Parentingaces - The Junior Tennis And College Tennis Podcast

What happens when 3 tennis-playing brothers get together and start a website? Get the answer in this week's episode (apologies for the poor sound quality in the intro - it gets way better after that!) with Vanderbilt Men's Tennis Assistant Coach, Ryan Lipman, and his mom, Lisa. Ryan and his brothers, Maxx and Marshall, all played college tennis and all still love the sport. They followed very different pathways in the junior, college, and even professional game, but have now come together to share their knowledge and connections with the rest of us via Tennis Takes. Ryan talks about the upcoming ITF Transition Tour and its potential impact on the college game (for more on that, read Colette Lewis's article here). Admittedly, he says no one really knows what's going to happen and that we should adopt a wait-and-see attitude for now. Mom, Lisa, shares her thoughts on what it takes to bring children up through the junior and college tennis journey as Ryan adds his insights. Playing multiple sports, choosing to f

In our last episode, we talked to you about how you can manage your college recruiting in the palm of your hand with the newest feature on the Match!Tennis App. This week, we discuss college scholarships and how best to get them. Marisa Meddin worked in marketing after a very successful college career at the University of Michigan. She found her greatest satisfaction, however, in volunteering to help high school students navigate the college application process, so she quit her corporate job to start Talk College To Me, a website devoted to guiding students through their applications and scholarship searches. In this week's episode, Marisa shares her tips for getting college scholarships in addition to - or maybe in lieu of - an athletic scholarship that may or may not be offered by the university's tennis coach. Marisa also offers an online admissions crash course FOR PARENTS which you can find here. ParentingAces listeners will receive a $50 discount off the registration fee when using code "parentingaces"

Last year, we were all introduced to the Match!Tennis App, a one-stop-shop for all your junior tournament needs - a calendar, rankings, ratings, medical release, weather updates, doubles partner search, and more. When I used the app during the 2017 Sol Schwartz #SaveCollegeTennis All-In Tournaments, I was blown away by all it could do from the Tournament Director side, too.  And now the app has gone one better. You can use it to manage your college recruiting process by searching schools by division, finding programs where your child's UTR, GPA, and standardized test scores will open the door, track visits and communications, plus get reminders of when applications are due or when it's time to follow up with a coach. You can watch a tutorial on Match U here. It's awesome! In this week's podcast, we hear from the app's creators once again, Heath and Lindsey Lee-Waters, Tennis Parents themselves who decided they'd had enough with traditional time-sucking junior tournament and college search responsibilities.  P

Barry Fulcher grew up in a Tennis Family. His parents and his siblings were avid players, so it was only fitting that Barry start honing his racquet and court skills as a toddler in the UK. His love of the game and of competition led him to a very successful junior tennis career such that he decided to go the professional route rather than come to the US to try his hand in our college tennis system (much to his mother's chagrin, I might add!). After realizing he couldn't sustain a pro career, Barry moved into coaching. However, his love of competition persisted and he sought out tournaments where he could continue to hone his game. He soon realized the lack of good level competitive opportunities in his home country, both for juniors and for adults.  In 2017, Barry created The Progress Tour, a series of UTR-powered tournaments throughout the UK. He consulted with Sarah Borwell of TennisSmart to work out the details of his tour including sponsors who would help fund the prize money he wanted to offer. In addit

How lucky are we to have both Coach Todd Widom and Tennis Parent George Opelka together in one podcast?!?!?! These two gentleman offer their wisdom on everything from the different developmental pathways to college vs. pro tennis and everything in between. They have spent many hours talking to each other courtside while watching their respective player's practice and compete and share those conversations with us this week. You can find Todd Widom and his academy online at http://twtennis.com/ You can find out more about George's son, Reilly, at http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/reilly-opelka/o522/overview  Thank you to STØNE for our music! You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the ParentingAces website.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June is prime recruiting season for many college coaches. That said, what better time to do a podcast about Division III and how it differs from DI? Coach Matt Brisotti leads both the men's and women's tennis teams at Hamilton College, a Division III school in New York that is part of the NESCAC, one of the stronger conferences in DIII. He played college tennis at Drew University (also DIII) and finished his collegiate career as one of the top players in Drew men's tennis history with 55 career singles victories and 64 career doubles wins. After college, Matt was the head women's coach at College of Saint Elizabeth then went back to his alma mater to lead the tennis programs there. In this week's episode, Coach Brisotti discusses the ins and outs of both recruiting and coaching at the Division III level. He answers many questions about how DIII differs from the other collegiate divisions and why top juniors should look at DIII opportunities as they plan for their college tennis experience. We delve into how

A few weeks ago, I posted on our Facebook page that I would be doing an interview with a USTA official and asked you for questions to ask him. You did not disappoint! In this week's episode of the ParentingAces Podcast, recorded in person at Goldberg's Deli (!), I chat with Gary Link, an amazing official based in South Carolina who has committed the past 21 years to helping junior tennis players learn while playing. I have known him since my son's junior tennis years, and I can vouch for his devotion to learning and teaching others the rules while always striving for fairness and equality.Gary addresses issues such as when officials should issue a warning versus a code violation. He talks about throwing racquets, foul language, and cheating, and how parents and officials should handle these occurrences. He talks about officials who may not be up to speed on the rules and why junior players should make sure they are prepared to question a ruling. Gary also addresses some of the myths about officials and their

I know. No one likes talking about periods and puberty. But, it's a reality of life and a topic that we need to discuss if we're going to help our young players maintain a healthy body image and feel comfortable asking for help whenever and wherever they may need it. In this week's episode, Katie Malinski and I get pretty candid and raw in our conversation about how to talk to our children about their bodily changes, what to do if our daughter or other female player gets her period while on our watch, and how to deal with body odor and the other wonders of puberty. Katie offers up some great ideas and actual phrases we can use to reduce the awkwardness in what is typically an inherently awkward situation.  Katie Malinski is a licensed clinical social worker based in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her husband and two children. As a parenting coach and family therapist, she offers expert guidance to help families regain their balance and move forward together. Katie's top priority is preserving your parent

Jackie Slomin is a sports dietitian who helps high school athletes get recruited to top tier colleges on scholarship with her Fuel Your Full Ride program.  Having previously worked with hundreds of division I and II athletes from all different sports and holding a master's degree in sports nutrition and exercise science, Jackie is an expert at helping athlete's discover how to improve their performance, energy and recovery time by up to 50% with advanced sports nutrition principles that can be used by even the busiest of families.  Jackie works with student-athletes, families, coaches and teams to help them discover how to gain a competitive edge through nutrition.  When Jackie isn't working with athletes, she loves weight training, kayaking and trying new foods. In this week's episode, we discuss the specifics of what constitutes a healthy eating regimen for junior and college-bound tennis players and how and why a good diet can impact the recruiting process. Jackie shares her tips for what foods to eat to m

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could find a teaching pro who actually had a college degree in Tennis? What if she had an in-depth knowledge not only of teaching forehands and backhands but also sport psychology, injury prevention, nutrition, and communication? Well, thanks to several hard-working and forward-thinking folks, the Professional Tennis Management (PTM) Certificate is now a reality! Coach Jorge Capestany, the Head Tennis Coach at Hope College, is leading the charge to create the PTM program at his school and chats with us this week about what that program will entail, how he is recruiting students to participate, and what will set these newly-educated professionals apart from their peers. USTA is working hard to expand the number of PTM programs around the US in order to raise the bar for those calling themselves Tennis Teaching Professionals. My hope is that we will see a big uptick in the quality of coaching in our country which will make the Tennis Parent's job easier when it comes to choosing a

If you're a Tennis Parent or Coach, you know how frustrating it is to travel to a tournament only to find out the Tournament Director has decided to use short scoring due to weather or other impediments to play. This week's podcast guest, Mark Milne, has a great solution to present. Thirty30 Tennis presents a format where players start each game at the score 30-all then play out the game from there, deuces and all. This is not about no-ad scoring. It is not about sets played to 4. The only change is that each game now starts at 30-all. That's it. Everything else stays exactly the same. Since tennis seems to keep trying to shorten matches in order to maximize tv exposure and grow its fan base, maybe Mark's Thirty30 Tennis is just the solution everyone is looking for?  Mark mentions Dave Miley in our conversation - you can listen to my podcast with Dave here. Mark's call to action for all of us is to give his format a try then report the results and our thoughts on Thirty30 Tennis to him so he can compile the r

As of the taping of this week's podcast, there are 4 former college players in the Top 100 of the ATP and 2 former college players in the Top 100 of the WTA. It begs the question: is college tennis really a pathway to the pros?  In this week's podcast, Todd Widom discusses how juniors should use college as a step in their overall development process. He also talks about the Junior ITF pathway and what a Junior ITF ranking may or may not mean in terms of college recruiting. As always, Todd tells it like it is, no holds barred! He shares his own college tennis experience and how it shaped him in preparation for a professional tennis career. He also shares conversations he's had with college coaches about how they view rankings and ratings. You can find Todd online at www.twtennis.com. Thank you to STØNE for our music! You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic Thank you to Bill Kallenberg for sharing his photo of John Isner as a Georgia Bulldog. See more of Bill's photography at capturedinactio

With the new recruiting rules announced by the NCAA (click here), making sure your child is properly prepared for the process is crucial to his/her success.  In this week's episode, we talk about how junior players can increase their exposure to college coaches, especially if they are not among the top-ranked players in their recruiting class. We also discuss several recruiting myths that seem to make the rounds among Prospective Student Athletes (PSAs) such as D1 has the best tennis and all other divisions are second-rate or that if your UTR fits within a team's top 6 then you'll automatically be offered a scholarship and play in the lineup. Tarek explains the different ratings and rankings, how college coaches utilize them during recruiting, and what junior players can do to maximize their opportunities during the recruiting process. In addition, Tarek also discusses his collegiate exposure camps and how they are different from college showcases or combines such as the one offered by USTA (click here to rea

Last week I published an article on the new partnerships between Universal Tennis Ratings and the two major coaching certification organizations, USPTA and PTR (click here to read the article). And this week UTR announced another new partnership with Chinese Tennis organization Love Sports. Now, you have the opportunity to hear from UTR's CEO, Mark Leschly, about how UTR works and what's in store for the future. Since there seem to be a lot of misconceptions around UTR and its algorithm, I thought this would be a great chance to clear up some things and give you a peek behind the curtain. Universal Tennis is the company behind UTR powered by Oracle, a revolutionary system that provides a single, unifying language and standard for tennis players across ages, geographies and genders. The company’s vision is to unify tennis for everyone by bringing cutting edge analytics and community based technology to players worldwide independent of level. UTR is a unique, algorithm-based system for tennis that allows anyone

Several months ago, Tennis Parent (and now, Podcaster!), Robert Garrett called and asked me if I would ever consider doing an episode where he could ask questions of a top junior player, parent, and coach. Of course, I said YES, and this week's episode is the outcome of that conversation. Coach Todd Widom, who y'all have heard from many times on ParentingAces, arranged for his young player, Ronnie Hohmann, and Ronnie's parents, Ron and Judy, to come on the podcast so that Robert could ask them pointed questions about how Ronnie progressed from beginner to 2017 Eddie Herr 16s Champion. The Hohmanns were incredibly honest in their responses to Robert's questions, giving all of you some great information as you help your own junior player reach his/her highest potential. Please remember, though, that this is only one family's experience. There are so many pathways through Junior Tennis, and I hope to be able to have more of these types of conversations with families and coaches over the next few months. You will

Sports Made Easy, formerly known as My Game Solutions, is an online community that connects players, instructors, and facilities in real time. With the mobile app you can search for players using any preferred location and find a place to play. Participate in a friendly game or competition to help you improve your overall game.   Parents and junior players can use the app to schedule practice matches which can be reported to UTR directly through the app IF both players agree. Sports Made Easy really does make the whole notion of playing more practice matches so easy!   As a service provider - such as coach, hitting partner, personal trainer, and racquet stringer - you can promote your services on the platform and reach new clientele. As a service provider, get real-time messages and bookings through this innovative app. For more information, please email customer support.   They are also conducting a summer camp with a subsidized rate plan for high performance and beginners. High performance kids will be trai

We rarely get to hear from Tennis Parents outside the US, so I was thrilled when UK Tennis Parent Sharon Gaskin agreed to come on the podcast! Sharon shares her son, Ryan's, entire tennis journey starting with his early junior years and moving to his training at Soto Tennis Academy in Spain, eventually landing in the US to play college tennis. She talks about the difficulty of working with the LTA (the UK equivalent of USTA), deciding to send her son abroad to train in his early teen years, and the challenges of college recruiting as an international PSA. Sharon mentions the relationship her son formed with Sara Borwell (hear my podcast with Sara here) in order to help him navigate the recruiting process. Things haven't gone completely smoothly, as you'll hear Sharon explain, but Ryan seems to be settling into American College Life now that he's into his 2nd semester and that the dual match season is underway. A big thank you to Sharon for taking the time to share her journey with us. Also a big thank you to 

Tami Matheny became a Mental Game Coach in 2008 and started Refuse2LoseCoaching, LLC. She knows the role the intangibles play in career success and longevity and has had experience with working on the mental skills at the collegiate level with tennis, basketball, softball, baseball, volleyball, golf, field hockey, cross country and soccer student-athletes.  Tami believes that while it’s important to work on the physical and technical aspects of sport, the mental side is just as important; mental skills are often the differentiating factor for the most successful athletes. Tami understands that talent can not always overcome a lack of confidence or mental toughness, but a high level of confidence and mental toughness can often overcome a lack of talent. She enjoys interacting and working hands on with coaches, athletes, and teams to make a difference. In addition to working with student-athletes and teams, Tami has written The Confident Athlete: 4 Easy Steps to Build and Maintain Confidence in hopes of providi

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to run into my old friend, Craig Cignarelli, at the BNP Paribas Open last weekend! It's been quite a while since we've chatted, and I knew he had some incredible knowledge to share with all of us. Thankfully, he agreed to sit down with me and talk junior development pathways and how technology is impacting today's up and coming players (and their parents). He also shares some "secrets" that coaches don't necessarily want us Tennis Parents to know, so you don't want to miss this one! In this Bonus Episode, you will hear Craig reference data regarding how many matches juniors should play and how many hours per week they should practice. You can find links to that data here. Craig also references using technology to upload video for coaches to analyze. Our friends at Tenicity can provide that service - click here for more information. Thank you to Craig for the conversation. I look forward to many more insightful episodes with him! You can find Craig on Twitter at @CraigCignar

Sixteen-year-old Ronnie Hohmann, who won the 2017 Eddie Herr 16s, recently had the unique opportunity to train with several players on the ATP tour. Both Ronnie - and his coach, Todd Widom - learned so much from these training sessions beyond just hitting forehands and backhands. All junior players and their coaches can learn a lot from studying how the pros train. With so many pro tournaments across the world, there are typically at least one or two days before the main draw starts where the players are on site and getting used to the courts. Practice sessions - other than for some of the very top players - are usually free to attend and open to the public. Consider taking your junior players to watch and see what it means to train like a pro. Coach Todd Widom made the most of his player's time hitting with the pros and found a way to point out and then incorporate those professional behaviors with the players he trains. Hear more about what he learned and how he's using it in this week's episode.  You can f