What are YOUR goals??

I was thinking the other day about a conversation we had last spring with a super-nice customer friend of ours from South Carolina. We met this family in 2007, they have two daughters who play a ton of junior tennis, and we've recorded them literally hundreds of times over the past five years!!!

Everytime the father sees us, he tells us how grateful he is that we've enabled him to have a "video archive" of his daughters as they're growing up. He said he just can't understand why parents feel it's more important to buy more lessons, more clothing, and more STUFF but then think they can't afford to go the extra "mile" and buy a video. He said that kind of thinking is just "CRAZY" (his word - not mine).

He also told us he wishes somebody would take a poll of parents to learn what their goals are and what they’re actually trying to accomplish by having their kids compete at junior tournaments.

He shared that when he (and his girls) first got involved, they had no idea what to expect and they’ve learned so much over the years (he was definitely NOT talking about how to actually “play” tennis).

He said that the chance of playing pro tennis is so very remote for most players (we’ve read that an estimated 99% of American tennis players will not make the top 100 in the world professionally) and many will be lucky to play college tennis (even though they actually spend more $$$ trying to obtain a college scholarship than the actual worth of that scholarship).

Rather, he wished that parents would realize what he considered to be the REALLY important reasons to have your kid involved in competitive junior tennis – because it gives young players an opportunity to learn important traits like HARD WORK, COMMITMENT, RESPECT FOR OTHERS, ORGANIZATION, PRIORITIES, TIME MANAGEMENT, and so many others.

He said that being a tennis parent involves big sacrifices (which he was more than willing to make) but he felt it was important for parents to be realistic (hey - there's that word again) about what they were doing and why.

He was sharing some priceless wisdom – we couldn’t have said it better – and we sure hope someone out there is listening. Remember, this comes from someone who has walked the walk (of years in junior tennis with his own daughters) and now he’s talking the talk.

We’re including it here as food for thought FOR YOU! J

As always, the very last thing we want to do is generate any controversy whatsoever.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Junior tennis is a journey, not a destination...
You might as well enjoy it!

YOU GOTTA BE REALISTIC

So we've been minding our own business (literally - I just realized how true that expression can be, lol) but I can't stop wondering how YOU might answer these questions:


1. Are you interested in reading more than just my occasional observations about junior tennis from the trenches? One of our customer/friends is putting serious effort into a new blog that you should know about so please check out the ParentingAces blog. This is EXACTLY what I would love to do and hopefully will do, at some point, more or less...you know, when I have more and when I have less...TIME and to LOSE, that is!
Cannot cut off my nose to spite my face---
(yowza-again with the expressions)!!!

2. Would it surprise you that only 1 out of 5,000 players makes it to the pro tour? Yah, but if they're "lucky" enough to get that far, they probably live the GLAMOROUS lifestyle, right? Guess again---more like GRUELING.
That's just what a coach and former player has to say...
also on ParentingAces blog.

3. Can you begin to imagine how much it costs to develop a tennis player (from 8-18) in the United States? Yah, we all know it's expensive but how does almost HALF A MILLION DOLLARS grab you?
Check out catennis.squarespace.com for all the scoop.

This is not a question...more like an answer.
We've met literally THOUSANDS of players over the past six years, including a few who are currently trying to make it on the pro tour. We certainly wish them the best with that but wish they'd chosen the college route, frankly, not that it's a walk in the park. TO WIT (what does that mean?): one of our earliest customers was ranked #1 in the B18s in the Southern Section---I hate to name him but he's from GA and his initials are KB so you probably know him or can easily find out who he is, but no worries because I'm definitely not saying anything about him PER SE (hmmm---is that latin or something?).

Anyway, what I am saying is that I was too new to this "tennis universe" to understand it at the time but that meant that he really, really was just the BEST PLAYER around ... and I'm sure loads of players, especially BOY players, looked up to him and thought he was 'all that' so we followed him as he received a full scholarship to----The University of North Carolina (GO HEELS), where he...was not good enough to start. :( For whatever the reason, he sat on the bench for an unknown length of time, then he suffered an unknown injury, and now 4+ years later, he's no longer on the team.
Maybe he graduated for all I know (I certainly hope he did), but here's the point of the story: YOU GOTTA BE REALISTIC!!!

How does tennis compare with other sports when it comes to EXTREME expenses and UNrealistic expectations? Or how about if we forget athletics...what if we switch the conversation to academics.
Is it just a sign of the times...are parents really spending bazillions hiring the "latest, greatest teachers" and expecting GENIUS as a return on their investment???

Shout outs to those who are showing the courage to step UP and speak OUT about these topics! We may not have the answers but I know for sure that we cannot begin to find them if we don't at least ASK THE QUESTIONS!!!

As always, please understand that we care about junior tennis and we want to do whatever we can to improve it. The very last thing we want to do is create any controversy whatsoever. Thank you for your support!