Parentingaces - The Junior Tennis And College Tennis Podcast

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 8 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week we return to our recent discussions around UTR, WTN, and what that means for junior tennis and college recruiting with guest Chris Lewit.Chris Lewit is a former number one for Cornell and pro-circuit player. He is a high-performance coach, educator, and the author of two best-selling books: The Secrets of Spanish Tennis (2014) The Tennis Technique Bible Chris has coached numerous top 10 nationally-ranked players and is known for his expertise in building the foundations of young prodigies. Chris coaches in NYC and year-round at his high-performance tennis academy in Manchester, Vermont, where players can live and train the Spanish Way full-time or short-term.Chris has studied the various rating systems currently in use and has some very definite thoughts on how players, parents, and coaches should be using them.To listen to the podcast that led to this conversation, visit https://podcas

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 7 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Our guest this week is Martin Vinokur, creator of Tennis Europe, a fantastic summer tennis-travel experience for players age 13-18 (click the ad on our homepage to go to their website).I first met Martin over a decade ago while at the US Open and learned about Tennis Europe. They offer a unique combination of tennis, travel, tournament match play, and quality coaching. Juniors will travel with peers from all over the country in an athletic team atmosphere and meet players from all over the world, making lifelong friends. It is opportunity to expand horizons, learn life lessons and pursue success.If you're still looking for the perfect summer opportunity for your player(s), I encourage you to visit the Tennis Europe website at http://www.tenniseurope.com and click through the various trip options. As a bonus, ParentingAces community members will receive a nice discount off the total cost of the tr

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 6 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Former Head Women's Coach at Yale, Danielle McNamara, returns to dig into choosing the proper tournaments given all the rating/ranking changes.Last week, we spoke with ITA CEO Tim Russell about the ITA's recently-announced partnership with WTN. Many of you are feeling some confusion about how best to position your junior player(s) to find a college tennis playing opportunity - do you play USTA tournaments, WTN tournaments, ITF tournaments, or does it even matter?Danielle has recently transitioned into a new role as a consultant to players and parents who are struggling with training, scheduling, and/or recruiting. In this week's episode, she gives some very helpful tips and advice to make the Junior Tennis Journey and College Recruiting go a bit more smoothly.To reach Danielle, visit her website at dlmcoaching.com then click the Contact tab at https://www.dlmcoaching.com/contact. She is incredibl

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 5 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Tim Russell joins us to discuss the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) announcement regarding its relationship with the USTA, ITF, and World Tennis Number (WTN).For those of you following the various rating systems over the last several months, you know USTA announced it would be using WTN instead of UTR moving forward. We all wondered how this would play out for college tennis recruiting and recently had our questions answered when the ITA announcement was released.Tim Russell, who is the CEO of the ITA, explains to us why the ITA decided to adopt WTN, what this looks like for college recruiting, and how it fits into the larger developmental landscape. He answers many of the questions our listeners have been asking regarding the impact on junior tournament selection and recruiting efforts, so please tune in and share with anyone considering the college tennis pathway.For more

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 4 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Our returning guest this week is Coach JY Aubone who takes a deep dive into the difference between "liking" and "loving" tennis and what that can mean for overall junior development.Those of you who are long-time listeners of our podcast are very familiar with JY and his no-nonsense approach to helping junior players reach their full potential. Whether it's through his virtual coaching services or in-person instruction, JY has a real talent for assessing a player's commitment to doing what it takes to achieve their stated goals. He understands that going all in isn't for every child, and he helps parents understand where they should best allocate their financial and other resources to make the journey an enjoyable one for all involved.If you have more questions or would like to get in touch with JY, you can reach him via his website, AuboneTennis.com. If you aren’t already, be sure to follow JY o

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 3 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Our guest this week is Coach Rick Macci who you may know from KING RICHARD as the coach of Venus and Serena Williams.Rick is a Hall of Fame coach who has been working with tennis athletes since he was 22 years old. Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Sofia Kenin - these are just a few of the players who have worked with Rick over the years.A self-taught player himself, Rick has developed a coaching style that seems to resonate with players who want to reach their highest potential. He focuses on the process rather than short-term results and feels parents are an important and crucial part of a junior player's tennis journey. Rick sees his role as a tennis coach and also a life coach and understands how to educate parents to be assets to their children throughout the process.To get in touch with Rick Macci, you can email him at info@rickmacci.com. He has also generously shared his phone number for thos

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 2 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Coach Todd Widom is back with us discussing the limitations of talent identification in young athletes.Governing bodies in junior tennis have traditionally relied on talent ID to determine where to allocate their financial and coaching resources. Players as young as 8 years old would get "tapped" by the organization based on guesses made about their future size, commitment to the sport, and upside potential. As we know, that has led to many mistakes over the years with some children being the Chosen Ones then burning out due to over-playing or injuries and other children being denied coaching and financial resources well before they had a chance to grow into their potential.In this week's podcast, Todd Widom discusses the limitations of traditional tennis talent identification. He argues that the current system of identifying talent fails to account for the differences between players and their i

Welcome to the premiere episode of Season 12 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. We are so excited to bring back coach and tennis parenting author, Frank Giampaolo, to discuss his latest book and his thoughts on how we as parents can help our children have a more positive experience as they go on their Junior Tennis Journey.Frank has been coaching for over 30 years in Southern California and around the world and has worked with top juniors who have gone on to have great college and professional careers. But Frank isn't just a coach; he's also a Tennis Parent who helped his daughter reach her tennis goals. Frank understands what it takes from the parent side to survive and thrive in our sport.If you're interested in attending one of Frank's workshops or just want to chat with him, you can email him at fgsa@earthlink.net. Frank is also active on social media - just click the link to follow him: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.To receive your FREE copy of Frank's late

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 37, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This is our final episode of Season 11 and what better way to close out the year than by taking a deep dive into the mental side of junior tennis development with Dr. Peter Scales!Coach Pete Scales, Ph.D. is an internationally known developmental psychologist and expert in positive youth development, a U.S. Professional Tennis Association-certified tennis teaching pro, long-time high school boys and girls tennis coach, mental strength consultant to college tennis teams, award-winning mental game author, and regular mental game columnist for Racquet Sports Industry Magazine.Coach Pete is the author of the award-winning book, Mental and Emotional Training for Tennis: Compete-Learn-Honor (Coaches Choice, 2019). His latest book is The Compete-Learn-Honor Playbook: Simple Steps to Take Your Mental & Emotional Tennis & Pickleball Game to a New Level.In this week's podcast, Pete shares with u

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 36, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Todd Widom is back to discuss the challenges of developing junior players indoors versus outdoors.As you're well aware, there are many paths to success for junior tennis players. Some players grow up in sunny, warm climates where they can train outdoors year 'round. However, there are just as many who grow up in variable climates where indoor tennis is the norm for much of the year. Does one type of training environment offer an advantage over the other?Coach Todd Widom dives into the ways junior developmental coaches can set up their players to better handle the challenges that indoor training poses. And these challenges aren't only about hitting tennis balls but also about handling weather conditions, tactical adjustments, and mentality. All skills that not only serve these players well on the court but also outside of tennis in the rest of their lives.To contact Todd or to get in

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 34, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with Fellow Tennis Parent, Hugo Aguirre.When you have multiple children playing the same sport, oftentimes you can simply repeat the developmental process with each child. Tennis, however, is different. What works for one child won't necessarily work for the next one, even if they are siblings.Hugo Aguirre found that out first hand. His older child, a daughter who is now playing college tennis in California, went the more traditional route with her development, working with a variety of coaches in and around Miami throughout her junior tennis journey, playing tournaments locally and elsewhere, and reaching her goal to play college tennis.Hugo's son, Matteo, however, now age 11, is on a different path. Feeling frustrated by the opportunities available to his son in Miami, Hugo decided to move his family outside the US and try a alternative route. Hugo studied and became a

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 34, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, we focus on off-court strength and conditioning with certified coach James Shapiro.James grew up playing junior tennis then moved into the coaching realm. He realized there was a missing piece when it came to the off-court training for young players - there were fitness coaches out there but very few who knew the ins and outs specific to tennis training. James continued his education, earning two masters degrees, and now works with players of all ages and levels in the Southern California area.To get more information on James or to contact him, visit his website at https://jameslshapiro.com/. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.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 your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of Parenti

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 33, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa checks back in with Coach Heath Waters of Match Tennis App about their latest feature upgrades.We all know how challenging it can be to figure out which tournaments your child should be playing. USTA? Universal Tennis? ITF? Pro Circuit? Adult Open? There are so many options and not a lot of guidance of what to play when.Match Tennis App to the rescue! They have built into the app a tournament selection feature based on your child's ranking goals.Heath walks us through the app in the video version of this week's podcast, so we urge you to check that out either on ParentingAces.com or on the ParentingAces YouTube channel. You can also read their most recent blog post at https://web.matchtennisapp.com/how-to-decide-which-tournaments-to-play/ for online tutorials and other useful information.To download Match Tennis App, click here. For more information on the app, click here. To s

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 32, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa has as her guests two coaches who are going against the grain in terms of their approaches to junior tennis development.Todd Widom and JY Aubone grew up training with "old school" coaches who used "old school" methods. Since it served them both so well in terms of their own tennis goals and successes, they both now tap into the knowledge gained from their childhood coaches when working with junior players today.If you've been listening to this podcast a while, you have heard Lisa speak about the importance of having great mentors. Todd and JY are shining examples of what can happen when a coach leans into the wisdom gleaned from those who carved the path before them. As it happens, both of these outstanding coaches worked with some of the same coaches as kids and now look at junior development through the eyes of those men with a modern spin added in for good measure.If you hav

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 31, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa continues her look at life after junior tennis with current college player, Allie McCray.Allie grew up in Marietta, Georgia, the same Atlanta suburb as Lisa's family. Even more coincidentally, Allie trained as a junior player at the same facility where Lisa's son trained for a period of time.As she was entering the recruiting process, Allie was determined to play Division I tennis in the SEC, the athletic conference where she had grown up watching her favorite college sports. Because she had missed a lot of tournaments due to injury, Allie knew she would have to be proactive in reaching out to college coaches to "sell" herself to them as a valuable addition for their teams. Despite doing her recruiting homework, Allie wound up having a less-than-stellar freshman year and decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal. She is getting ready to start her sophomore year in a new town, a

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 30, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week's episode is a follow-up to our recent podcast with Coach Todd Widom discussing the prevalence of international players in Division I tennis. In the previous episode, Todd and Lisa talked about some of the factors contributing to DI college coaches recruiting a majority of their rosters from outside the US. That conversation sparked a lot of comments on the ParentingAces social media channels with Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim including a link to the episode in his weekly newsletter. This week, Todd and Lisa expand on those reasons and dig a little deeper into possible solutions on the part of players, parents, junior coaches, and USTA and NCAA to help turn the tide.We hope you'll continue engaging in discussion around this important topic to help ensure the growth of junior and college tennis in the US and to level the playing field for American juniors when it comes to college

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 29, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with NAIA Men's and Women's Tennis Coach, Chance Joost.You recently heard Lisa and Todd Widom discuss the prevalence of international players in Division I tennis and some ideas to increase the chances for American players to be recruited successfully. But, there's more to college tennis than Division I, and Chance Joost is a clear example of looking beyond DI to play and coach at the college level.Chance and his older brother were accomplished junior tennis players who had opportunities to play at top-ranked DI schools. While his older brother started out at a DI program, both he and Chance finished their college tennis careers at a Division II school closer to their beloved grandfather, winning conference championships and earning All-American status. After college, Chance found himself with coaching opportunities at a variety of schools, eventually choosing a head coac

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 28, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with Ryan Redondo, former top junior and college player, coach, and now Grower of Tennis in his home community of San Diego, California.Lisa and Ryan first met when Ryan recruited Lisa's son to play college tennis for him at University of the Pacific in Northern California. A few years afterward, Ryan left college coaching to return to San Diego to run Barnes Tennis Center, the home of the Billie Jean King Girls 16s and 18s National Hardcourt tournament among others.As you'll hear in this episode, the Redondo family has a storied history in tennis, and Ryan is continuing to build the Redondo legacy via his outreach efforts throughout Southern California and beyond. He works with several non-profits to provide funding and opportunities for children interested in learning tennis and potentially having the chance to be the first in their family to attend college through the

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 27, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this week's episode, Coach Todd Widom joins Lisa to discuss what American junior tennis players need to do to become competitive in the eyes of Division I college coaches.The conversation has been going on for years now - why are there so many international players on US college tennis teams and why aren't college coaches recruiting closer to home? Of course, there are many factors involved - including budget issues, parents, player attitude - but the bottom line seems to be a mix of player development shortfalls and an understanding of what it means to be the best you can be and how to achieve your highest potential.Todd and Lisa discuss the current DI landscape, the current junior coaching landscape, the current parent education landscape, and the current USTA attitude toward college tennis, and what needs to change in order for American juniors to become desirable prospects once again.To

Welcome to Season 11, Episode 26, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this week's episode, Lisa talks with Shelia Townsend, former junior and college player, current coach and Tennis Parent, and the creator of 4 the Love.The mission of 4 the Love is to develop the skills of its clients to the status they strive to achieve - whether it be high school, collegiate or professional. They believe in a holistic approach to coaching and instruction and train players to be a whole and complete athlete. Shelia Townsend has a deep-seated love of tennis, and it has been an integral part of her life. She has played tennis since she was a young girl and eventually earned a scholarship to Lincoln University. Her daughters, Simone and Taylor, followed in her footsteps, with Simone playing college tennis while Taylor went straight from the Juniors to the Pro Tour. Through the experience of coaching her daughters, Shelia knew she wanted to bring holistic coaching to the tennis