Parents & Priorities & Players...OH MY!

Recent and Not-So-Recent Observations

I was recently sitting outside, enjoying our glorious weather while stuffing hundreds of envelopes. Since that didn't require a huge amount of concentration, lol, I started thinking about the upcoming changes to junior competition and then my mind drifted to random memories about parents and priorities and players...By the way, the cute girl in the picture above has NOTHING whatsoever to do with these observations. We've known her for about 6 years...she's one of our favorite juniors on the planet...and she's growing up right before our eyes.
I love this picture..and I love this player.
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One thing I remembered was the GA mother of a daughter (14-ish) who wanted to travel to play tournaments a few years ago. The mother put it very succinctly and I thought it was amusing: "Here is the way I explained it to my daughter: Until you consistently beat the kids in our neighborhood, the neighborhood is where we will stay. As you get better, the same will apply for our city...and then for our state. We just don't have the money for you to travel the country like a professional tennis player!"
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Then I started thinking about just a few weeks ago when we saw an AL father and his 13-yr-old son for the first time in a long, long time. In fact, it had been years since we'd seen them (and we used to see them ALL THE TIME)...In fact, I kinda fell in love with this boy when he was about 9 at one of my favorite tournaments-which has now been eliminated from our schedule due to QuickStart :(. So I hugged the kid like a long-lost friend and asked the father where they'd been??? He just shrugged and said they kinda took a break for a while. I asked Danny to record the kid's match for old times sake and then the boy asked his father for that match as well as his next two. The father shared with me that his son doesn't win very often, but he (the son) is still convinced that he's A GREAT PLAYER...so much so that he's gonna to stay in school for two more years and then he's decided that he's going pro. HAHA-The father said he better try to win a southern level 3 match first, LOL. :)

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In case you haven't followed the latest turn in the unbelievably tiresome drama known as junior tennis, we got notice last week that the USTA basically agreed to hit the "PAUSE" button with respect to the upcoming changes-WOW O WOW! Never, ever saw that coming!! Check the news HERE! But before you get your hopes up, it turns out that PAUSE doesn't really mean what you think it means...and they quickly followed up with this clarification...sigh. Raise your hand if you're surprised...

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So anyway - back to random thoughts...I remember when Patrick McEnroe began his "LET'S TALK TO THE PARENTS" tour at the G12 National Championships at Windward this past August and a longtime customer/friend of ours was the very first person to stand up and let him have it. To paraphrase our friend's reaction to the upcoming changes, he adamantly told PMAC that it was not his business where and how he spent his money. He emphasized repeatedly that it was HIS MONEY to spend on HIS CHILD according to HIS PRIORITIES. Unfortunately, as I recall, PMAC virtually blew him off. :(

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Nothing makes me angrier than when a parent says "We can't pay full price for your videos because tennis is such an expensive sport. We are spending too much money and we really need a discount." I wonder if their child's coach gives discounts on lessons...or the store where they buy their child's racquets or shoes or clothing gives discounts...or the hotel where they stay while their child competes gives discounts...or the restaurant where they eat during the tournament gives discounts. DOUBTFUL THAT THEY EVEN HAVE THE NERVE TO ASK. A very common misconception is that just because our customers are spending their leisure time at tournaments, they think we are too...but that's just not so. We work very hard to provide a valuable service and we're happy to do so...but please don't ask us for discounts that we can't afford to give. It just happens that this is our only source of income (aka this is how we keep the lights on-or not).

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SORRY---didn't mean to digress...Where did that come from? Told you my mind was drifting aimlessly. Now back to the topic at hand: One of many things we've learned over the past 7 years is that WE are not the customers. What I mean is this: Neither of us had parents who were in a position to afford the things most tennis kids seem to take for granted these days - I'm sure we can all agree that tennis is an affluent sport, for the most part - and it's definitely not fair that some can afford to do so and some can't but then life isn't fair, is it? But, as a father of twin boys from FL told me in Mobile several years ago, "It takes all kinds of people to make a world." I never forgot that...Actually, I find myself thinking about it a lot (and not always in reference to tennis).
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I clearly remember a time when I got a wake-up call, TENNIS-STYLE: At the Peach State many years ago-before it got eliminated from our schedule and maybe from the face of the earth, two young boys (12-ish) were playing and one kid (from MS) broke a string. Turns out it was his ONLY RACQUET but fortunately, his opponent (from GA) opened his bag (which had about TEN RACQUETS inside!!!), took one out, and handed it to the MS player to use...which he did - to quickly beat the player from GA! We became quite close to the player from MS and his family over the next 5 years...They had virtually NO money but the boy had a ton of talent---and a super sweet spirit. The boy from GA? We never really got to know him - but his father is 'difficult' to be around. Life is not always fair...and parent's priorities don't always make sense to us - but then our priorities might not make sense to others - and that's what makes the world go 'round. But we do our very best to meet and exceed ALL customer expectations.

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As you can imagine, we didn't start HIGH-TECH TENNIS to become rich... Not even close! We started HIGH-TECH TENNIS to help tennis players play better tennis. To us, that includes players of ALL ages, abilities, and financial situations. We realized that nearly every other sport used technology to help athletes improve their performance and we wondered WHY isn't anyone doing this for tennis??? Our next thoughts were: If not us, THEN WHO? And if not now, THEN WHEN? :)
Simply stated, our goal is to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
We are so grateful that our customers really appreciate our videos. Just please remember that every single parent of every single player is in just as much of a hurry to receive their video...
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! :)

Fit Enough to WIN!

Fit Enough to Win!

We've known Taylor Townsend and her entire family since about 2006 - or it may have been earlier than that. Sure, we knew she was a pretty awesome tennis player but the reason we love her? She's a GREAT GIRL with a BEAUTIFUL SPIRIT!!! I hope this experience doesn't damage that spirit - but it's hard to say...

I don't claim to be an expert on developing tennis players or much of anything else, for that matter...but I immediately knew something was wrong when I heard that Taylor had been "benched" this summer after USTA officials decided she wasn't fit enough to compete??? BENCHED??? The #1 junior girl in the WORLD was being benched? Something had to be horribly wrong... and it was. :( As reported in the Wall Street Journal on 9/6/12:

"Unbeknownst to everyone outside her inner circle, the USTA wasn't happy to see Townsend in New York. Her coaches declined to pay her travel expenses to attend the Open and told her this summer that they wouldn't finance any tournament appearances until she makes sufficient progress in one area: slimming down and getting into better shape. "Our concern is her long-term health, number one, and her long-term development as a player," said Patrick McEnroe, the general manager of the USTA's player development program. "We have one goal in mind: For her to be playing in [Arthur Ashe Stadium] in the main draw and competing for major titles when it's time.
That's how we make every decision, based on that."

So after the USTA decided she wasn't fit enough to compete and they declined to pay travel expenses, her mom (Shelia) paid for TT to go to New York...AND GUESS WHAT??? She won her 3rd junior Grand Slam doubles title of the year!!!

But before she won on Saturday, Patrick McEnroe clarified his position in the Wall Street Journal on 9/7/12:

“It was a miscommunication,” said Patrick McEnroe, the general manager of the USTA’s player development program. “I apologize that they feel that way, it’s not right.” McEnroe said Townsend’s weight was not the cause of the USTA’s decision. “This has nothing to do with weight,” he said. “We never talked about that. We talked about her being in shape, working on her fitness.
It’s not about how you look, it’s about how fit you are.”

Umm......right. A simple miscommunication? I DOUBT IT.

Remember - we are talking about a CHILD here. A  CHILD who (forgive me, Taylor) has NEVER been small but a  CHILD who presumably tries her best. But o.k., none of us were there so we can't truly know the entire story and maybe, just maybe, she doesn't try her hardest to follow whatever guidelines are given to her...but SURELY there was a more appropriate way to handle this very, very sensitive issue.

Instead, they instructed this  CHILD to withdraw from the USTA Girls' National Championships in San Diego in August (if she'd won, she'd have received an automatic wild card into the U.S. Open's main draw and with it a rare chance to be seen by agents and sponsors - she currently has no agent)... they prevented this  CHILD from competing in our country's Grand Slam, and they generally caused a  CHILD to feel horribly about herself.

And if that "miscommunication" excuse doesn't do it for you, this quickly surfaced on Tennis.com, 9/8/12:

Townsend required a doctor's approval to play due to "low iron." Townsend was recently diagnosed with low iron, and the USTA did not feel it was safe for her to play until her doctors gave her the go-ahead. After she returned to Florida, Townsend was diagnosed with low iron during a routine checkup. Shelia Townsend said her daughter is taking iron pills and that the problem is "totally manageable."

Can you begin to imagine how she must feel??? Has the USTA ever heard of eating disorders??? Just think - the topic of this CHILD's body and weight is being discussed in very hurtful words in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, the entire Twitter-verse, and more blogs than I can count??? I am sooo very offended by this treatment - and I'm not the only one who feels this way. Consider the words of former #1 players and Grand Slam champions from The Daily Fix - WSJ Blog - 9/7/12:

"You cannot punish someone for their body type,” Davenport said. "Bringing out their best isn’t making them feel bad about themselves and having a horrible self-image. You get it out of them by getting them happy, by getting them excited to play, not by tearing them down." .. "I was not svelte at 15, and I was not fit at 15. If they had told me I could not play, I mean, that could have ruined my career." .. "[Taylor] is a baby to me. I couldn’t imagine, if someone did that to one of my kids, that would be the end of it.
It’s horrible to put that kind of pressure on someone.
I can’t imagine at 16 what my parents would have done."

“I’m livid about it. Livid,” Navratilova said. She added: “It speaks of horrible ignorance.”

Over the weekend, I reached out to Taylor and mom Shelia to let them know we're thinking about them, to remind them that we support them ALL THE WAY, and to be sure they're managing in this unmanageable situation. Taylor assures me she's "Doing good! It's tough but I'm handling it well and just trying to keep working hard?" and Shelia says "Taylor has handled herself with grace and dignity and to top it off, walked away with a championship..."

Taylor's style of play and extreme talent has been compared with that of Serena Williams. And there may well be issues of race and weight at play here...I just don't know. But at a minimum, I think we can ALL agree that - no matter what HE SAYS or what SHE SAYS - this situation was handled very, very, VERY poorly. Professional adults who are trusted to CARE about and for children are supposed to know better...and I say SHAME ON THE USTA. This is the very last thing that Taylor needed - and the same goes for TENNIS in general!!!

My heart hurts for my friend's sweet spirit and how potentially damaging this is... It is so much bigger than whether she does or does not become the next American Tennis Champion!!! She is a CHILD ... who just happens to have amazing tennis talent ... but still a CHILD who's doing her best to grow up in the world the same as the rest of us.

This CHILD is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She's the #1 Junior Girl in the World and she certainly showed us all that she's FIT ENOUGH TO WIN!!!

Article Published in the Racquet Sports Industry Magazine (Sep/Oct 2012)

Serving the Tennis Public?

A longtime sports journalist says the conflicts of interest in tennis breed a lack of accountability and stunt the sport's growth.

By L. Jon Wertheim

Andy Roddick's foot smudged the baseline as he served and, to his misfortune, the official stationed at the baseline saw it clearly. "Footfault!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the National Tennis Center this night at the 2010 US Open. With that, Roddick snapped, serving up a petty and prolonged tantrum, playing to the crowd and humiliating the lineswoman - all over a correct call.

Rodick's explosion begged for condemntation. But in the ESPN booth there was an awkward silence. The notion of John McEnroe offering credible analysis of a player-official conflict is, of course, comical. His brother, Patrick, was not only the U.S. Davis Cup captain at the time - the success of his team dependent largely on Roddick's willingness to play - but had recently served as Roddick's informal coach. Meanwhile, Brad Gilbert was in a conflicted position, too. Having once coached Roddick, Gilbert has long been reluctant to say anything disparaging about his former charge.

The scene was a familiar one. A year earlier Serena Williams also launched an ugly eruption after a foot-fault call. It was memorably ugly, but who was there to call her out? Not John McEnroe. Not Patrick McEnroe, also the head of USTA Player Development. Not Mary Joe Fernandez, who moonlights as the USTA's Fed Cup captain, a job that consists mostly of beseeching Serena to commit to playing every now and then. Not Pam Shriver, who shares an agent with Serena.

Welcome to tennis. The sport may be perceived by so many as prudish and chaste, but truth is, everyone is in bed with everyone else. The Tours represent both labor (players) and management (tournaments). The USTA has a stake in tournaments and the media entities. Management agencies represent players, own and operate tournaments, and negotiate broadcast rights.

In the media, it's conflicts galore. Though only occasionally disclosed, ESPN's Darren Cahill is on the Adidas payroll. Justin Gimelstob of the Tennis Chanel is also on the ATP Board. In addition to her USTA dueis, Mary Joe Fernandez is married to Roger Federer's agent. I don't exempt myself here: While my day job entails writing for Sports Illustrated, I also work for Tennis Channel at the Majors.

The justification for these tangled webs goes something like this: The same relationships that might compromise integrity also help grease the skids for access. (It stands to reason, for instance, that an ATP player might be more inclined to accept a Tennis Channel interview request when one of his representatives on the ATP board makes the request.) What's more, these conflicts have always been in tennis's DNA. Decades ago, it was Donald Dell who, memorably, offered television commentary on the match of a player he represented at an event he was running. As Gimelstob recently put it to me, "Tennis is an incestuous, conflicted sport. If you are going to allow that, you can't blame someone for taking advantage of it the best he can."

Yet when tennis alows these cozy relationships, it has the effect of stunting the sport's growth. For one, in the eyes of recreational players and casual fans, tennis comes across as clubbish and niche, a sport that is not big enough to trigger the usual rules. The overarching message: It's "just tennis." (Ask yourself: Would ESPN ever allow an active NFL league executive to serve as a Monday Night Football commentator?) More passionate players and fans are ill-served too. Lord knows what questions aren't being asked and what information isn't being imparted, given the relationships and the financial ties.

Worse, the cliquishness breeds a lack of accountability, stifling serious discourse and examination and the kind of difficult discussion and inquiry that ultimately help businesses grow. So long as Patrick McEnroe is on the payroll, ESPN is unlikely to undertake an expose of the USTA's difficulty in harvesting top junior talent or the controversy surrounding the 10-and-under program. And so long as he draws a check from the USTA, Patrick McEnroe is unlikely to speak critically on-air about the lack of a roof at the National Tennis Center or address players seeking a greater share of revenues from events like the US Open.

Like a team in a three-legged race, tennis stumbles and moves clumsily when all the major parties are tied together. To Gimelstob's point, yes, tennis is an incestuous, conflicted sport. But maybe we shouldn't be so cavalier about allowing it.

L. John Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. Full disclosure: He also works for Tennis Channel.