Every school has one - a PTA or parent teacher association but practically no tennis clubs have a CTO (club tennis association), a CPA (club pro association), or a PCA (player club organization. Why not? The PTA addresses collective concerns of the parents relative to that of the schools ongoing activities. The PTA connects parents and teachers to address their concerns and so could a CTO, CPA, or a PCA. The PTA requests additional teacher support or school support and so could a CTO, a CPA, or ...
Jun 10, 2021•59 min•Ep. 42
Is it really just the mental game of tennis or is there an emotional game as well? When we make a mistake that costs points in a game or looks silly to our coaches and practice partners are we really just thinking a thought or are we feeling something as well? If we sing along to a rock song are we just thinking about the words that were said or are we caught up in the emotion of the beat, harmony, or melody and just going with the flow? In both playing tennis or singing along to a rock song, we...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 41
Where’s the transition plan for all tennis players? A plan developed from a careful and considerate evaluation of each players emotional, mental, physical, and tactical abilities to play the game of tennis? A plan which provides a path forward for each individual tennis player to pursue based on their results. Without analysis and conclusion a path and a plan can’t be proposed and a player is left to guess and either overestimate or underestimate their potential in tennis. If a child starts play...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 40
Protein is deified in our culture as THE key element to our diets that will affect our energy, health, and performance levels, but is it really or is it yet another “trend” to latch onto for those in search of a simple answer to complex nutritional needs we human beings and especially we human being tennis players? In this episode, we spark a nutritional conversation about protein in the hopes of providing a different perspective on the cultural protein push. Thanks for joining us on our journey...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 39
It’s pretty obvious, tennis coaches and clubs stopped asking questions a long time ago. Questions about their membership demographics, members unspoken needs, the clubs current services approach, and the way all those issues work together to build meaning for the coaches, clientele, and the club. Meaning is the magnet which draws people in and makes them want to come back. But in today’s transactional and mechanistic approach we have favored getting it done and making money to building meaning. ...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 38
When was the last time you thought about the relationship with your coach or student? When was the last time you thought it through to make it better for the both of you? Maybe you don't want to - things are good. If you're the coach, hey, they come to lessons, seem happy or somewhat engaged and I get paid - done. If you're the student, they teach me, it's not always easy, but I learn something and sometimes it's really fun. Kept that way, it works - but on what basis? The relationship works at ...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 37
What leads to player burnout? Everyone talks about burnout in the general sense, but not a lot of people put specificity around it. Maybe, in part, burnout comes from not telling players the whole story - both at the beginning and during their individual journeys - of what it takes to learn the skills involved in the sport of tennis? If players were more informed, they might have time to “think” about their “feelings” about tennis and in turn work through this complex mix of human byproduct and ...
Apr 11, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 36
A tennis expert (i.e. a commentator, a club owner, or a pro) wouldn't consider or recommend adding a reading session as part of your on court tennis class - likely because reading story or a work of non-fiction is something that's done in a library or classroom, not on a court. A tennis expert would question why and likely pose objections along the lines of: * Customers/students are paying for movement, not reading. * The court isn't setup like a library or classroom, how would this even happen?...
Apr 03, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 34
Every day, food product companies inundate us with their products messages which bend and stretch the meanings of the very words they use. Words such as "healthy", "organic", "100% real _____ included", "__ servings of fruits and vegetables", and a "full serving of ______ in every package." They are the words consumers often rely on to decide whether or not to put it into their cart. Promotional words used to "assist" and "persuade" shoppers to purchase their product. Promotional words which mak...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 33
We often don’t think about diet or nutrition unless we face constant fatigue or are in a health crisis. And, our social and work cultures reinforce consumption of “food products” and “convenience foods” so we can “do more”, “keep going”, “make our deadlines”, and “cross things off our list”. We have all normalized these food products and convenience foods which are rife with chemicals, enriched flour, oils, preservatives, salts, and sugars but we are feeling and seeing the after effects of such ...
Mar 24, 2021•32 min•Ep. 32
We've all heard it from someone else - what another colleague said to someone else about you or your work - and it never feels good. In fact, it can often feel like ... sabotage. But is what another person said really sabotage or just an attempt to insert their own impression (find a seat at the social table) or even fill their roster and put food on their table? The tennis court can be a place of heated contention and in this episode, we deconstruct misinterpreting other people’s actions. Join ...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 31
Could a nutrition class compliment a tennis club's offerings and boost the bottom line? You know, a classroom style series of lectures and group discussions which discuss basic nutrition concepts and demonstrates the effect of food on energy levels, quality of life, and longevity? A nutrition class, hosted by a registered dietician who does it for free in order to get exposure to potential paying clients, could be a draw for non-tennis playing people and current customers. It says "I care about ...
Mar 16, 2021•44 min•Ep. 30
Tennis clubs have the perfect opportunity to talk about nutrition - it's the fuel that will either feed you or lead you to failure on the tennis court and in the afterworld of physical recovery - so why won't they make it a core mission? Maybe it's because the clients don't play enough to feel the effects of poor nutrition on their performance and recovery. So, if you play for only a couple hours a week, you probably won't feel the effects of eating a diet rich in flour, oils, preservatives, sal...
Mar 11, 2021•57 min•Ep. 29
Mark Campanile has put his interest into his intention and dedicated a life to tennis both personally and professionally. In the last 40 years, Mark has taken a teenage passing interest and turned it into a lifelong love. Mark found the spark of tennis in Europe and carried it into college. He kept playing and started stringing, so much so that he got his certification and started a small stringing business. In the ensuing decades, Mark coached his own son from scratch to a D1 scholarship, built...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 28
Self-talk is pervasive in our sport, yet it is not something we learn to deal with in a tennis lesson or is talked through with coaches or other players. Self talk is part of the emotional journey of tennis yet it gets marginalized and trivialized in "blooper" style Youtube videos and talked about in hushed commentator tones. We know this needs to change. It seems to us that there are at least five types of self-talks that people put themselves through at any one point in a game, lesson, or prac...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 27
What happens if we misinterpret our players emotional reactions and project our own impression on students? What happens if our players project their emotional impressions of what the coach "could" or "might" be thinking or feeling about a drill or tennis activity? We junk up their cognitive runway or a person's emotional and mental space they need to "takeoff" or "land" their "plane" (body) while playing tennis. In this episode, we discover the cognitive runway. What it is, how and why this ana...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 26
Everyday, all across the world, tennis pros are teaching tennis to thousands of children, teenagers, and adults. Every time they walk onto that court, like a rock star walking on stage, they make a decision about how they want to "show up" and "represent" the face of tennis. Fans expect rock stars to show up and represent the face of their music and in the image they have established to the world - their brand. When the rock star shows up and represents their brand, their fans know it, love it, ...
Feb 27, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 25
If you learn somethings quickly, you tend to create an "emotional cloak of invincibility" or an emotional belief that you are the best (i.e. better than your friends or peers) at things in a certain activity in life. If you learn something in science or sports quickly, you tend to develop that belief or an emotional cloak of invincibility which is great for confidence and forging ahead in life but what happens when that new activity is agonizing? The emotional cloak of invincibility quickly turn...
Feb 23, 2021•51 min•Ep. 24
We need to do a better job of recognizing our own emotional arousal states and the emotional arousal states of others to get the best out of ourselves, each other, and what we're trying to do. What happens when a player or person is over-aroused? You're too jacked and you overhit causing it to go into the net or out of the park. What happens when a person or player is under-aroused? You can't bring your best of anything and you set a low standard for yourself. To play at your best but not overpl...
Feb 21, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 23
It's no secret the dropout rate for youth tennis players over the age of 15 is over 60%. And while a lot of people are trying to figure out how to keep people from leaving, we're not. It's ok for people to leave tennis. They've spent their time, taken lessons, and maybe even played a few tournaments. Let them move and in turn let's trust that some of them will want to come back! If we make peace with this perspective and prune the ranks of the tennis tree, we allow for new growth in the form of ...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 22
In this episode, we examine the "emotional chain" that players new to the sport can experience that will block them from obtaining the "physical fluidity" and deep sense of appreciation and satisfaction that a high level tennis player will experience. Someone new to the sport could experience blocks related to the emotional chain from: Walking into the tennis club - a place they either haven't visited or don't visit that often Wearing tennis shoes they don't normally wear Gripping a tennis racqu...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 21
Coach Sully is a firm believer in building intrinsic motivation as a key to captivating a little child's interest in the sport of tennis. In this episode he shares his own recipe: Bring something to the court that your child is already interested in Integrate with item into some of the on-court activity Don't make the net the barrier or the goal Ask them what they want to do and go with it Suggest, but don't push the game onto them Apply lots of patience Repeat and hope for the best Thanks for j...
Feb 12, 2021•49 min•Ep. 20
How many of your students are making the thinking face? What is a "thinking face"? What is happening with them when they make their thinking face? If you know what to look for, you can spot the thinking face and you'll be glad you did. The thinking face is all about Intrinsic motivation - self-motivation - and a key to the student falling in love with our sport and deciding to come back. The thinking face says professes interest and neural activity and an opportunity to take personal ownership. ...
Feb 10, 2021•39 min•Ep. 19
As people and parents, we're up against a massive amount of food product messaging. Messaging that preaches "easy" and "fast". Messaging that champions duplicity in labeling - "healthy", and "contains real fruit/vegetables", and "provides a full serving of fruits, nuts, vegetables, or seeds". Messaging that leads us to chose food products and "food-like" products which contains additives (blending agents, colors, preservatives, salts, and sugars) that can significantly deplete any nutritional va...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 18
What is it going to take to get you to do the tough stuff? Not disappointing yourself or your coach? The shame of others in your group or across the net on the other court weighing heavily on your heart or mind? How about the uncomfortable competition with others in your group or even the coach who is younger in age or the feeling of wasting your money and your time? Maybe an alternative to all that is boredom. What would happen if you took away all the choices and let boredom work its magic? A ...
Feb 06, 2021•38 min•Ep. 17
The dentist doesn't yell at you for moving the wrong way while working on your mouth, so why does the tennis pro yell at you for not moving the right way? Both mistakes can cause you pain and possible loss, yet they are treated very differently. No one wants a drill instructor for a dentist so why would they want one in a tennis pro? In this episode, we examine the energy these two types - their motivations (control?) and how they impact other co-teaching pros, students and the facility. We also...
Feb 03, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 16
What type of coach do you want? The "personality", the "informational", or the "method" coach? Maybe someone in between? While all coaches are capable of bringing a bit of personality, information, and method to their on court approach, they typically have a prevailing style. In this episode, we take a look at each of these personality types, in the context of: How these personalities effect a students selection or avoidance of them How these personalities are interpreted by club staff help stud...
Jan 31, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 15
We spend all of our time teaching and learning "reactive tennis" (how will I hit this ball) and no time learning "proactive tennis" (what will I do to set myself (and/or my doubles partner) up to hit effective shots or to force the opponent to hit return shots to me that lead to a setup or a winner. All that time spent practicing "reactive tennis" may be unknowingly leading us into the "fixed mindset" trap of responses: This isn't how we play tennis! Why do we need to learn this? Can't we just p...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 14
An inexpensive paper notebook is a standard which all students use in class and to reinforce what they must study. Yet a notebook is never included or required on the tennis court for a tennis class. Why not? Wouldn't it aid a students acquisition and emotional and mental processing and retention of the concepts, movements, strategies, technique, and terms a tennis student is expected to acquire? In this episode, we leverage yet another series of struggles coach Sully has had with some outside i...
Jan 26, 2021•48 min•Ep. 13
Before someone just looks at bailing on tennis, maybe we need to consider maladaptive ways of cognitive and emotional processing. You don't have to be a professional psychiatrist or psychologist - just apply a little common sense. Connect, ask questions, consider what is going on. Start a dialogue with your child or student. See if they'll acknowledge your observations and maybe even ask for help or work to setup their own strategies and solutions to overcoming their tennis challenges. Thanks fo...
Jan 23, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 12
