their shots. The tournaments are not for winning or losing, but for getting the exposure for competing and seeing how their shots hold up to pressure. I also recommend keeping kids in their own age group when playing tournaments. If they are winning easily from the baseline, then start using the other aspects in their game. I also think it is a big mistake to start chasing ranking points at an early age. By chasing points for rankings, it dooms both parents and players to maintain these points for several years. The goal in points should be in 16’s and 18’s where colleges look at those rankings more than how someone plays. I can talk about tournaments for hours on end, so let me just say that seeded players get better draws and therefore will make it further in the bigger tournaments and get the most points.
The problems I found with junior players is that most haven’t really made a serious commitment to tennis because parents like to expose them to several sports to find where they excel. Consequently, they are pulled in several places and tennis takes a back seat to the other sports, and not to mention having to deal with school activities, music lessons, and family situations. There is no quick fix in tennis and the longer it takes to make the commitment the less time you have to improve your overall game. Additionally, kids physically develop at different times, so if a junior player is excelling in tennis at a younger age, and it’s probably due to physicality.
Several parents don’t want to go through the hiring a coach route and think because they watch tennis on television and played in High School that they know what’s best. In some cases sadly enough it’s true, but you are better off getting a professional right from the start because like I said before the fundamentals and technique will determine how far players will go with tennis. These parents will also try to coach your kids too and will make a good argument because their kid has had some success in tournaments. Don’t let that fool you, parents are only after the welfare of their own kids. Since they are not working with a professional, their kids need people to play against and they will con you out of time and money for their own benefit and not yours.
As your junior player starts looking at colleges they will realize the competition they are up against. Keep in mind that tennis is a global sport and our American players are competing for the same tennis position and scholarships as the kids from several other countries. The other sports like baseball, football, and basketball don’t share this competition like tennis does. In fact, in most countries they don’t have a great tennis program like our USTA, so their player jump right into the Men’s Futures tournaments, and after several attempts, they finally get a couple ATP points and have a World Ranking. Now if you are a college coach would you recruit a USTA player ranked to ten in the 18’s or someone from another country that has a world ranking? This entire process really needs to be changed for tennis, but will probably not ever be looked at.
The last thing I want to touch on is the USPTA. I’m a member because I think it is worth it for the liability insurance, but in general I think this organization has really let us down as it pertains to teaching tennis and competing at an international level. I’ve met some really good teaching pros and some that have no business teaching tennis. Sadly enough, they are probably your best resource for finding a good pro, but keep in mind the ones who understand fundamentals are going to be your best bet.
After reading, and re-reading multiple times the replies to Steve Smith’s well written article about coaches, isn’t it amazing the ONLY person who disagrees with almost anything Steve says signs in as “Anonymous”… Sounds like you might live in Tampa?
My wife and I are very fortunate, and maybe even lucky to have ever crossed paths with Steve and have been on or near his court through our son for almost 15 years now with no end in sight. That is consistency… As a result, we are very happy to have a son who, through tennis, has traveled and made friends all over the world, received a D-1 tennis scholarship and received a college education. Maybe this is your lucky day too?
Steve feels, and I agree, that you need three things to be in place for a player to really have an opportunity to progress to that player’s highest level and potential.
1) A player, with some ability, who wants it, and is willing to do whatever it takes.
2) A coach who has the knowledge how to develop a player and has a long term plan.
3) Educated parents who are willing to do whatever it takes, by not only paying for and dropping the player off for lessons, but who sometimes stays to see really what is being taught, and maybe even getting involved.
All three are equally important. Somehow, someway, if we truly want to improve American tennis players, we need to find a way to make more people, players, parents, and coaches aware of the facts.
I feel there are four (4) levels of “don’t knows” and the person who signed in and replied as Anonymous may be a #4, the worst case scenario and IS the problem because he/she does not want to face, admit, or is capable of even knowing there is a problem.
1) One who simply does not know. Most of us.
2) One who knows they don’t know.. Those of us willing and desirous to learn.
3) One who doesn’t know they don’t know… Borderline dangerous.
4) One who thinks or acts like they know, but really don’t…. The REAL problem!
The #4 is unfortunately probably a majority. If you ask 100 coaches how to hit a forehand or any stroke, you would probably get 90+ different answers. Unfortunately, there are too many “want to be” #4 coaches in the world that just think and even act like they know. If more coaches would simply get on the same page and listen to the Steve’s and Vic’s of the world, learning and understanding the laws of physics, and geometry of the court, our tennis teaching in the USA could improve.
Steve can’t be everywhere and everything to everybody, but the next closest thing to having him on your court everyday is to visit, join and study his website http://www.Tennissmith.com as often as you can. I challenge you as a coach, parent, or player to take the bull by the horns.
If anyone would like to hear more from a parent’s perspective, about how we were able to get our son a D-1 scholarship, feel free to reply to this comment or to contact Nicole who can and will contact me via email or phone and I would be glad to contact and speak with you.
On my own opinion juniors switch coach more often is because juniors have a change in behavior they don’t want to stay in the same place they look for new things and learn from them!
Nathan Mclain Tennis
I was forwarded this article by one of my employees. He forwarded it because he had heard 99% of what was in the article from me ad nauseum. I have been in the business of tennis in various capacities for all of my adult life. My experiences include owning, operating and leasing indoor and outdoor facilities and a tennis academy, teaching and coaching,running day and overnight camps, being a national coach, contributing to World Tennis magazine, being on national advisory staffs for manufacturers (including product development), being involved in tennis broadcasting (amongst other things), and various volunteer work for the USTA. I’ve witnessed situations at my club where I was working on chipping and charging with a 10 year old, while on a nearby court the national director of player development for the USTA(at the time) was banging balls with the tope junior in the country (in his age group), a soon to be top 100 pro, never stopping to teach him (over a period of 2 years) how to chip and charge, serve and volley, change pace or anything else that would constitute developing a plan B, or C in the eventuality that he faced someone who could bang the ball a little harder or better. The director of player development at the time was another in a series of recycled marginally successful touring pros who without any teaching experience whatsoever migrated from the tour to become the “new authority” on junior development. Getting people to understand that nobody remembers the great 12 and 14 year olds is difficult if not impossible. Especially in a competitive marketplace. I have used much of your exact terminology with both clients and staff, not knowing anybody else thought this way. I could address other elements of your article, but I’d only be reiterating what you have so clearly articulated. I would however, take exception to one element of your article. Unfortunately a good coach needs to be possessive. In the current environment with so many unqualified pros out there, the courting of various opinions, and the welcoming of other voices only compromises the possibility of successfully completing the task at hand. To paraphrase what you’ve said; someone with more charisma, or a better playing background, might be attractive to a success hungry parent or junior. I cannot tell you how many times we collectively have spent years with a junior player only to have them go on vacation for a week and come back to our facilities with this great “new backhand’ that the pro (at the resort they just visited), who had been ranked 286 in the world taught them, thus undermining several years of work and development. Without trying to overstate it; I would liken good teaching to architecture, or plastic surgery. An architect tailors the structure to the site, climate, and desired use of the client. A good plastic surgeon doesn’t give everyone the same type of nose. There is no one way to play. If there were everyone would play that way. A good pro will work with solid fundamentals and then tailor them to accomodate the specific inherent skills and abilities of the student. It’s amazing how many pros now teach the “Nadal” forehand. Is Nadal good because of his game or in spite of it?? How many people have his natural physical talents? The USPTA and PTR are in a fight to have the most members. Virtually anybody can get credentialed. Teaching needs to be more exclusive, not inclusive. It’s an uphill battle. Keep fighting the good fight.
Although I am a swim coach, my daughter played junior tennis and I wonder if a different perspective might help.
The first difference I noticed (between swimming and tennis training) was that practice time cost roughly 8 times as much in tennis than for a similarly aspiring swimmer (court time vs pool time).
The obvious reason for this is that just one swim coach can competently coach up to 30 swimmers simultaneously for prolonged periods (2hrs plus)… thereby keeping the unit cost down.
This was not always the case in swimming, though. Before the 1950′s, many swimmers trained under a parent or with an interested relative/friend. Much of their time in the water was spent working on technique, or whatever pedantry passed for technique.
When large training groups (squads) displaced those old intimate tutorial-based coaching arrangements in the 1960′s, critics howled that a generation with bad technique would result. However, luddites who persisted with those old systems fell behind their new ‘assembly line’ peers, who were by this time swimming up to 5 miles a session, in contrast to past expectations of, say, half that.
Not only did the new ‘mass produced’ swimmers become much fitter, but their biomechanics (technique) were also superior, simply because the vast increase in pattern repetition gave their muscular responses a deeper neural template.
I guess my point is this. The vast majority of tennis aspirants do not ‘make it’ into the world top 1,000 – or whatever benchmark is currently used to justify further investment toward a pro career by age 20 or so. It is a similar story in swimming, except the vast majority of a child’s swim training history has been spent with up to 30 colleagues in lively banter; flirting, splashing and gossiping whenever they have small breaks in routine. In the meantime, their parents didn’t have to mortgage the house to buy all those years of healthy activity. Neither did the athlete have to feel bad when they eventually decided to call it a day… because their parents had not gone out on a limb.
It always seemed that tennis kids who chased much higher levels than the average hitter spent a lot of time in the intimate company of parents and coaches who were under great pressure to show gains in very short time/instruction cycles. To me, this seemed unhealthy. (Once a perceived timetable for anticipated gains expired, the incumbent tennis coach would be dumped for the next ‘dial a coach’…because of the enormous imperative to show ‘returns’.)
I always wondered if junior tennis might have been able to utilise much larger coaching groups… under fewer instructors. This would have (a) provided far more affordable, more healthy and more widespread peer group interaction (b) provided a far higher average volume of (early) hitting repetition (c) attracted a far bigger training participant base..and obviously, a bigger trawl net to identify talent (d) provided higher – and socially attractive – activity levels to lift basic ‘lifestyle’ fitness for the inevitably high percentage of particpants who are destined not to excel.
In addition, recent advances in neuromuscular skill studies show that much athletic skill is gained via unique or idiosynchratic kinetic responses which do not obey pedagogic orthodoxies imposed on them by well meaning coaches. In other words, it is the repitition that counts, not the cognitive interaction and schooling of technical minutiae.
This explains why unqualified parents getting on court every day with their kids achieve better results than some other children receiving less frequent expensive tuition with uber-qualified coaches.
One overarching outcome of all this is that those who complain most righteously (qualified coaches) about the tennis ‘parent-from-hell syndrome’ may also be the ones most responsible, because of their entrenched exclusive coaching practices.
Slightly different take…
I really like some of the points in the article, and also respect some of the objections by Anonymous.
I’d just like to point out that taking a step back from Steve’s perspective may be helpful. Right now, how many world class players exist? Choose whatever criteria you like. Whatever your answer, that’s the same number of world class players that would exist if everyone followed Steve’s advice.
My point is that doing hard work is not something that everyone has the capacity for. I generally agree that hard work is what separates the best from the next tier. But having good coach is only going to make the difference for a small percentage of people who are the cusp of being ready, but just need the perfect coach to steer them right. For a lot of other athletes, that same coach who has developed lots of great players, will drive them right out of the sport. For them, high level tennis might not work. They may just need to hit with the college kid to keep their interest in exercise alive while they continue to mature. Eventually, they may settle down and be ready for more advanced coaching.
I think it’s one of the hardest things in the world to get people, particularly young people, interested in technique. Part of it is coaching, but part of it is maturity and readiness. If however, every junior could be convinced that technique is much more important than anything else, the thing that would rise is the overall level of play, not the success of individuals. There still would only be two U.S. Open champs each year.
Overall, a well written article.
Last year, I lost all my junior students and a large portion of my monthly income at the time because I finally got fed up with the whining and resistance. These were players who had a long history prior to working with me and goals of playing college/pro level tennis. I confronted the students and the parents both and ended up with nothing – that is except my self-respect.
Among what I was experiencing:
+Breaking down emotionally if they didn’t get the stroke in five minutes
+Rolling their eyes or looking off in the distance when I was explaining something or when repeating something
+Rushing off eagerly to take a break to text the next apparently urgent message to a friend
+Wanting to just hit in practice sessions and hit the ball hard as a measure of success
+Failing to understand the importance of repetition, monotonous though it may be, let alone having the willingness
+Jumping into tournaments without consulting me or ahead of our developmental plan and then getting disappointed with the results
+Not reinforcing things on their own outside of our practice sessions
Meanwhile they can’t keep ten balls in play cross court despite thousands of hours on a tennis court prior to working with me. Very disconcerting!
After I lost them, I wondered if perhaps I had been too harsh in telling them to step up or step out. I certainly didn’t hold back my distaste.
At the risk of sounding arrogant, watching them waste the chance to work with someone who knows how to help them was tough. I thought about what I went through for my tennis knowledge – sleeping in my car, moving across the country to meet coaches, and on and on over a 25 year period. It brought up frustration from a deep place to see them question and dabble.
Ultimately, I concluded that I did the right thing in confronting them.
Number one, my time is too valuable and life is too short for me to spend it with whining, resistant students.
Number two, I tried all kinds of diplomatic approaches first… goal setting, inspirational emails and videos – none of it worked. I didn’t start out with a Bobby Knight approach.
Number three, I realized it wasn’t primarily me. While I can look back and think of things I might have done a little differently, they had had the same problems with coaches before and coaches since our parting. I simply didn’t tolerate it and try to please everyone.
Number four, and most importantly, to just smile and feed balls and tell them they are doing great would have been selling out. I would know that they are not really doing what it takes to achieve their stated dreams and be leading them on. That is not in me to do, for any amount of money.
It was a great lesson for me.
The reality is that, as coaches, we need to accept that VERY few are willing to be coach-able and work hard. Working hard means repetition of fundamentals (technical and situational) to the point of monotony, and this goes against the very nature of a teenager, and, dare I say, especially cushy American teens. To have both self-respect and peace of mind a coach must make a choice:
1. Only work with juniors who want to train at a world class level, releasing those who can’t or won’t stick with it.
2. Work with all types and adjust your intensity to match theirs, being clear with them where their intensity level will take them.
I chose a combination. I only work with juniors training for college/pro level who can prove to ME that I should invest my time with them. They get two weeks, and if they get whiny, resistant, or don’t show passion and commitment, we go our separate ways. Of course, you have to give them space for their humanity, but you also have to hold the line. I save my more relaxed coaching (but same knowledge base) for a handful of adult students who are earnest about improving.
As a parent, if you happen to have a child who IS willing to do what it takes, you just want to make sure that you’re working with a coach who actually knows what he/she is talking about. Too often, as Steve mentions, I see parents choose the personable, make you feel good coach over anything else.
But how do you choose?
It’s very difficult. I wouldn’t know how to choose a good golf, boxing, figure skating, you name it coach. So I understand the dilemma for parents, even if they are an avid tennis player.
Besides feeling comfortable with the coach as a person, you must look for three things:
1. An understanding of world-class strokes
I mean word-class strokes; not strokes. And what is a world-class stroke? Ask a potential coach. “What is a world-class stroke to you?” See what they say.
The answer ought to circle somewhere in the vicinity of saying, “A world class stroke is one that is Efficient, Explosive, and Adaptable.” That is my definition.
They should then be able to tell you what specifically facilitates that within each stroke from grips to sets to use of the body and why. If they cannot do this, you are going to put your child with someone who may be incredibly likable with years of tennis experience but who has limited knowledge – of WORLD-CLASS strokes.
Incidentally, Steve Smith, as it turns out, was an influence on one of the better coaches I had on my journey. In 1993, I worked with a coach who completely restructured my game with an eye on Efficiency. Efficiency was the goal of everything we did for six months of two-a-day workouts with daily, written video analysis. The understandings I received from my coach (and thus Steve) were and still are of great value. However, they needed to be coupled with other understandings which took me many more years to master; understandings that facilitate Power and Adaptability.
2. An understanding of how to integrate technical changes in a progressive manner
3. An understanding and sensible focus on all aspects of tennis
Obviously, technique in and of itself is only a starting point. Does the coach have an understanding of basic principles of footwork, fitness, strategy, and mental toughness? Just having played for years does not suffice. There are a handful of core principles that need to be taught and integrated in all areas – at the right time.
The bottom line is personal responsibility.
The coach is responsible for having the actual teaching knowledge and for being willing to help students understand their actual commitment level and guide them accordingly. This may involve a change in coaching intensity or parting ways if, like me, you’re not one to drop your intensity for junior players who state they want to play college/pro tennis.
The parent is responsible for helping the son/daughter to find the right coach and to then serve in a supportive but involved manner. This involvement should not exceed the willingness of the child. That said, the parent may need to exercise leadership and help his/her son to ‘step up’ and make the sacrifices or to drop it. Each situation is different. No single rule can apply here but while I am a major proponent of doing what you love in life, I’m a big believer, also, that helping a child to develop a great work ethic and self-discipline is just as important. It is the gift that keeps on giving throughout their lives.
The young player is responsible for doing what it takes. I also would challenge young players to not just sit there and wait to be ‘saved.’ YOU have to make sure you’re working with a coach who can help you and learning, not just following directions. If the knowledge base is there, you might have to override displeasure with the coach that is really about your inner resistance to receiving coaching and pushing beyond the “This is boring. It’s not working. I don’t feel like it.” voice. You might be a cushy teen who needs to build up your ‘willingness muscle.’ I understand, personally, this challenge and requirement.
There is nothing wrong with switching coaches. It is unlikely that one coach can give you all you need for years on end. Those situations are the exception. But we all know it doesn’t work to flip around from one coach to the next in hopes of quick fixes. The tasks is to be clear on where you’re at related to where you want to go and to find a coach who can help you in the next most important stage of development.
Hope this contributes to you on your journey.
Typically I do not post comments from Anonymous users, I did make an exception this time as Anonymous has presented the biggest differing opinion from other comments and I believe it is good for dialogue. Grateful Anonymous if you might identify yourself in the future.
Some nice responses here. It reminds me of a great coach from New Zealand – ex-top 30 player Brian Farlie – who was an amazingly insightful although often blunt coach. He didn’t stand for players who wouldn’t listen. Delivering his direct assessment of what a number of younger (15-16 yrs old) top local players needed to work on in order to make it as a player cost him his job with NZ Tennis. One girl, clearly with weight issues, was told this and her parents basically went nuts. Fairlie however was 100% correct – she was simply too big to be a great player.
Years later Fairlie was consulted for advice by fledgling NZ player Brett Steven who had achieved almost nothing despite years of support from NZ Tennis. Brian’s advice clearly sunk in as Steven soon (albeit years too late) started having the wins he ought to – including an Australian Open semi-final run and wins over top players including Sampras. Fairlie was one of those coaches best kept for a dedicated professional. It’s ironic that basically everyone he ever coached (casual players included) had massive performance improvements afterwards.
I disagree with some of Mr. Steve Smith’s tennis insights and philosphies and here are my reasons why.
“Juniors change so often because pros do. Juniors copy pros.”
Sounds good, but I don’t believe it. If you ask juniors to name the travelling coaches of Verdasco, Stepanek, Raonic, Fish, Ivanovic, Oudin, etc. they may only remember Mrs. Murray, the mother of Andy Murray. There is no connection to that statement, they don’t know and they don’t even care. On top of that, pro tennis is not even watched by many juniors. What it does reflect is Mr. Smith’s negative attitude towards professional players or top players anywhere because they have influence. It bothers him that they are respected for their ability but they don’t know the details of why they hit the ball well. That bothers him. It’s not their job to know why.
“I asked each of them to make a list of players they worked with for the duration, from beginning to end, of a junior’s career. It was shocking how short the lists were.”
One of the main reasons why juniors switch so often is that coaches switch jobs often. Single male coaches usually pick up and move on if they want a new experience. Even Mr. Smith hasn’t stayed in one state or country his entire coaching career. It is very difficult to be loyal and follow your local tennis pro. Mr. Smith has worked in places such as Tyler Texas, Rochester New York, Toronto Canada, Michigan and now Florida. If a typical junior “career” is from 7-18, that’s 11-12 years. How many tennis pros have worked in only one club that long? It’s extremely rare in the tennis industry. Plus, for a coach to work with only one group of kids their entire junior career is insane. When a child completes kindergarten, I don’t expect the same teacher for grade 1, 2, 3 until high school. In junior tennis, grass-roots coaching is a different job than competitive junior tennis. The concept of one coach all the way through is unrealistic.
Even Vic Braden writes in his 1993 book “Mental Tennis’ on page 131 “Yet I hear of so many coaches who try to sign up young players to ten-year, even life-time contracts, a terrible arrangement for the student. Such a contract, a form of bondage actually will restrict that child’s professional growth terribly. Coaches don’t own students.”
In Vic Braden’s 1980 book titled “Teaching Children Tennis the Vic Braden Way” on page 327, he writes, ‘try to watch the worst player in action at a practice session.
Evaluating a coach or program based on the worst player is very strange. Would you evaluate a school class based on the worst student in the class?
The worst player in the class quite often is forced to play tennis by a parent for exercise, playing out of respect for a parents ambition or simply doesn’t have what it takes as far as commitment or ability. Mr. Smith doesn’t believe in inate talent, he believes only in hard work and that will make it happen. Everyone has a ceiling of ability and if you give two students the exact amount of attention for languages, one will excel if that’s their talent; sports and academics is the same. Mr. Smith doesn’t like when better players get better treatment and cares very much for the underdog. Noble, but ill-advised.
“It is next to impossible to develop players in Tampa.”
If you lose students to other pros, you need to figure out what your weaknesses are of your program and your staff. His attitude is not competitive. He goes on and states” coaches are generally 98% people skills and 2% product knowledge.”
He shows such little respect for other coaches and alienates himself with only those who follow his method. According to his 2%, almost no one can work in the tennis industry. Many players are developed around the world without his method and many coaches are doing a fantastic job with certification becoming more demanding with the total number of days to complete as high as 25 days. Only 2% is ridiculous. He calls other coaches “merchants of flesh” and many other negative terms to show his superiority.
Wouldn’t it be noble of him to rank the top 10 junior developmental coaches in Tampa who he sees as the current best? Instead of complaining, be a problem- solver and lead the way to making teaching tennis an exciting profession.
When it comes to stroke production and fixing strokes, Mr. Smith is world class. When it comes to some of his philosophies, I think people should not follow with blind faith.
When it comes to Vic Braden’s information on strokes in his books and videos, I completely agree with what he says. He is a true pioneer of tennis teachers.
Based on 5+ years in the trenches with competitive junior tennis players, our opinion is that every word in this article is exactly right on…Especially these: “By the time a parent and junior stumble upon a coach that will skill test, FILM and chart the kid and be honest with them, it is too late.” and “Parents should ask about FILMING sessions.” Smart coaches know that the video camera NEVER lies…just wish there more of them.
Excellent article. I’ve played tennis for 25 years in the NorCal section. I had to laugh, my friends and I recognize the “parasite” coaches you mentioned. They’re everywhere, especially at the nicer public courts. They advertise by the dozens on craigslist!
Ultimately, I believe the parents have to be held responsible for the quality of coaching they receive. The most important point in your article is that tennis must be viewed as a marathon. If a junior wants to be an excellent player then he/she has to put in the time and pay the price with hard work. There is no short cut at all in this sport. I spar with a few local kids, some of them pay between $80 and $100 dlls an hour for private lessons with their coaches but then don’t do any work outside of their private lessons. They’re only interested in playing points and bashing the ball mindlessly during baseline points. If I ever bring up doing drills to work on their weaker shots they roll their eyes and aren’t interested. Big mistake.
Nice job Steve. I too have been fired by parents and kids for speaking the truth.
Great article Steve. Seldom do we see a player’s coach in the stands of a pro tournament who was the same pro who developed them. It is usually the third base coach who gets the credit and little or no mention of the pro who laid the foundation. Many coaches are afraid to tell the player what they need to know so they tell them what they want to hear!
Right on the money in many respects. We are in a smaller market in N.C. and the kids that have stayed in our long term approach have out performed the rest of the state and have won multiple state, southern and national titles. We still experience former students bouncing around coaches and trying for the quick fix with young “hitting” college players. It is indeed a long race and most parents do not like hearing that their kids may be going backwards.
I can think of multiple students lost because of the insistence of proper technique and form. Many come back years later after a mulitude of coaches “selling” parents what they want to hear, but their results are disappointing. Most often, it is too late for the player to reach their potential due to years of improper coaching and technique.
When do you stay the course or change coaching? The million dollar question but Steve nailed it. Research some blue chip kids and see who has been in the trenches with them for years, not months. There you will find a committed, qualified, and caring coach for the player and parent! You will not always hear what you want from a good coach. You will hear the truth!
Steve is right on many fronts. There are many many coaches who just feed or hit balls and run drills with no purpose. Do they ask at the end, “so what did you learn today?” Is there a goal set before each session as to what it is hoped players will “learn”? Was that session a step in the overall plan?
It is however possible to still keep players for a long time though. Filming and vidoe analysis are great. This is the player that we are trying to emulate, you started this year needing to do this and this. Now we have come this far, we can do a, b and c and in the next year we will aim to be able to do d, e and f.
It all depends on how long you want to keep the players and what are you willing and able to do to keep them. If you are too busy to meet with the parents and players a couple of times a year and if you are too busy to out line a plan and test how well you acheieving it, then maybe you have too many players to give each one what they need, even if you are a good “teacher”
It is hard work but if you show parents and players what you have planned and if they are very aware it takes a long time, I have found it possible to stay with players for a long time. AND very importantly, when they do stop chasing the dream of being a pro…. do we wind up with a good person who can use their experiences and lessons to have a good life and handle the challenges (mabe as a coach and business owner) that life will throw at them.
Steve Smith,
Your article will sure hit many people where it hurts, not only for the dollar but in their hearts. I have been a professional tennis coach for over 14 years now, and I use the term professional in a big way.
I’ve just moved to a regional city in Australia, I’m seeing the same and familiar situations happening here as what you’ve described in your very truthful story. Obviously the dilemma happens all over the world and I don’t see it slowing down much.
My feeling is that coaches should consider the well being of the child and their parents, and not just how much they’re going to make from the transaction. Like you say where is the education in all of this, what does the parent learn from the experience and how much does the child gain or learn about the life skills tennis does entail. If coaches thought about “making a difference” to a child’s life, then I think we’d have more of the right people in the game for the right reasons.
I certainly agree that for parents there should be a list of parameters that they can follow when choosing the right coach. What’s the vision, what’s the direction, and what’s the intention or purpose behind someone becoming a coach. Is to make a quick buck or is it to produce the next generation of elite athletes, that are so complete mentally, physically, emotionally and healthy enough to compete in an ever growing competitive world that we live in.
And you know what the worse thing is? You mentioned that it’s so hard to distinguish the good coaches from the bad ones – before it’s too late. I often wondered that my life sometimes represents that of a politician, without the melodrama that goes with it. You believe in people for a certain period of time until things start unraveling, only then do you see the true colours.
I think what has made me the coach that I am today, has been the welfare of the players I take on and that alone is my driving force. The sport of tennis has become that physical that it has conjured up inside of me a purpose to find out what is the best way to work with kids today. Physical effort and tension can’t exist in the body if a player wants to make it all the way without incident. I believe that I’ve tapped into something that will bring out the “new edge of a paradigm” in today’s modern game.
Hope and faith in what we believe in can only mean that we’ll be around longer than most that can’t compete! God help us and keep us strong.
Steve is on the right on the money !!
As a coach and student taught by Vic Braden and Nick Bollettieri , and a coach of hundreds of juniors over 20+ years, all of what Steve says is true. I think there always will be new ideas about coaching, but the truth is Physical laws dictate what happens to a tennis ball. The question is always can the student do the performed task the most efficient way, and can we maximize potential as coaches.
True teachers tell the truth to students and parents and test,test, and test again.
This can also get you replaced as a coach… this always makes it challenging as a coach to be sure.
Ask a Robert Lansdorp or Rick Macci… many people have taken credit for the integral work they have done with players in the fundamental years..
Parent recommended reading… The Talent Code and Talent is Overrated, both will give insight into what it takes… work, work and more work… a life example.
Well said. As a teaching pro I couldnt agree with you more. Also, there are too many coaches teaching “Their” style of game to juniors. It usually goes something like this, run around your backhand and hit inside-out forehands because thats what I did. This is so common in the United States. I am an American and am worried about American tennis. For whatever reason, our best players look like they dont even know how to construct a point. Every point is random. Whereas, the rest of the world plays thoughtful tennis based on the “Geometry” of the court. Imagine that, coming up with a game plan based on something constant, such as the dimensions of the court. Rather than variables, like this opponent has a big forehand and this one is a lefty. Dont even get me started on this mickey mouse stuff about the “Millenium Forehand” that Heath Waters charges $200/Hr for. “Millenium Forehand” that will make the “Buyer” cream in their pants. Please, why cant we all get on the same page and start integrating where to hit ball, with how to hit the ball, followed by where to recover to. Each phase effects the other, so why are they taught seperately? I loved the article and share your passion and point of view.
We are very lucky. My son’s coach is NOT a seller as Steve describes. Instead, he is in it for the long haul. And, we live in a huge tennis city (Atlanta, GA) where, like Miami, there are tennis academies around every corner. And, we know “seller” coaches – believe me, Steve has hit the nail on the head with his description! I agree that the responsibility ultimately lies with the parents, and I agree that, if you are not a tennis player yourself, it is very difficult to choose the right coach for your child. I would love to see the USTA offer more parenting workshops and/or articles on how to choose a coach and how to navigate the junior tournament structure. Who would benefit from that? Our kids!
What a great post! I totally love Steve and again, unfortunately, he is so right. I have been that buyer who didn’t really know what she was buying and met many sellers with big promises. Lucky for us, or should I say for Émilie, we found Coach Dad just in time!