GUIDANCE

By Brad Properjohn

This is part one of a feature article pertaining to guidance, outlining post junior opportunities for tennis players.

A player is raised in a nurturing family; although they have limited knowledge of tennis he is somewhat of a big fish in a tiny pond and success as a junior comes easy. He is offered a scholarship to a prestigious university in the USA where he is encouraged further by an enthusiastic team and a well-structured program. He wins the right to play in a major national tournament (the NCAA indoors) and is sent to the tournament alone, where he has drawn the number one collage player in the country in the first round.

He sets his sights on the win and destroys his opponent. Now what? How do I act? From who do I take advise from? Someone wants an interview, when’s my next match? Who can I warm up with? Next round he looses to a player ranked miles away from the star he beat the day before. Twenty years down the track he reflects when asked the reason why? ”Why, lack of guidance”.

Players have fallen into or become addicted to the many temptations the circuit has to offer like drugs, wild spending, gambling, sex and even religion (in a destructive fanatic sense). Although a lot of these players posses adult tennis abilities that could potentially bring in oodles of cash, they are often to the contrary, quite immature and often lack any formal education or even the street smarts that can prepare them for the real life situations on the tour.

A very small percentage of budding young Pro’s actually make the big time, currently in Australia it’s about 0.8% of each age group. It’s clear that a high percentage of players will be disappointed at simply not being good enough to play on the tour, and that can bring out undesirable behaviour that can be attributed to nothing more than “kids getting upset” and that’s just “a fact of life”. However what seams to be endemic in tennis is the attrition rate amongst players with world-class games and this can be attributed to the lack of good guidance.

Successful results can wet the appetite for more competition. Soon these girls will have to make decisions on how to further their tennis careers.

Ask any pro’s out there what was lacking in their apprenticeship or what hindered their advancement into the upper echelons and most of them will answer without hesitation, “the lack of guidance”. It’s having a person that can give continuity to a painfully slow process. A person who can see the big picture and is not particularly moved by the minor ebbs and flows that occur in a players day-to-day performance.

I remember taunting myself by thinking that not making the cut-off at a satellite circuit was grounds to fall into debilitating depressions it was just so crazy. Winding myself up with the old classics like,” What am I going to do if I lose this match” or “I’m not playing well enough”, I would become paralysed in “negative self prophecy” that could have been so easily overcome by a few wise and encouraging words.

How often do you see a player’s coach in a courtside box going crazy with emotion in support of their player? They are trying to remain calm to give their player the feeling that everything is going as planned, under control and show he has faith, in that, the player can handle the any situation thrown at them on court.

In spite of quantum leaps forward in most facets of sports including biomechanical economics, training methods, psychological training and equipment technology, young pro’s are still being left in inexperienced hands or in no hands at all and this coupled with the sheer difficulty of the profession may explain why so many players pull out of the game altogether.

This spells disaster for tennis in general and especially Australian Tennis where the long summer trips away to Europe or USA can be quite daunting. Most of the Euro players can go home and relax a bit between tournaments and they have the advantage of being able to see their families and coach every couple of weeks.

In Europe the “money too early syndrome” was the popular theory that was bandied around during the “Becker Boom”. Players were getting so much money to play club tennis that the motivation to go out and slog it out for a couple of ATP points and a hundred bucks was lost. I’m sure if these players could have had strong mentors to keep them on the straight and narrow a lot more players would have reached their full potential.

Joining the Satellite Circuit’s as a young buck is an exciting adventure that can motivate you to great heights or can crush you like a bulldozer.

This is just the right time for an experienced ex pro to step in and lead.

One ex Pro for 6 guys would be satisfactory. He could look for balance in doubles pairings, encourage and watch matches, scout subsequent opponents and generally oversee players and their ability to manage themselves.

In golf, players are expected to go to golf school in order to get their players card. This ensures that the Pro has the equipment he will need to survive on the tour. It is in no way a guarantee for anything other than an education in the sport but it’s often these basics that wane in pressure situations.

Young Pro’s should be on probation for twelve months. They would report back to and be in liaison with an assigned mentor who would assist those players and they would then be less likely to make gross errors of judgment. There are mandatory classes for young Pro’s through the ATP, but only apply when you reach a certain ranking.

Years ago when I was playing the Satellites in Aussie, Nails Carmichael came up to me after a match and said, “Prop I think you’ve got a good feeling for the game”. I respected Nails; he was a real friendly and honest man with a wealth of experience and the results to back it up. That one comment gave me so much confidence to push on. However, in hindsight it was the bloke who said it, as much as what he said, that was important to me, and Nails had won my trust way before he decided to dish out any compliments.

Discussing a future in tennis can be heart wrenching. However the decision to play or not to play doesn’t have to be that final. There are lots of in-between situations available that still leave the door open to a possible Pro career.

Choosing a mentor/manager/minder/mate/mother (the 5 M’s) is just like hiring an employee for your business. You look for qualifications, personal qualities and above all experience. You should also consider whether or not this person still plays well enough to practice and warm up your player.

Feeling comfortable in the pre match practice session is a huge advantage. Having a good coach means he can adapt his own game to mimic the opponent. (i.e. serve and volleyer/ net rusher or chip and bluffer/ baseliner) or he could find a player similar to your opponent to warm up against.

Ø Ask for advice but Do your homework first so you know:

1. How much money your willing to invest?

2. What do you wish to achieve out of the monies invested?

3. What is the time frame?

Ø Questions you might like to ask:

What options do we have to further our child’s tennis?

§ Tennis in the USA at University.

§ ATP satellites in Australia

§ ATP satellites in Europe

§ French money Tournaments

§ European Club Tennis

Ø Find a person who has previously done what you’re asking him to do or offer them a short-term trial period as even with the best intentions in mind, personalities sometimes conflict.

Ø Sit down and discuss the depth of the job as these positions are often an “on-call” 24 hours a day type of thing.

Ø Get references

Ø Get to know a coach mentor by taking a couple of single lessons with them.

Ø Invite them over or out for dinner.

Ø Ask for a resume.

Ø Request a Commonwealth Police clearance.

The selection process should be thorough enough so you feel comfortable leaving your player/child with this person on extended trips. There is also the question of discipline to be addressed. This should be discussed at length so as to promote a good professional working environment and relationship.

Good guidance is expensive; from about $1000 US a week plus expenses, but if you have several players; the price per player is quite reasonable. There are ways a coach can motivate, solve problems and certainly offer advice over the phone, so there are lots of in-between deals that can be worked out with a coach.

A good manager/mentor can be the difference between your player/son/daughter seeing the road to success and being able to follow the road to success. With all the insecurities that professional tennis poses on a player, working with a mentor can refocus their energies on the things that they can control, whilst also playing down the external forces that they can’t.

Good luck

The Tennis Coach