A Frank Talk

Goal setting makes me mad sometimes, as a coach. It’s beyond infuriating to watch a player with potential to absentmindedly swat at balls during practice, to take a weekend off right before a tournament. To not finish a sprint all the way to the line. It’s also infuriating to listen to big dreams and hopes to become a professional tennis player or a collegiate athlete and then see no determination to complete even the easiest of fitness routines. This isn’t to say that goal setting is bad, or that you should want to be a professional tennis player if you have the talent, or that you should not want to be a collegiate athlete. But from someone who knows what it takes to become a collegiate athlete and a professional tennis player, it is mind-boggling to hear a kid say I want to but then to not follow the advice of Nike and “Just do it.” 

Every coach at Seminole High Performance knows what it takes. It’s easy for me to say I’m probably the “tough love” coach. I’m not the sugar coating type, and I never will be, whether it’s on the court, in the classroom, or in my advising office. Are you meant to be a teacher? No, you aren’t. You are late to every class and are more focused on salary than actually teaching kiddos anything. Are you good enough to play division one tennis? Sure, if you put in at least 4 hours a day of tennis, not one. Are you ever going to be a professional tennis player? Definitely not. You don’t have the DRIVE to be one.

Do you see the trend here? I’m not talking talent. I wasn’t a talented player growing up. What I did have though is determination and work-ethic. I got a B instead of an A on a paper? Tell me what I can do better. I can’t seem to hit my overhead quite right? Let me hit a 100 more (not 10). You told me to go run for thirty minutes? I ran for forty. 

Goal setting is great, but it’s the follow through that is the most important aspect of goal setting. My dad (he’s a tennis coach, and brought me up as a tennis player as well as my brother, who is the bomb-diggity) sat down with me one day and told me that coaching is more than a business—it’s an investment in a child’s future. The worst thing you can do as a coach is to not be honest about what you and that player can accomplish together, and to not invest all of your energy, hope, and passion into every child you teach, reaching for the same goal they are reaching for. My success is your success. That’s why I think it’s funny to hear coaches from different academies talk to parents and their children and say “With my help your kid is going to be number one in the world/number one in Florida/number one in their high school. Just give me a year and X amount of dollars” Really? Apparently these coaches have a magic pill that I was never told about. The ironic part is when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they are nowhere to be seen. When I (or any other SHP coach) talk goals with my players, I never promise anything. Instead, I say, what is it that you want to accomplish? Number one on your high school roster? How are YOU going to get there, and how can I HELP? I’m not ever going to be able to play a match for you. I don’t want you to become me. I want you to become YOU, a BETTER you, and I will share in your success of accomplishing what it is you want. Want to be a collegiate athlete? I’ll tell you what you need to do to accomplish that. If you’re slacking, I’m not going to say “Great shot, keep it up.” I’ll yell at you. I’ll make sure you never come to practice without a mindset to work again. Tough love—it’s because I actually care how you invest your time in this sport. It’s hard enough as a sport on its own; you don’t have to complicate it. 

A while ago I wrote about goal-setting. It’s important, I know. You can’t just be randomly floating around in tennis without at least an inkling of what you want out of it. So sit down with one of your SHP coaches, have a chat, discuss these things. We’ll tell you how to get there, and more importantly, we’ll stand by your side while you do it.