Parentingaces - The Junior Tennis And College Tennis Podcast

Seventeen year old Trey Hilderbrand and his father, Mark, joined me in the interview room at the US Open to discuss his incredible run at this year's US Open Juniors event. They share details about Trey's tennis development and his plans for the future. We appreciate the support for our podcast. If you are interested in sponsoring one or more episodes, please go to http://parentingaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SponsorshipPackages-Aug-2017.pdf Visit us online at www.parentingaces.com. Email me at lisa@parentingaces.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since I'm not yet at the 2017 US Open, I thought I would throw things back to my last trip to our Home Slam and my conversation with Tennis Parents Extraordinaire: Wayne Bryan (father of Bob & Mike, the Bryan Brothers), Steve Johnson (father of Stevie who passed away earlier this year), and Melanie Rubin (mom of Noah). These three have so much knowledge and great advice to share to those of us coming up behind them. I hope you enjoy hearing from them. I plan on releasing another podcast episode later this week from the 2017 US Open, so please keep an eye out for it. The US Open Juniors tournament is now underway, and the Collegiate Invitational starts Thursday, both of which will provide lots of great content for another podcast! And, for those interested, we are now accepting sponsors for the ParentingAces Podcast. If you'd like to learn more, please visit parentingaces.com/sponsorshippackages-aug-2017/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coach Craig O'Shannessy knew there had to be more to developing players and analyzing matches than simply relying on the opinion of others. He looked to other sports like baseball, basketball, and soccer and found that those sports relied on a unified method of collecting data, analyzing it, then using it to improve performance. The eyes, afterall, don't always tell the whole story! In early 2010, Craig started Brain Game Tennis (click http://www.braingametennis.com to go to his website) so he could share his data with others in the tennis world. As Craig writes on his site, "Tennis looks like a game of pinball, with the ball careening here, there, and everywhere. But it's not. It's actually the exact opposite. Tennis is a game of repeatable patterns in four specific areas - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Study the patterns, learn the winning percentages, and make the game simple. That's what Brain Game Tennis stands for. No more guessing. No more opinions. Just the facts please..." And now Cra

High-performance coach Jim Harp has been around a few years, more than 30 to be exact, and he knows his stuff! He makes it his mission to learn something new every day so he can better coach the junior players under his care. He works with all levels of juniors - from the very beginners to the D-1 college bound and everything in between. In this week's podcast, Jim and I discuss his coaching philosophy as well as his new role as an advisor to TennisMentors.net. He has a lot of wisdom to impart to Tennis Parents and is more than happy to answer your questions if you'd like to reach out to him. You can find him online at HarpTennis.com or via email at Jim@harptennis.com     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Photo courtesy of Bill Kallenberg & Captured In Action What happens when two top juniors get together to form a business while giving back to the sport they both love? TennisMentors.net! I had the opportunity to chat with Trent Bryde and Patrick Kypson the day before their week at Kalamazoo 2017 started. They took some time away from their tournament preparation to talk about their goals as tennis players as well as in business. Trent and Patrick have wisely partnered with Jim Harp of Harp Performance Tennis Academy to market their mentoring service to young players around the US. Jim is an experienced coach based in the Metro Atlanta area and is a huge asset to this blossoming business. The other two mentors on board so far are Gianni Ross and Sam Riffice. They hope to eventually include some female mentors, too.  Through their new venture, these young men hope to meet with and advise those coming up behind them. Whether it's through an online chat, a phone call, or an in-person hitting session, they wil

Professional tennis player, Rubin Statham, chats with Lisa about his life growing up with his twin brother in New Zealand and going through the juniors there then transitioning to a life on the pro tour. A few years into his career, Rubin and his twin, Oliver, noticed that they were spending in excess of $17,000 per year on stringing, almost half of their overall prize money. They decided to find a way to cut their expenses and go into business at the same time. That's how the Pro Stringer Platinum was born! Rubin talks about why every junior player should learn how to string his/her own racquets and the best age to start stringing. Rubin graciously agreed to offer a nice discount to the ParentingAces community, so if you're interested in purchasing one of these fabulous portable stringing machines, go to https://pro-stringer.com/the-pro-stringer-platinum-in-action-limited-time-offer/ and use PROMO CODE "ACES100" to get a $100 discount at checkout. To read more about the Pro Tennis Platinum stringer, check o

The Tour Level Program was born of a vision to bring together tennis experts from around the world and to make the program accessible globally to junior, collegiate and professional tennis players. The program experts' collaborative approach enables you to add to your existing team while maintaining great synergy. Using online platforms such as Skype, they are able to offer a variety of 'off-court' online training with their experts that includes Tennis Fitness, Nutrition, Mental Training, Mindfulness, Skype Yoga and Recovery Strategies - each of them key to being a complete player. They also provide exciting Tour Mentorship opportunities with members of the tennis elite: Guy Fritz, a former touring pro and winner of the prestigious Team USA Developmental Coach of the Year in 2016, will provide ATP Tour Track Mentorship. Angelica Gavaldon, former WTA Tour world no. 30 and Fed Cup Team Captain for Mexico, will provide WTA Tour Track Mentorship. There are also in-person training options including high performan

Sport Psychologist, Dr. Michelle Cleere, talks with us about why training the brain is crucial to the overall junior development process. Her approach to working with young players is to normalize the process and help them understand that they need tools to deal with the ups and downs that naturally happen during a tennis match or during training. If all a child knows how to do is throw a temper tantrum or cry, then they are more likely to give up on the sport. Instead, what if they were able to process and file away their strong emotions so they didn't get in the way of their play? This is the work that Dr. Michelle does with her young charges. She gives them the tools to develop their own mental game plan. You can learn more about Dr. Michelle at https://drmichellecleere.com. Email her at drmichelle@drmichellecleere.com. To purchase her book, Beating the Tennis Demons, go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WFG2AJG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00WFG2AJG&lin

Tim Russell, the head honcho at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), discusses how his organization is working with colleges, coaches, and communities to save and grow college tennis across the US. The ITA has developed a self-assessment tool, the Program Health Index, for college tennis programs to use in order to determine whether their team is "safe" or at risk of being cut. The assessment includes items such as the team GPA, how much community outreach the players do, and how often the college president attends matches. Tim and his staff hope this will help prevent program cuts by helping coaches learn what's important to university administrators. Tim stresses that the ITA is committed to telling the stories of college tennis, not just to the community, but also to college presidents and other decision-makers at the school. It is a tough sell since tennis is a non-revenue sport, but the Program Health Index and other tools are helping the ITA to make its case effectively. Of course, it wouldn't

I will once again be covering the BB&T Atlanta Open, the kick-off men's event to the US Open Series. This year's tournament will be held at Atlantic Station in the heart of Atlanta's Midtown district July 22-30, 2017. For more information on the tournament, go to http://www.bbtatlantaopen.com. At this year's Media Day, I had the opportunity to chat with Young Guns Chris Eubanks and Trent Bryde (who is coached by Viv Chhetri and Will Wright) about their tennis goals and the role tournaments like this one play in their overall development. I also had the chance to talk to Trent's dad, Bruce, not only about Trent but also about the other two Bryde children, Karlee and Kyle, and how he and his wife, Kathi, balance the various interests of their offspring. Be sure to enter the Sol Schwartz #SaveCollegeTennis All-In tournament(s) before the deadlines! For the Atlanta event (July 17-19) go to http://events.universaltennis.com/tournaments/261/. For the Baltimore event (August 12-13) go to http://events.universalt

Two-time Australian Open Champion, Johan Kriek, has been working hard for the past several years to change how we train junior tennis players here in the US. Last year, he moved his academy from Charlotte, NC down to the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, FL in order to maximize the opportunity for young players to train and learn. This summer, Johan is partnering with Ten-Pro Global's Junior Tour to offer the Kriek Cup, an age-group tournament for players age U10 through U16 August 13-19, 2017. Players can register to compete in their own age group PLUS one age group up to maximize the number of matches played with a minimum of 4 matches guaranteed to each player. On-court coaching is allowed during the set breaks. Johan's academy is also offering a special training camp the week prior to the tournament to help players adapt to the clay and to the South Florida heat and humidity. Per the press release from the Johan Kriek Tennis Academy: All highly talented junior tennis players around the

My dear friend, Sol Schwartz, passed away suddenly in March 2016, and a group of us decided to honor his legacy and try to continue his life's work by creating a very special junior tennis tournament. The inaugural tournament was held in Sol's hometown of Baltimore in August of 2016. This year, we are excited to expand the tournament to two cities: Atlanta July 17-19 and Baltimore August 12-13. In this week's podcast, we hear from others affiliated with the tournament as well as from Sol's wife, Ilene. My hope is that you'll feel compelled to sign your junior players up for these tournaments after hearing from them! After all, in what other junior tennis tournament is your child guaranteed 3 matches all for the low cost of $15 per day? A huge thank you to the tournament sponsors: 10sballs.com Holabird Sports The Intensivist Team Kassimir Physical Therapy Match Tennis App Maller Wealth Advisors Solinco Dunlop Tennis Trunk Universal Tennis Rating Universal Tennis Academy Voss Water Melanie Rubin Michael Sellman

Should we parents push our kids to be fiercely competitive? Or should we protect them from the knockouts?  In Part 8 of our conversation, John Falbo is of the opinion that not only should we push our kids to be competitive but it is also OUR RESPONSIBILITY as parents to do so in order for them to be successful in life. As usual, John doesn't mince words, and some may find his opinions offensive, but that's what I love about him! He speaks his mind as someone who has lived through the rigors of junior and college tennis and used those experiences to find success in the business world. You can find John's Facebook video here: https://www.facebook.com/ You can find the article he references here: https://tennisdadblog.wordpress.com To enter the 2017 #theSol Atlanta tournament, click here. To enter the 2017 #theSol Baltimore tournament, click here. To get info on the Match Tennis App, click here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like most of us Tennis Parents, Lindsay Lee Waters (who also happens to be a touring pro) found herself spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with her son's junior tournament scheduling. Between searching for tournaments on TennisLink, UTR, and other sites then choosing which tournaments were appropriate given her son's current level then signing up without missing the deadline then checking every few days to see if her son got in and whether the draws had been posted, Lindsay was overwhelmed. She knew there had to be a better way. So, Lindsay and her husband, Heath, a high-performance junior coach, enlisted the help of some techies to develop an app for that. A few months later, the Match!Tennis app was born. I won't spoil the podcast by laying out all the features of the app in the show notes, but suffice it to say that if your child plays junior tennis, you absolutely have to download it. And, the fact that, as part of the ParentingAces community, you get a 30 day free trial PLUS a 20% discount mak

Dave Mullins comes from an extensive tennis background, both as a player and as a coach. He is originally from Dublin, Ireland, and came to the US to play college tennis. He wound up in the world of college coaching, having a stellar career at the University of Oklahoma as the head women's coach. A couple of years ago, Dave retired from coaching and returned with his wife and two children to Dublin where he is now working at the same club where he grew up playing. He is also devoting a good amount of time to helping families navigate through the tennis development process. In this week's podcast, Dave and I talk about how rising college freshmen, as well as current college players, should be spending their summers. Should they be playing tournaments? Should they take an internship? Should they have a paying job? Should they take time off and relax? Of course, there's not one answer that is best for every player, but Dave backs up his answers with what he's learned in his years as a player and as a coach. He s

The past 12 days at the NCAAs at the University of Georgia have been incredible! The level of tennis and sportsmanship exhibited by the student-athletes, coaches, and fans (well, mostly!) has been superb. I ran into some old friends (including Stanford Super Fan, Cliff Hayashi!) and made some new ones. I even had the opportunity to meet some long-time digital friends in person - including College10s2day's Bobby Knight - what a treat! At this year's Championships, I wanted to give y'all a glimpse at some of the people who make this event so great, so I reached out to some of the players, parents, and behind-the-scenes folks involved. The volunteers from UGA did an incredible job of keeping things running, including squeegeeing courts, manning the gates, and keeping all of us fed and hydrated. I hope those of you on Twitter and Instagram enjoyed my updates there, too! In this week's ParentingAces Podcast, which is a bit longer than usual (sorry!), you will hear from Taylor Davidson, a senior at Stanford; France

PlaySight Head of Sales Racquet Sports, Josh Graves, grew up in tennis. Upon graduating from Northwestern where he played #1 for the men's tennis team, he sought a job. Using the vast store of resources he developed throughout his tennis career, he landed his ideal job: working with a cutting-edge tech company in the tennis arena. PlaySight has really changed since I was first introduced to it at the 2014 NCAA Tennis Championships. The company has created more affordable options for colleges and other facilities that want to bring the latest video, streaming, and stats technology to their users.  Now, PlaySight is situated in 20 of the 32 schools represented at the NCAA Team Championships as well as at the new USTA Lake Nona facility. They also have a presence in several private clubs around the world, including the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The PlaySight folks have also created a great new tournament format called PlayFair using their video replay capabilities as a sort of challenge system (click here for

On July 28, 2015, Tim Siegel received a phone call that tragically changed his life. In this week's ParentingAces podcast, Tim talks about his son, Luke's, golf cart accident and how his family has turned such a horrific event into a foundation dedicated to helping others. Tim grew up in tennis, achieving the highest level as a junior player, college player, and on the pro tour before moving into college coaching at Texas Tech University. He lives with his wife, Jenny, and their children in Lubbock, Texas, now working full-time to care for Luke and to share Luke's story in hopes of raising funds to assist other families that have a child suffering with a traumatic brain injury. FoxTV will air a recently-produced documentary on Luke this summer (air dates listed in image below). The ITA also produced a short video on Luke which you can view at https://www.facebook.com/ITACollegeTennis/videos/vb.44553009422/10154633892519423/?type=2&theater Please take the time to visit the Team Luke Foundation website at h

This week, the world lost a great man, a great supporter of tennis, and the Tennis Parent I aspired to be when Steve Johnson, Sr. passed away. I first met Steve at the NCAA Championships in Athens, GA when he was on a panel for parents and high school-age players who were interested in learning more about college tennis. After the panel discussion, my husband and I spoke with Steve and thanked him for his candor. I never guessed that would be the beginning of a friendship that would find us together at the US Open, Indian Wells, the Easter Bowl, and at a variety of college matches in Southern California. Whenever I traveled to SoCal, I would always let Steve know I was coming to "his coast" in hopes that we would have a chance to meet up and catch up. If he wasn't too busy teaching tennis lessons or spending time with his family, he would make the effort to find a way to come to wherever I was and say hello. The last time was at the Boise State-UC Irvine match just a few weeks ago. I will miss Steve's friends

Adam Van Zee played his college tennis at D3 Wabash College then coached both the men's and women's teams at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. He now works in development at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis while also writing and hosting his own podcast for Division3Tennis.com. In this episode of the ParentingAces podcast, Adam and I discuss the ins and outs of playing a Division 3 sport. We talk about how to finance a D3 education when the NCAA does not allow for athletic scholarships, how the D3 recruiting and application process works, and how PSAs can use the D3 Recruiting Hub to narrow down their list of potential schools.  NOTE: According to the information I was able to find online, PSAs are allowed unlimited official visits to D3 colleges starting the first day of their senior year of high school. However, they are only allowed one official visit per college. In Divisions 1 and 2, PSAs are limited to 5 total unofficial visits. If you have questions about choosing a D3 tennis progr