A 360* View of College Recruiting and What Parents and Players Need to Know with David Stolle and Stewart Russell of Universal Tennis Academy (UTA)
Episode:#47 Shaun Boyce and Bobby Schindler
In this episode we talk to David Stolle and Stewart Russell of UTA who has been a staple of metro Atlanta tennis for over 25 years. UTA manages multiple locations throughout metro Atlanta, has a history of helping the city of Atlanta with the city facilities as well as helping private clubs grow and improve. David and Stewart walk us through a bit out the college recruiting process but more importantly we learn more about what is necessary to prepare your young player for the recruiting process.
Watch the LIVE replay: https://www.youtube.com/live/rhvXzZeis-A?si=bX5NXsw3yhcQerWU
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Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]
https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾
Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]
https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾
Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]
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Transcript
(upbeat music)
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
Speaker:Every episode is titled, "It Starts With Tennis"
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Speaker:(soft music)
Speaker:- Hey, hey, this is Sehaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,
Speaker:powered by GoTennis!
Speaker:Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta tennis events
Speaker:at LetsGoTennis.com,
Speaker:where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel,
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Speaker:So get yourself an Atlanta tennis monster shirt,
Speaker:or even the Daniil Medvedev LaCoste shoes
Speaker:at 25% off for paid members.
Speaker:In this episode, we talk to David Stolle
Speaker:and Stewart Russell of UTA, Universal Tennis Academy,
Speaker:who has been a staple of Metro Atlanta tennis
Speaker:for over 25 years.
Speaker:UTA manages multiple locations throughout Metro Atlanta,
Speaker:has a history of helping the city of Atlanta
Speaker:with city facilities,
Speaker:as well as helping private clubs grow and improve.
Speaker:David and Stewart walk us through a bit
Speaker:of the college recruiting process,
Speaker:but more importantly, we learn more about
Speaker:what is necessary to prepare your young player
Speaker:for the recruiting process.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:(soft music)
Speaker:- Good morning, this is Shaun Boyce
Speaker:with the Atlanta tennis podcast.
Speaker:We have an exciting morning,
Speaker:we're a few minutes late getting going,
Speaker:'cause that is the nature of what happens with live things.
Speaker:And we don't mind, but I appreciate anybody
Speaker:who's actually paying attention.
Speaker:In this case, today, we bring in Bobby Schindler as usual,
Speaker:but we're in the same room at the same time,
Speaker:which doesn't happen all that often,
Speaker:and we are honored to have David Stolle
Speaker:and Stewart Russell with us today,
Speaker:from Universal tennis academy,
Speaker:and they are gonna talk about all the cool stuff they do,
Speaker:as well as catching us up on some college recruiting information,
Speaker:which is kind of a year-round process
Speaker:from what I can tell.
Speaker:It's not just, not even that,
Speaker:I just say the kind of thing, my child,
Speaker:just turned one year old yesterday,
Speaker:so we're already starting him on the career path,
Speaker:so we're gonna get him going,
Speaker:but I think that's a longer term plan,
Speaker:and we're gonna find out from David and Stuart some ways
Speaker:to get him started,
Speaker:but if you're interested in your kids' plan,
Speaker:you think they're good, checking out their UTR,
Speaker:you start having those questions,
Speaker:and say, "Hey, can we play some college tennis?"
Speaker:We've talked to Billy Pate previously,
Speaker:we've talked to Luke Jensen,
Speaker:we've talked to some others about the college recruiting process
Speaker:about how UTR is used,
Speaker:as well as how our local coaches are integrally,
Speaker:is that integrally?
Speaker:They're integral to the process of getting those kids
Speaker:to be able to play college tennis,
Speaker:and we brought in two of the most competent
Speaker:that we know to have this conversation,
Speaker:so Bobby, good morning,
Speaker:I appreciate you actually being in the same room at the same time.
Speaker:- Good to see everyone,
Speaker:thanks guys for coming out, we appreciate it.
Speaker:- I appreciate it, yeah.
Speaker:- Yeah, thanks, David and Stuart,
Speaker:so we will start, if you don't know David and Stuart,
Speaker:they are UTA, which is Universal Tennis Academy,
Speaker:but they work for Universal Tennis Management,
Speaker:is the management company that handles that.
Speaker:The academy is the on-court presence,
Speaker:correct me if I'm missing anything,
Speaker:I think it's fairly straightforward that way.
Speaker:You guys manage nine facilities currently, is that right?
Speaker:You've had as many as a couple hundred in the area,
Speaker:so you've been around,
Speaker:and since the mid 90s catch me up,
Speaker:David, catch me up on where you started,
Speaker:you bought a property and ran a club,
Speaker:and then took over the world,
Speaker:well took over the Atlanta world from there, right?
Speaker:- We were just trying to make tennis better, so,
Speaker:yeah, so we started back in:Speaker:we worked at a couple of clubs,
Speaker:and then we bought our first facility,
Speaker:d Huchplantation, Marietta in:Speaker:and then in:Speaker:was when the city of Atlanta was needing some help
Speaker:managing their tennis centers.
Speaker:They were estimated to be losing over half a million dollars a year,
Speaker:and when the recession came,
Speaker:they were either gonna have to start shutting down
Speaker:some of those facilities,
Speaker:or they needed somebody to come in and help them with it.
Speaker:So we looked at as an opportunity to one,
Speaker:help the city to grow the sport,
Speaker:three create jobs at a time when people were losing jobs,
Speaker:and then from there, we kind of turned it into
Speaker:a management company,
Speaker:where, as you mentioned,
Speaker:we have many locations around the city,
Speaker:and we all enjoy teaching.
Speaker:I mean, that's a part of our lives,
Speaker:and so, yes, there's a management component,
Speaker:but the biggest part of what we do is the teaching
Speaker:from complete beginners, five-year-olds to kids
Speaker:that wanna play in college, to adults, to senior citizens,
Speaker:we kind of run the gamut as far as who we teach,
Speaker:and where we teach.
Speaker:But as far as where I got into the college recruiting side of things,
Speaker:I grew up in Boston, I went to school at University of Virginia,
Speaker:didn't really have somebody help me that much with the process,
Speaker:and when we started our academy down here,
Speaker:several of our original kids had interest in playing in college,
Speaker:and our overall goal is to try to create things
Speaker:that we didn't have kind of as a junior,
Speaker:so college recruiting process was one of those things,
Speaker:and we've learned that if you spend two years,
Speaker:four years, six years, eight years with a family,
Speaker:it's always nice to be able to help them with the process,
Speaker:and then hand them over to a program
Speaker:where you feel like they're gonna continue to grow,
Speaker:as tennis players, but also as people.
Speaker:- And I like that a lot, that's the concept
Speaker:of what's the phrase we use, Bobby, is making tennis,
Speaker:making Atlanta tennis even better than it already is.
Speaker:- Be better.
Speaker:- Be better.
Speaker:That's gonna be our new tagline.
Speaker:- Be better.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- And it's the kind of thing where the podcast is trying to do that,
Speaker:we try to do that with GoTennis,
Speaker:are we actually doing something good for Metro Atlanta tennis?
Speaker:Are we helping somebody rather than just going out
Speaker:teaching, making money?
Speaker:And I feel like, I don't typically work on field,
Speaker:I typically work on numbers, but I feel like UTA
Speaker:is the type of organization that is doing its best
Speaker:to help Atlanta tennis.
Speaker:Is that an easy thing for me to say, Stuart?
Speaker:Is that--
Speaker:We let the customer base at all of our different sites
Speaker:kind of dictate each one's gonna have some different demands
Speaker:or different specialties.
Speaker:So when David spoke about whether it's an adult population,
Speaker:that's looking for more, whether it's the juniors
Speaker:that are looking to play college tennis.
Speaker:Came from a background where, when I grew up in,
Speaker:as far as tennis, way back in the day, one of the aspirations
Speaker:that I constantly heard whenever I was in the teaching profession
Speaker:and I'm in play for professional tennis,
Speaker:I wanna play for professional tennis.
Speaker:And the reality is, and I haven't done the numbers,
Speaker:but how many kids that are getting involved in tennis
Speaker:are actually gonna play at that elite level.
Speaker:And finding the pathway is a tricky, tricky
Speaker:because every different customer base,
Speaker:whether it's by where they are demographically or whatnot,
Speaker:is gonna be different needs.
Speaker:So, UTA providing this as a service,
Speaker:some of our facilities, it's not necessarily needed
Speaker:because the focus and there's nothing wrong with it
Speaker:could be more on the recreational players
Speaker:who just, their aspiration would be to play high school tennis.
Speaker:There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Speaker:But what I find intriguing in the entire thing
Speaker:with UTA, especially, is same thing with David,
Speaker:I grew up, actually, I was actually a men's tennis coach
Speaker:at Ronald Collab where I graduated from.
Speaker:I actually had anointed my senior year.
Speaker:And the same kind of an idea, I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker:I was getting thrown out of the tennis court,
Speaker:but I found the passion for that team activity
Speaker:in this individual sport.
Speaker:And I'm finding that more, whether it's kids
Speaker:who wanna play high school tennis, whatever,
Speaker:I've not seen a junior tennis player
Speaker:that hasn't relished in an opportunity to play.
Speaker:They love doubles and they love team events.
Speaker:And we're talking about an individual sport in tennis.
Speaker:So the idea of blending it has been a passion of mine.
Speaker:And I know it is of David's, whether it's
Speaker:on the college side of it, or just in general,
Speaker:the team concept.
Speaker:And having it, whether it's with UTA,
Speaker:I mean, we're a team.
Speaker:We're not just on an island by ourselves as individual pro
Speaker:who's trying to figure out what's the best bang for our buck.
Speaker:It's what does our market or our customer base dictate
Speaker:and therefore can we provide this service to them.
Speaker:And I wanna stick with that team idea
Speaker:and David at some point will get back,
Speaker:I say at some point, the next thing I wanna do
Speaker:is talk about the actual recruiting process
Speaker:because that really didn't exist
Speaker:when I was in high school thinking about going to college.
Speaker:But sticking with Stuart on the idea of the team atmosphere,
Speaker:Bobby and I have worked hard with Joel at T2
Speaker:and we've created a new league focused on that team atmosphere.
Speaker:It's a flex league for the high school kids.
Speaker:And it's not college recruiting.
Speaker:It's, these are kids that don't have a UTR.
Speaker:They don't have a U.S. TA rating.
Speaker:They may just learn how to play tennis
Speaker:and they wanna make the high school team.
Speaker:But I think what they wanna do is they wanna be part
Speaker:of something bigger than themselves.
Speaker:And tennis doesn't always offer that.
Speaker:Tennis offers, I love my favorite story,
Speaker:is the 10 year old with the bag as big as him in the tournament
Speaker:and he walks, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Sean and he's checking for, I love that.
Speaker:I love that about the individual sport
Speaker:and how that creates that bad ass kid.
Speaker:And that's, the team atmosphere is different.
Speaker:It brings that kid into playin' with his friends
Speaker:and having a great time.
Speaker:It's, dude, you're big on promoting the team atmosphere,
Speaker:whether it's high school or college
Speaker:and what that means to tennis.
Speaker:My background's been specifically with team.
Speaker:I have two kids, fairly accomplished.
Speaker:Daughter who played Division II soccer, again, team sport.
Speaker:And I have a son who has never picked up a tennis racket
Speaker:and was a very accomplished,
Speaker:Kenosostate baseball player came through the Juco ranks
Speaker:and then was able to be very accomplished
Speaker:at Division I school in baseball.
Speaker:Again, another team sport.
Speaker:So I basically took that mindset
Speaker:and then me coaching in college.
Speaker:Tennis was more of a team atmosphere.
Speaker:I started years ago, I participated in all the UST
Speaker:functions, his own old competitions that they did.
Speaker:And then one of the ones that stands out to me
Speaker:that I did was the inaugural season
Speaker:of the National Spring Team Championship,
Speaker:which was in Mobile, Alabama, Scott and Lorraine Novak
Speaker:put on a phenomenal event and started,
Speaker:I wanna say,:Speaker:I could be off a little bit the first year in his existence
Speaker:and I started that inaugural season.
Speaker:And that was an opportunity for me to get a feel
Speaker:for the kids coming from the highest level kids,
Speaker:level one tournament.
Speaker:So the highest level kids coming all over the country
Speaker:but was very intriguing about it was the idea of how much
Speaker:those individuals that had inspired to be the top in their,
Speaker:whatever region they participated in,
Speaker:how much they enjoyed the team aspect of an event
Speaker:rather than just going out there
Speaker:and either winning or losing on their own.
Speaker:And it was an event that was near and dear to my heart.
Speaker:I started as my inaugural season
Speaker:and I did it all the way up until the last season,
Speaker:which I participated in just prior to COVID.
Speaker:One goal ball as a coach,
Speaker:which was kind of went out on top, which was great.
Speaker:But I keep in touch with what was great about it is,
Speaker:it's amazing how I kept in touch with so many of the kids
Speaker:that whether it was zoneals or whatnot through the years
Speaker:and it was simply because of the team environment.
Speaker:They had nothing to do with their individual.
Speaker:I wasn't that lightning rod coach.
Speaker:I do have a lot of energy on the court
Speaker:but when these kids come, they all know how to play tennis
Speaker:when you're playing at that level.
Speaker:But it was amazing to actually decompress for a minute
Speaker:and watch them actually lose a tennis match
Speaker:but stay and cheer on their teammates.
Speaker:Just like in any other sport, my son
Speaker:who is a very accomplished baseball player
Speaker:had to sit his first couple of weeks playing
Speaker:at his division one school.
Speaker:What are you gonna do?
Speaker:You can cheer on your teammates or you're gonna sit there and suck.
Speaker:And I found, you know, with tennis on the individual aspect
Speaker:and then you know, he gets his opportunity.
Speaker:If you get your opportunity,
Speaker:you're hoping that you put on a good show in front of the coach
Speaker:that when they do give you an opportunity,
Speaker:not only you but the rest of your teammates
Speaker:who are gonna recognize that you had their back
Speaker:whenever they were doing it.
Speaker:And I think something that's lost in junior tennis circle a lot
Speaker:and I just have a passion for the team aspect of it
Speaker:and blending this idea of this individual sport
Speaker:and make it more of whether it's high school tennis or whatnot,
Speaker:you know, the team aspect of it is just something
Speaker:that's near and dear to my heart.
Speaker:- And Bobby, you see that a lot
Speaker:because you've got a local high school that plays at your facility.
Speaker:It's just an amazing atmosphere even at the high school level
Speaker:that kids yell and then scream and...
Speaker:- It is great in it and it, I think we're in a really transitional time
Speaker:with tennis from the perspective of the old guard,
Speaker:the old 50 year old white guy who grew up,
Speaker:unfortunately, in a more individualistic sport,
Speaker:I like to do it, I came out of baseball.
Speaker:So everything I did was team that tennis was introduced later
Speaker:and I always felt like an outcast
Speaker:because I didn't have come from that mentality.
Speaker:I came from a group of guys and we cheered for each other
Speaker:and I think it's great and I love what you guys are doing
Speaker:and I think we're seeing it a change into the conversations
Speaker:we had with Luke, Jensen, Billy, Pate and I know Austin Smith.
Speaker:Austin Smith, one of the things he talks about
Speaker:not liking the pro-tour was not having teammates.
Speaker:You know, and the frightening numbers
Speaker:of how many of those kids who trained their whole lives
Speaker:to play college tennis then squit altogether.
Speaker:That's 70 to 75% of D1 tennis players never pick up a racket again.
Speaker:And you know, that's not healthy.
Speaker:And I think that the more we can incorporate
Speaker:what you're talking about, this idea that we're going to root for each other.
Speaker:I think we're seeing it on the professional level,
Speaker:the success of the labor cup.
Speaker:I'd like the changes they made to the Davis Cup,
Speaker:making it more of a weak internment, I think.
Speaker:I think those are all things that are going to benefit
Speaker:and it's going to grow the game and we're trying to do
Speaker:with not ignore, just focus on the highest level players.
Speaker:There's a lot of recreational players
Speaker:that are going to help grow this game
Speaker:that are going to play high school tennis
Speaker:and probably not play it collegially again, but that's okay.
Speaker:If they go to college, there's now club teams.
Speaker:It's better than doing what we were doing
Speaker:which was hanging out in bars.
Speaker:So, you know, I think all this stuff that is going on
Speaker:is only going to be a positive,
Speaker:not only for the kids growing up,
Speaker:but for the growing of the game.
Speaker:So, I think that's one of our biggest challenges, though,
Speaker:is it is an individual sport.
Speaker:And we lose a lot of people to basketball, baseball,
Speaker:to all these because they want to be with their friends.
Speaker:I mean, kids want to be social.
Speaker:So, one of our challenges is, you know, how do we make it?
Speaker:You feel like you're part of a team.
Speaker:So, like when we travel to tournaments,
Speaker:you feel like you can warm up with people
Speaker:and you can get to root for people,
Speaker:even though it is an individual tournament.
Speaker:I do think one of the things tennis offers
Speaker:that maybe some of the other sports may not
Speaker:is you get to go to drills and practice
Speaker:with different age groups, different genders.
Speaker:And so, one of the things that we try to focus on,
Speaker:you know, in an academy setting is, you know,
Speaker:the old kids used to be the young kids.
Speaker:And when they were the young kids,
Speaker:you know, the old kids hopefully looked out for them,
Speaker:knew their name, you know, spent some time with them.
Speaker:And you remind those kids, hey, one day,
Speaker:you're gonna be, you know, one of the older leaders here.
Speaker:And this is what's gonna be, you know, expected of you.
Speaker:And, you know, it's funny,
Speaker:'cause when everybody always wants to be playing
Speaker:with somebody better or somebody older.
Speaker:- We have that conversation all the time.
Speaker:- And then we have to remind people, well,
Speaker:there's somebody on the other end of the net
Speaker:that is obviously not thinking the same way you are
Speaker:because they're hitting with your child, you know?
Speaker:So, it's one of those, you know, building the team unity
Speaker:in an academy or drill setting is something
Speaker:that's important, you know, to us.
Speaker:- There are questions, we're talking about
Speaker:the cultural aspects of it as far as,
Speaker:we're seeing it, we're up in Forsyth County
Speaker:where there's gonna be 70 to 80 kids trying out
Speaker:for these high school, it's no longer,
Speaker:we have three tennis players and we're looking for eight warm bodies
Speaker:to have a tennis team.
Speaker:So, there's competition now.
Speaker:And it's gonna be interesting to see how the coach is adapt
Speaker:to it to make and start, because, you know,
Speaker:I hate to say it, it's not,
Speaker:tennis players get away with a lot more than
Speaker:what you'd get away with on a football team
Speaker:or a baseball team.
Speaker:Well, I can't come to practice today, I have this.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- Well, then you're not playing, you know, you're coming.
Speaker:Because it's bigger than you, it's a commitment to a team.
Speaker:And your, I understand you have other things going on
Speaker:in your life, but if you've decided this is something
Speaker:that is important, you can't judge it how it affects you,
Speaker:there's, 'cause there's 12 other people on the,
Speaker:so it'll be interesting to see how tennis transitions,
Speaker:especially in our area as the popularity has gone up
Speaker:so much where it's no longer, hey, I'm gonna make the tennis team.
Speaker:I'm not gonna make the tennis team in South Forsyth
Speaker:at Lambert just by walking out.
Speaker:There's gonna be 40, 50 kids going home,
Speaker:disappointed each year.
Speaker:So it's gonna be on the coach to create that atmosphere
Speaker:and to go to, like you said, when you're the young kid
Speaker:or you're the borderline kid, you better be trying the hardest.
Speaker:You better be picking up the most balls.
Speaker:You better do something that the coach sits there and says,
Speaker:the Rudy for lack of a better word.
Speaker:He might not have the size, he might not have the ability,
Speaker:but if the guy who does have the size
Speaker:and the ability worked as hard as that child,
Speaker:that's how you make a star.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:And that was it, okay.
Speaker:- That was one of the things that, you know,
Speaker:I'm showing up at this National Springteam tournament,
Speaker:tournament, and I consider myself
Speaker:to be more of a tutor than I did a teacher.
Speaker:Kids that were showing up there are the best of the best.
Speaker:Or, already no.
Speaker:I'm not gonna be able to, obviously,
Speaker:have hula hoops out there and make them a better tennis player
Speaker:for that week during set event.
Speaker:But what I am gonna do is gonna create a culture.
Speaker:And what I've just found fascinating is
Speaker:the first year I did it, which was the initial phase,
Speaker:and I learned it was like,
Speaker:how much involvement can I actually have as a coach?
Speaker:And it was a typical kids at that level,
Speaker:what I found where they lost their match
Speaker:and the first thing they did was they left
Speaker:to either have a discussion with their parents or whatnot.
Speaker:And I was like, "Hey, there's one, gonna be one rule
Speaker:"without I'm gonna have you are staying there
Speaker:"until this match is completed,
Speaker:"you are cheering on the rest of your team
Speaker:"because your point counts just as much as Johnny's or whatnot."
Speaker:And me being judged as a coach this week is
Speaker:how our team does, not how you do.
Speaker:And I was fascinated, okay,
Speaker:how many kids still would wanna walk off and be that individual?
Speaker:Like I lost, almost, I'm not gonna say they,
Speaker:the feeling that the professional was,
Speaker:I don't care how my team does,
Speaker:I just care about how I did today,
Speaker:you know, whether it's win or lose.
Speaker:And that was the culture I created.
Speaker:So I wasn't teaching them anything,
Speaker:I was just teaching them,
Speaker:hey, if you were, 'cause all these kids are gonna be
Speaker:a spy in the majority of them, do play college now,
Speaker:at that level at some point,
Speaker:I was like, this is gonna be mandatory for you to do.
Speaker:Your college coach shouldn't be having to tell you this
Speaker:by the time you show up there.
Speaker:It's just the facts.
Speaker:And it was just the same idea is,
Speaker:you have a job to do, regardless of the result
Speaker:that you put on there because David said it earlier,
Speaker:your coach's job is on the line with how the team does,
Speaker:not how you do as an individual.
Speaker:And that's a tough sell for a lot of kids
Speaker:that have grew up in an environment was,
Speaker:I don't care about how anybody else does,
Speaker:I just care about how I do.
Speaker:And so that team, once you create the culture,
Speaker:I had a couple of good friends that actually lived out
Speaker:close, and a mere delet played on the Illinois team,
Speaker:which was probably one of the best college teams
Speaker:I think ever assembled, came out just as,
Speaker:just in passing, he lives out close to, in Windermere,
Speaker:his wife does, or his family does, where without,
Speaker:and he came out and he just hit with our kids one day.
Speaker:And I, near and dear to my heart when he said this to me,
Speaker:he said he goes, the atmosphere out here with your kids
Speaker:is just like what I felt like at Illinois.
Speaker:It was just the culture of the atmosphere.
Speaker:It was like, they're all really genuinely interested
Speaker:in how everyone else in the environment here
Speaker:and I was like, wow, that's the best compliment I can get
Speaker:'cause I'm a team guy, rather than them just worrying about,
Speaker:there's a couple of kids that are kind of falling off
Speaker:that day in practice or whatnot,
Speaker:but the rallying by the other kids to get them
Speaker:and say, hey, we got this, come on, we create,
Speaker:that shouldn't be a coach's job.
Speaker:And that's what I'm talking about in regards to that event.
Speaker:When I did that event, I was like, I'm two to ring kids.
Speaker:I'm not teaching kids anything that they're not gonna need
Speaker:to know at the next level.
Speaker:And I think that's the part of the team concept
Speaker:that I would love more people to embrace,
Speaker:whether it's on high school team or not.
Speaker:- I hit them, sorry.
Speaker:In real me, and if I go too far,
Speaker:but you brought up something,
Speaker:and I think this speaks to your guys' success,
Speaker:is that you as an organization or a team,
Speaker:you are a bigger entity as we spoke of previously
Speaker:that you all wear your hats and are comfortable
Speaker:with the hats that you wear.
Speaker:Even though there's big time coaches,
Speaker:with big time success, everybody does their role
Speaker:and does it well and historically is done so.
Speaker:And I think that starts and it makes it easier
Speaker:to permeate into your academies when the kids see
Speaker:what the example that you guys have set,
Speaker:and the way the success that it is brought to you guys.
Speaker:And I think from, again, the tennis perspective of,
Speaker:you got the pro who's got a hopper in the back of his car,
Speaker:who's going in one facility the next,
Speaker:he's just teaching tennis.
Speaker:He's not teaching the nuances of what is going,
Speaker:you're going to need if you're going to continue to play.
Speaker:- Finding your niche, finding your niche
Speaker:and using the rest of the group, the team,
Speaker:as a resource, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
Speaker:If somebody finds their niche,
Speaker:we started out at the facility,
Speaker:and I'm actually kind of overseeing or was up,
Speaker:and continuing to oversee at James Creek,
Speaker:and we found our niche, it was on the female population
Speaker:of high level players that wanted to aspire
Speaker:to play college tennis.
Speaker:And so that was our niche.
Speaker:Use people's resources, talk to David
Speaker:and then start to develop some relationships with coaches.
Speaker:- And switching gears back, I want to talk about,
Speaker:you say you've got a lot of those kids
Speaker:look into play college tennis.
Speaker:I want to switch back to kind of where we started, David,
Speaker:and say, okay, tell us about the actual recruiting
Speaker:process, because a lot of people have this picture
Speaker:of this cloud of who knows who you call and where does it work.
Speaker:Is there a structure that can be walked through
Speaker:that just says, you do these things and it will work?
Speaker:How does that work?
Speaker:- Yeah, well, first of all, I think everybody's different.
Speaker:Everybody has different goals.
Speaker:So, you know, over the last 25 plus years,
Speaker:we probably sent over 300 kids to play somewhere in college.
Speaker:My job is to kind of help tell their story.
Speaker:So usually working individually with families,
Speaker:it works a lot better because I've got to listen
Speaker:and some kids are really good when they're 10, 12, 13,
Speaker:some don't start till they're 14,
Speaker:some walk in with US News and World Report.
Speaker:That lists the top 100 schools and they're like, David,
Speaker:I don't care how much I have to write a check for.
Speaker:I want my kid to go to the highest rated school on this list
Speaker:and the very next person comes in and goes,
Speaker:"Hey, David, I don't care where my kid goes to school,
Speaker:I just don't want to write a check."
Speaker:And there's no right or wrong.
Speaker:My job is to kind of listen.
Speaker:You know, it's kind of been a blessing over the last 25 years
Speaker:to obviously we've worked with hundreds of schools.
Speaker:My job is to not only tell the kid's story,
Speaker:but also to work from the coach's side as well
Speaker:because it's not trying to get one over on somebody
Speaker:and squeeze somebody in somewhere
Speaker:because if you try that, it might work for a year,
Speaker:but then the kids are not gonna be happy
Speaker:or the school is not gonna be happy.
Speaker:Then they're gonna call me, want to transfer.
Speaker:And then three years later, when you have a kid
Speaker:that might actually be a great fit at a school,
Speaker:the coach is gonna say, is this one for real
Speaker:or are you trying to get this one past me type of thing?
Speaker:So I always tell people that because I want it to be a good fit
Speaker:and sometimes I work just like a guidance counselor.
Speaker:You've got to set up reach schools,
Speaker:realistic schools and safety schools
Speaker:and people typically spend 95% of their time
Speaker:stressing about the reach schools.
Speaker:And oftentimes there's no real reason behind that
Speaker:other than they've seen that team on TV playing football
Speaker:or they see that they're a top 10 school
Speaker:and they just think that's where they need to go.
Speaker:I always say, have you ever been on campus?
Speaker:No, do you know the name of the coach?
Speaker:No, do you know anybody on the team?
Speaker:No, then how do you know you wanna go there?
Speaker:And so part of my job is to help them start the process,
Speaker:try to get them to be open-minded
Speaker:to a lot of different things.
Speaker:I typically like to start with a bigger list of schools
Speaker:so kids might have 25 or 30s schools on their list
Speaker:and then we try to work our way down
Speaker:'cause really you're just trying to marry one.
Speaker:It's not like you're trying to pick five,
Speaker:you're just trying to pick one.
Speaker:So the goal is, you know, you start,
Speaker:I start with a list of questionnaires
Speaker:which just gets families kind of talking
Speaker:because it's not just a kid decision,
Speaker:it's obviously it's a family,
Speaker:it impacts the entire family
Speaker:so you wanna get everybody involved.
Speaker:And questions are, you know,
Speaker:starting to get them think about size of school location,
Speaker:where do they wanna fit in the lineup?
Speaker:Do they wanna go somewhere
Speaker:where they don't have to stress about being in the top six?
Speaker:Do they wanna go somewhere
Speaker:where they just can say they're on the team?
Speaker:That's part of it and then another question is,
Speaker:some people they need athletic money,
Speaker:some people might be able to qualify for academic money,
Speaker:some people might be need-based
Speaker:and then understanding how that works.
Speaker:A coach can help tag an application
Speaker:to help you get through admission,
Speaker:whether you're getting money or you're not
Speaker:'cause there are a lot of schools,
Speaker:you know, your Ivy leagues for example,
Speaker:they don't have athletic scholarship money
Speaker:but coaches do have the ability to, you know,
Speaker:tag your application and, you know, help the requirements,
Speaker:you know, help you to be able to get into the school.
Speaker:So my job, we typically start in their junior year.
Speaker:Sometimes we have people that are a little bit anxious
Speaker:and I always say, listen, if you're losing sleep
Speaker:and you're a freshman or a sophomore,
Speaker:I'm happy to talk to you,
Speaker:but you gotta remember we're talking about college coaches,
Speaker:I'm a coach so I can say this,
Speaker:like some of them don't know where they're gonna be in two years,
Speaker:you know, and a lot of them are working on,
Speaker:you know, next year's class.
Speaker:So even though they got their own list of schools.
Speaker:Exactly, yes they do.
Speaker:Yeah, so even though this is the most important thing to you,
Speaker:it may not necessarily be the most important thing to them
Speaker:and you get one chance to make a first impression.
Speaker:So that's why I tell people,
Speaker:when do you wanna make that first impression?
Speaker:Are you better when you're a first semester sophomore
Speaker:or are you gonna be better when you're a first semester junior?
Speaker:You know, and hopefully they're gonna say first semester junior
Speaker:if not, they should probably take some time off, I guess.
Speaker:So, and I also explain to people,
Speaker:I think there's four parts to be in a good college coach.
Speaker:One, can you teach tennis?
Speaker:Two, can you communicate and can you manage a group of people?
Speaker:Three, can you fundraise for your program?
Speaker:And four, can you recruit?
Speaker:And rarely do you find somebody that excels
Speaker:in all four of those areas.
Speaker:And there are a lot of great places out there
Speaker:where some of the coaches, they may not feel like,
Speaker:their job is on the hot seat.
Speaker:So they may not spend as much time on recruiting.
Speaker:We've had kids that have tried to reach out to certain schools
Speaker:and got no responses after five emails.
Speaker:And I'm, that's right, I'm like, okay,
Speaker:well here's where I step in and I can reach out to the coach
Speaker:and say, listen, you want this person on your team?
Speaker:I'm not sure what you're doing.
Speaker:And, you know, and they'll come back and they'll say,
Speaker:you know, thanks for reaching out, I will follow up.
Speaker:And then, you know, so that's my job is to kind of help
Speaker:create the pathway to make the process easier.
Speaker:- So it is very subjective.
Speaker:So we're not just looking at, okay, here's,
Speaker:fill out this form and it's obvious
Speaker:as to what the next step is.
Speaker:There's a lot of different variables in that
Speaker:within each family.
Speaker:- Yes, for sure.
Speaker:And that's, to me that's the fun part
Speaker:'cause, you know, you talk about teaching tennis.
Speaker:If we were just teaching forehands and backhands,
Speaker:that gets old really fast.
Speaker:So, you know, you're working on trying to figure out
Speaker:how each kid thinks, how they learn, how they process things.
Speaker:And, you know, I might say one thing to you
Speaker:and then I've got to say the same thing to Bobby,
Speaker:but I might have to change the approach.
Speaker:So I think college recruiting is the same way.
Speaker:- Gotcha.
Speaker:And that would morph into, yeah, I know we discussed it,
Speaker:you know, a lot of kids went through this recruiting process.
Speaker:UTR and, you know, UTR, they're just numbering.
Speaker:There's a lot of coaches that do gauge what their interest
Speaker:or their initial interest in a perspective,
Speaker:student athlete, and they might look at their UTR
Speaker:to say, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
Speaker:I mean, what David does, and it has a little bit to do with it.
Speaker:And I'm not, it's not that I'm downplaying
Speaker:the importance of some recruiting services or whatnot,
Speaker:but we're, you know, David and us at UTR,
Speaker:we're around these kids on a regular basis.
Speaker:And we know a lot more of the subjectivity of the things
Speaker:that we have to consider when recommending someone
Speaker:to a college coach.
Speaker:Right, we're seeing these kids on a regular basis,
Speaker:whether it's a financial, whether it's,
Speaker:how is this coach going to deal with the parents
Speaker:of this child?
Speaker:Because there's a lot of different nuances associated with it,
Speaker:but UTR, in some cases, I totally understand the idea,
Speaker:but I like to tell the story about UTR being
Speaker:more than just a number.
Speaker:And there's still, this fascination is it's going up,
Speaker:it's going down on a 13 on a 12 on a 11,
Speaker:I'm not going to qualify for this school.
Speaker:Let David or I or a couple of us maybe have a discussion
Speaker:with a coach that might not downplay the importance
Speaker:of a UTR from competitive, but understand
Speaker:the other variables associated with you possibly
Speaker:becoming part of their program.
Speaker:And that makes me think of our conversation with Billy
Speaker:Pate and Chase Hodges.
Speaker:And a bunch of conversations, but Billy Pate, specifically,
Speaker:who says, if you're not a, whatever, UTR number,
Speaker:is like, you just not playing for me.
Speaker:And it may not be that--
Speaker:Not objective of a decision.
Speaker:If I've got somebody like UTA in my corner that can say,
Speaker:hey, Billy, I know.
Speaker:He's a 12.5, whatever that is.
Speaker:Is it good to have you on my side to be able to call Billy?
Speaker:I will use him as just the example,
Speaker:but be able to call that college coach and say,
Speaker:you need to check this kid out.
Speaker:He's good for the team here, all the X factors.
Speaker:And David's going to downplay this,
Speaker:but he doesn't need to be downplaying this.
Speaker:When David's getting phone calls from college coaches,
Speaker:OK, there's a reason they're calling him,
Speaker:and it's more associated with what do you think?
Speaker:Then it is the number idea.
Speaker:And there are coaches that you're absolutely right,
Speaker:that are going to basically say, they're not playing for me.
Speaker:But if David or somebody helped them navigate this kid,
Speaker:he's come to work all day.
Speaker:He's going to be the best team player you've ever seen.
Speaker:And he's very careful in how he does it,
Speaker:because he's not going to recommend somebody
Speaker:that he knows is going to come back to bite him,
Speaker:and he said this earlier.
Speaker:He's not going to recommend somebody that in a couple of years
Speaker:is going to be like, what were you thinking
Speaker:by recommending this kid?
Speaker:But there are times where there's going to be some tough fits.
Speaker:I mean, one that came to mind was probably 15 years ago.
Speaker:I told the coach, he said, this girl is going to come in
Speaker:and play number one for you.
Speaker:I said, she's going to be a pain year rear.
Speaker:She might not get along with the other girls,
Speaker:but she's going to win you a lot of matches.
Speaker:And she stayed there for two years and did exactly that.
Speaker:She called.
Speaker:She said, I'm ready to transfer.
Speaker:Coach called me after that and said, I just want you to know.
Speaker:You told me exactly what I was going to get.
Speaker:And I got it.
Speaker:And I was willing to take the chance.
Speaker:So that was good.
Speaker:But getting back to your Billy Pate story, you know,
Speaker:certain schools, they might have a baseline
Speaker:as far as what they're looking for.
Speaker:It worked.
Speaker:UTR is a starting point.
Speaker:Get me close.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But I would turn around and I would go to Billy.
Speaker:And I'd say, all right, those kids are 12, 5,
Speaker:and you're looking for a 13.
Speaker:I'd go, how good a coach are you?
Speaker:He's going to be even better, so.
Speaker:Or if you could--
Speaker:Because I'm going to be able to say,
Speaker:I've watched this kid for the last eight years.
Speaker:I know what this kid has in the tank.
Speaker:I know where he's heading.
Speaker:And that goes back to the telling of the story of the kid.
Speaker:And you know, UTR is just a--
Speaker:it's a number, like we said.
Speaker:But I always tell families.
Speaker:I said, you know, think of it this way.
Speaker:A coach has got eight to 14 spots of picking people.
Speaker:They get to hang out with for 20 hours plus a week,
Speaker:plus weekend trips for four to five years.
Speaker:I go, do you think they're going to go based on a number?
Speaker:I go, is that how you do it at work?
Speaker:I go, you know, there's also a personality.
Speaker:Better be like them with it.
Speaker:You need to be-- yeah.
Speaker:Likeable to their program, right?
Speaker:Likeable to their culture.
Speaker:And I think that that's a part of it.
Speaker:One of the things that comes up to families will be like,
Speaker:oh, this school wouldn't be interested because they just
Speaker:take foreigners.
Speaker:And I'm like, well, wait, first of all, I go,
Speaker:that school may be a great fit.
Speaker:I said, most college coaches would tell you.
Speaker:Our job is to get the best team that we can get.
Speaker:I'd love to get Americans.
Speaker:But they may not be at the level that we need to be at.
Speaker:And I had two teammates at Virginia.
Speaker:One guy was from Haiti.
Speaker:One guy was from Mexico.
Speaker:They were two of my favorite guys on the team.
Speaker:Two guys that I could not stand was a guy from Georgia,
Speaker:and a guy from Tennessee.
Speaker:So I would not be discouraged by that at all.
Speaker:I think I've never had a coach say, I'm not interested
Speaker:in Americans.
Speaker:But what they will say is, hey, my job is based on how we do.
Speaker:So I think that being open to learning
Speaker:about different coaches and their philosophies,
Speaker:and really, I can't emphasize enough,
Speaker:and you can start this at any age, just getting on campuses,
Speaker:watching practices, going to see matches.
Speaker:Because stuff you see on the internet,
Speaker:you don't get to see in person.
Speaker:Being able to watch how a coach and a team
Speaker:interact with each other, being able to watch how teammates
Speaker:interact with each other.
Speaker:Yes, it's great to win, but how do they handle themselves
Speaker:when they lose?
Speaker:I was fortunate.
Speaker:I played for a coach who watched me lose a match
Speaker:at Kalamazoo one and one, and he still wanted me on the team.
Speaker:And I said, well, I do want that.
Speaker:He said, well, I saw you were fighting at 5-1 in the second set.
Speaker:You came off the court and could have a conversation with me.
Speaker:I'm not expecting people to win all the time,
Speaker:but I'm expecting people to compete.
Speaker:And maybe that's a bit of it as well, is that work ethic.
Speaker:And I think that's why you've got a lot of non-Americans
Speaker:on the team.
Speaker:And maybe this is a question to ask,
Speaker:and say, OK, I played NAIA.
Speaker:And it was a lot of guys from outside the country,
Speaker:and they worked so hard.
Speaker:And it might have just been because that's what it took.
Speaker:It was that much more important to them
Speaker:to be there at the school playing college tennis
Speaker:than it was for me, because I was just there for my father
Speaker:to pay the bills for four years so I could put a band together.
Speaker:Playing tennis was fun.
Speaker:I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a life-changing concept
Speaker:where some of these kids, maybe in the Atlanta area,
Speaker:they're a little spoiled, Bobby.
Speaker:I think you've made a comment of that to say,
Speaker:they don't really need it.
Speaker:There's that work ethic, isn't there?
Speaker:I think it's cultural.
Speaker:And I don't say that for-- I said the sport itself, first of all,
Speaker:because it's not a team sport, because,
Speaker:better or worse, your parent is playing a very big role
Speaker:in the situation and the indoctrination
Speaker:from where your parent comes from.
Speaker:There's so many things that we can't control.
Speaker:Again, what I hear and what I love and what they do
Speaker:is what we're trying to do is try to break down the walls
Speaker:and some of the things that get in the way of tennis is success.
Speaker:And part of what they do, because they're so good
Speaker:about being a team within their organization,
Speaker:where in their own hats, they have the ability
Speaker:to offer things that most coaches don't feel
Speaker:they have the expertise, time, whatever reason,
Speaker:because they have other things that they have to do.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:The problem with tennis historically is the coach,
Speaker:if I don't know what I'm doing,
Speaker:I'm too stuck up or too, just called David Stalin,
Speaker:and say, David, help me.
Speaker:I have a great kid.
Speaker:Could you help the family with the process?
Speaker:Now, he can't give the personal endorsement,
Speaker:because he might not know the kid as well,
Speaker:but at least he can be a gateway and start
Speaker:the child in the right process.
Speaker:And I think that, of course, the board of problem with tennis
Speaker:is that we don't communicate enough as coaches to say,
Speaker:hey, this is just because this is not a poor reflection.
Speaker:I don't have the time.
Speaker:How can I find the kid?
Speaker:When I was at Whitecombs, I had a couple good kids.
Speaker:I was like, listen, I can't coach you in here.
Speaker:That doesn't mean I wouldn't love to.
Speaker:Of course, I'd love to coach a kid
Speaker:who's actually a good tennis player.
Speaker:I'm going to send you to winward.
Speaker:Go see the guys at winward.
Speaker:They're close by.
Speaker:They can provide for you what I can't provide.
Speaker:I think that's the responsibility of a quote unquote coach.
Speaker:- Yeah, but take me to probably go on
Speaker:where you're thinking Stuart,
Speaker:which is those recruiting services,
Speaker:which is the system that helps the coach,
Speaker:maybe my coach in high school,
Speaker:doesn't have the time or the energy,
Speaker:or even just the expertise.
Speaker:I mean, so many tennis coaches are convinced these days,
Speaker:they have to wear all the hats.
Speaker:If I'm just working for myself,
Speaker:we've got a lot of those guys here.
Speaker:Really just working for myself.
Speaker:I gotta wear all that.
Speaker:I gotta do everything, or I'm gonna lose this kid,
Speaker:or there's no longer gonna be my client.
Speaker:But I think the families are gonna appreciate
Speaker:going to someone who is an expert in that.
Speaker:And you guys know a lot about those.
Speaker:They're plenty of recruiting services.
Speaker:I can go to the dot-nets out there
Speaker:that kind of help me through that system.
Speaker:I think UTR has all their new magic systems
Speaker:that are supposed to help,
Speaker:and I haven't researched any of that.
Speaker:So I gotta lean on you guys to help me understand
Speaker:those services.
Speaker:- We meet with Chase, a good friend of mine.
Speaker:Chase actually, Ron Oak,
Speaker:Ron Oak Virginia, where I was actually a coach.
Speaker:He was actually, there are two rival country clubs
Speaker:that came in the area,
Speaker:and Chase was actually one of the directors there,
Speaker:Chase Hodges, which is one story short.
Speaker:(laughs)
Speaker:Tennis is a small circle of people,
Speaker:but we had this discussion with them.
Speaker:And it was like, yes, the recruiting service is gonna,
Speaker:getting back to Bobby's point
Speaker:about the recruiting services versus the personal touch
Speaker:and or whether it's UTR.
Speaker:Telling people the story is the end.
Speaker:We talked to Chase about this.
Speaker:Getting back to having somebody as a number,
Speaker:and that being an important idea,
Speaker:not to tell you a whole story,
Speaker:and it doesn't tell the recruiting stories of,
Speaker:what if I told you that the majority of the backdrop matches,
Speaker:this person pulls out.
Speaker:Just don't play,
Speaker:because they don't want it to impact their UTR.
Speaker:And I know Chase eluded to this in the podcast
Speaker:when he did it,
Speaker:it all impacts your UTR.
Speaker:So let's get rid of that.
Speaker:- Let me have some misunderstanding, yeah.
Speaker:- But it's a misunderstanding,
Speaker:but the bottom line is we still have kids and parents
Speaker:allowing that to happen.
Speaker:Even in the USDA circle,
Speaker:you can look back at USC tournaments across the board
Speaker:and look at the backdrop and the consolation matches
Speaker:and how many kids are pulling out.
Speaker:Right, if you're a college coach,
Speaker:then we're able to tell you the story,
Speaker:and but you're able to look and see withdraw, withdraw, withdraw.
Speaker:And unless the kid doesn't injury and that tells me a lot
Speaker:about what I don't want on my team.
Speaker:The kid is not ready to be out there
Speaker:and go back to your point about the foreigners
Speaker:versus Americans, they don't want to play.
Speaker:They want to play matches.
Speaker:And if it's important to a coach
Speaker:that this person just plays matches,
Speaker:regardless of a winner or loss,
Speaker:or how it's going to impact their UTR,
Speaker:that's a character flaw that somebody needs to tell
Speaker:the story to before it bites you in the butt.
Speaker:And that-- - Is that a character flaw
Speaker:or is that a coaching mistake, a parenting mistake?
Speaker:Because it's not the kid usually making that decision, right?
Speaker:- Could be, could be, because we hear the kids,
Speaker:this UTR, they're studying on a daily basis,
Speaker:their UTR number, and it's like,
Speaker:if I play this kid, it's going to go up or down.
Speaker:I don't know if it's the parent,
Speaker:but I tell you right now,
Speaker:it is coach's responsibility.
Speaker:Either to intervene one way or the other,
Speaker:and basically say, okay, we don't do that.
Speaker:We play, okay, unless there's an injury
Speaker:when I just a fine line, we play matches.
Speaker:We don't let, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker:That's something that I think we need to tell the story
Speaker:and do a lot better job of is,
Speaker:when I look at back draw matches,
Speaker:and I say, I'm not playing,
Speaker:but I actually have heard kids say,
Speaker:that's not gonna help my UTR,
Speaker:so therefore I'm playing out.
Speaker:- That's a problem.
Speaker:- I think though the issue is a technology problem.
Speaker:When everybody here was growing up,
Speaker:I learned how good I was, February of the next year
Speaker:when a little book showed up in my house,
Speaker:it told me what I was ranked.
Speaker:- Yeah, that point, I thought about it for about a day,
Speaker:and I was like, oh, it's okay.
Speaker:Oh, it's better than I thought, right?
Speaker:And the next day I went back out to playing, right?
Speaker:So we spent all of our time focusing on getting better,
Speaker:where now with technology,
Speaker:we're human beings, we like control,
Speaker:we like to be able to manipulate things, right?
Speaker:And so we're always trying to figure out the system,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:And so we've gotten away from doing the things
Speaker:that we need to do to get better.
Speaker:So what are you doing to your game to improve?
Speaker:Not what tournament am I not playing?
Speaker:So I can't hurt my rating.
Speaker:You know, I had a girl,
Speaker:she wanted to be top, this was probably 10 years ago,
Speaker:she wanted to be top 15 in the South,
Speaker:and I said, "Grey, I said, how are you gonna do it?"
Speaker:She goes, "I got it all worked out."
Speaker:She's like, "I'm gonna go to Little Rockark
Speaker:and saw Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker:I'm gonna go to Jackson, Mississippi.
Speaker:I'm gonna play these events.
Speaker:The draws will be weaker,
Speaker:I'll pick up more points, and I'll be top 15 in the South."
Speaker:And I looked at her and I said, "Well, that's one way to do it."
Speaker:And I said, "Here's another way."
Speaker:And she looked at me and she'd write something down.
Speaker:I said, "Why don't you start beating people
Speaker:that are top 15 in the South?"
Speaker:And she looked at me like I had three heads,
Speaker:and I walked away and I was like,
Speaker:"That's where I feel like we have a problem,
Speaker:a perception problem."
Speaker:UTR came around a few years later,
Speaker:and from a recruiting side of things,
Speaker:because you notice we haven't talked really anything
Speaker:about USDA rankings.
Speaker:We've been talking about UTR.
Speaker:- Still got to get into Kalamazoo right now.
Speaker:- Right. - Right.
Speaker:- Play the Orange Bowl,
Speaker:and you got to figure out how to do that.
Speaker:You got to manage both, right?
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- But 10 years ago, and I'm talking to a coach in Michigan,
Speaker:I'm saying, "Hey, this kid is eight in Georgia."
Speaker:Well, that translates to 12 in the Midwest,
Speaker:and that translates in the top 30 in Peru,
Speaker:and so you're trying to translate.
Speaker:So the one nice thing about UTR,
Speaker:at least it makes us closer to be able to compare apples to apples,
Speaker:and it's taken the international part of the sport,
Speaker:and it's kind of unified it.
Speaker:So, and even Chase said,
Speaker:it helps me from making a mistake.
Speaker:It doesn't help him make the decision.
Speaker:- Correct.
Speaker:- The number, like Stuart, you said,
Speaker:it's more than just a number,
Speaker:but it doesn't tell the whole story.
Speaker:- Absolutely. - Maybe we just taglined UTR.
Speaker:(laughing)
Speaker:But it was saying,
Speaker:it helped me from making a mistake.
Speaker:It gets me in a better apples to apples,
Speaker:as you said, point of view.
Speaker:- Yes, so from recruiting side of things,
Speaker:it has made it easier,
Speaker:but to my other point, the technology side of things,
Speaker:I've never had anybody say,
Speaker:"Hey, I think my UTR is too high."
Speaker:You know, it's typically--
Speaker:- Mine probably is.
Speaker:- Okay.
Speaker:(laughing)
Speaker:But it's one of those things where,
Speaker:you know, I think kids and parents,
Speaker:you know, I think they're,
Speaker:we're way too into technology,
Speaker:like, and we're getting away from
Speaker:what parts of my game I'm trying to work on.
Speaker:And if I'm working on something,
Speaker:guess what, I might take one or two steps back,
Speaker:but if I'm playing a tournament that weekend,
Speaker:I'm gonna try those things that I'm working on,
Speaker:probably not.
Speaker:I'm gonna go back to what I'm comfortable with
Speaker:'cause I'm worried about the technology
Speaker:that's gonna happen Monday morning, you know?
Speaker:So I feel like that hurts us.
Speaker:- It's one of the reasons we brought up this T2 League,
Speaker:is if I'm not worried about my UTR for a match,
Speaker:what would I do?
Speaker:If I'm not worried about college recruiting for a match,
Speaker:hey, what happened over here?
Speaker:Oh, I certainly worried the whole match
Speaker:'cause I got a, the doubles thing coming up
Speaker:and I stayed at the baseline, I just hit only drop shots.
Speaker:Whatever it is that I get to work on,
Speaker:that we did back, that's what we all say back in the day,
Speaker:right, that we did saying,
Speaker:hey, you know what, I went to work on something.
Speaker:I needed to work on something.
Speaker:We look up and we watch the professionals
Speaker:every once in a while,
Speaker:and what did Alkaraz lose to that guy?
Speaker:And you go, okay, maybe he was working,
Speaker:that's my first thought is maybe he was working on something.
Speaker:Maybe even those guys do a little bit of that,
Speaker:but also managing schedules, is that part of it?
Speaker:Yeah, that's gotta be part of it, right?
Speaker:Adaptability, adaptability on a match by a match basis
Speaker:at the next level.
Speaker:But look at the success, go back to our point earlier
Speaker:about team atmosphere, the success of someone like,
Speaker:whether it's a John Isner or whether it's a Benchelle now,
Speaker:they were all talking about their college experience.
Speaker:They don't just talk about,
Speaker:and it's so well-rounded in when they speak about it,
Speaker:it almost sounds like that's the highlight of their life.
Speaker:I mean, those people are gonna relish in these team events.
Speaker:I mean, John Isner always talks about his time
Speaker:at University of Georgia, Benchelle is on a regular basis,
Speaker:Brian Shelton, who actually was coached, you know,
Speaker:George Deck, you know, did a fabulous job, I think.
Speaker:Amanda McDowell, who was NCAA single champion,
Speaker:that worked with, went to George Deck,
Speaker:came through our program, whatever.
Speaker:But these people, the well-rounded aspect
Speaker:of those people and their adaptability,
Speaker:I look back and I say, that kid genuinely loved college, right?
Speaker:And not just a success on the pro tour,
Speaker:when I watch Benchelle, that's what, I say a college player.
Speaker:I don't see a professional tennis player right now.
Speaker:I say a college player that's, that worked in,
Speaker:wasn't distraught of a losing in individual match.
Speaker:Might have been working on things, I'm sure,
Speaker:I think he played at one point, it started there at six singles.
Speaker:You know, it worked his way up, high in the lineup.
Speaker:I'm sure we didn't lose the match.
Speaker:Because he was a football player, originally.
Speaker:Yeah, that's why the reason is why he's probably not burned out,
Speaker:but exactly.
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:Just that atmosphere of him losing a match,
Speaker:but feeling like his team was still successful,
Speaker:I think it's just huge for kids.
Speaker:So whether it's playing high school tennis,
Speaker:I have never once had a kid,
Speaker:and I know there were coaches out there
Speaker:who say, don't play high school tennis.
Speaker:Coach has no one to talk about.
Speaker:I've never once done it, because I understand the atmosphere
Speaker:that's it, right?
Speaker:So more important than worrying about the math teacher
Speaker:giving your player bad advice.
Speaker:Nobody's screwing up their forehand.
Speaker:Majority of the high level players
Speaker:are going to be the best player on the high school team.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Well, you got a job to do, bring up the rest of the group.
Speaker:Right, right?
Speaker:That's your job.
Speaker:And that was a tough thing we had growing up.
Speaker:And I pointed you, David, just because you talked about the back in the day
Speaker:and how we used to find out what our ranking was,
Speaker:that we physically wrote down our scores, trying to remember them, right?
Speaker:But then when you look at the high school time frame,
Speaker:I played high school tennis with Jason Steele,
Speaker:who's one of the coaches in the four-cyth area that's helping us.
Speaker:Yeah, that's helping us.
Speaker:We played a high school on the same team at the same time,
Speaker:but we didn't practice with the team.
Speaker:Because the rest of the team, I was recruiting off the chess team.
Speaker:It was like, guys, all right, you're tall here.
Speaker:Stand here and whack the ball when it comes to you.
Speaker:But we don't have that problem anymore
Speaker:with the numbers in certain counties,
Speaker:where I'm picturing this, though, is the better players.
Speaker:It comes back to that, my kid.
Speaker:I always wanted to play with a better player.
Speaker:We all have a good answer for that.
Speaker:I'm surprised it's still a thing,
Speaker:because all the coaches we talk to have a good answer for that.
Speaker:But the better players, being part of a team,
Speaker:and being able to bring in more than themselves
Speaker:and see that larger picture for themselves,
Speaker:is more than just the UTR.
Speaker:It's more than just even what my coach says, yeah, yeah, he's a good kid.
Speaker:But is he a good teammate?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is he somebody that can handle adversity?
Speaker:Is he somebody that can help somebody else handle adversity?
Speaker:Because what's tennis?
Speaker:It's a microcosm of life.
Speaker:And typically, how you handle yourself on tennis court
Speaker:is going to be how you're going to handle situations in life.
Speaker:So we use it as a way of getting to connect with people
Speaker:in the next generation and hopefully be impactful
Speaker:so that the way they handle and learn how to handle adversity
Speaker:will take that with them for the rest of their life.
Speaker:Making better people, right?
Speaker:A small sample size of that, we call a story that happened
Speaker:in the second year that was a national spring team championship.
Speaker:They awarded gold medals to each participant on the team.
Speaker:There was a year that there was a second year I was there.
Speaker:There was a team at one.
Speaker:I did not coach this team.
Speaker:There was a team that won and one of the individuals
Speaker:that played in the younger age division did not win one single match.
Speaker:And he still won a gold ball or gold medal.
Speaker:Because he was part of the winning team.
Speaker:He lost every single match doubles and singles.
Speaker:And he still won and there was an uproar from not all.
Speaker:So I cannot believe this individual won a gold medal
Speaker:and didn't win a match.
Speaker:Didn't tell the whole story.
Speaker:The kid was there like he was participating
Speaker:in something bigger than me.
Speaker:It's not like he lost every match and he was wearing it on his chest.
Speaker:He was cheering on the rest of his teammate for the rest of the week.
Speaker:So I was like, and there were actually parents.
Speaker:I believe who were writing in on this story
Speaker:saying that the kid didn't deserve a gold medal.
Speaker:How many out of teams?
Speaker:My point was I almost would refuse to coach if this kid didn't win a gold medal.
Speaker:I would never coach there again because this kid was part of that.
Speaker:And my point is I could not believe there was an uproar
Speaker:that this kid didn't lose much because they don't know what this kid was doing.
Speaker:Now if this kid was running off and sulking and crying
Speaker:because he lost every single match, OK?
Speaker:I mean one thing different probably didn't deserve it.
Speaker:But they let the coach make that decision for that.
Speaker:This kid lost a match and was still cheering on the rest of his team the entire rest of the day.
Speaker:They're not winning a match.
Speaker:I guess what ceremony?
Speaker:He got a gold medal just like everyone else on that team.
Speaker:I go to a base ball reference.
Speaker:I go to a baseball reference.
Speaker:Of course, Bobby, I strike out every time in the world series.
Speaker:My team still wins.
Speaker:Do I not get my right to get your ring?
Speaker:You get a ring.
Speaker:And that's where the team aspect just makes a huge, you know, makes a huge difference.
Speaker:As we always talk about we get these round tables
Speaker:and four more shows.
Speaker:I've already popped up in my mind being by far the oldest at the table.
Speaker:Though I have to do it, I think, by three weeks.
Speaker:I laugh at you guys talking about technology.
Speaker:My idea of technology was, well, I'm so old.
Speaker:We didn't even play tournaments.
Speaker:That, you know, people asked me, what was your ranking?
Speaker:I was like, ranking.
Speaker:I was 20th at my club.
Speaker:I didn't need to go play someplace to lose.
Speaker:I could lose any day of the week.
Speaker:Now, I didn't know that we had great cash, Chris Garner, Randy Vignan,
Speaker:Sven Saluma.
Speaker:I mean, there were some serious players playing the, obviously, were coached by King Van
Speaker:Austria and John Van Astrand, Molly, Molly played a wimble, so, you know, a whole different story.
Speaker:But I didn't need to go anywhere to be humble.
Speaker:I could go out any day of the week and get my butt handed to me.
Speaker:So that's number one.
Speaker:The other thing that I hear and I scream and I always laugh about, obviously, the culture
Speaker:of the sport.
Speaker:And how much responsibility does that come from a higher being?
Speaker:We talk about it.
Speaker:The idea of tennis etiquette.
Speaker:How, that is, the importance of it, his died.
Speaker:And, you know, I get things evolve and it might be old fashioned, but I think there's always
Speaker:something that you should take out of that.
Speaker:And it's just the idea of the respect for the game.
Speaker:I think we, we, we, we laugh it a little bit about what we are on in Atlanta with the idea
Speaker:of the out-of-player.
Speaker:This is a mommy-driven sport.
Speaker:In my opinion, in Atlanta, tennis is mommy-driven.
Speaker:And mommy's played out there, which is great.
Speaker:We have a bunch, you know, unbelievably successful, but how many of them judge their value as a tennis
Speaker:player?
Speaker:You'll ask him, "How'd you do today?"
Speaker:And immediately they give you a one or loss.
Speaker:I didn't ask you whether you want a loss.
Speaker:I asked you, "How'd you do today?"
Speaker:Did this stuff that we're working on in practice come into being, "Well, you know, and knowing,"
Speaker:as David said, "Well, you know they're not going to work on their second top spin serve,
Speaker:because they got to get it in.
Speaker:So they're going to tap it and they're going to wonder why the second return was nailed
Speaker:at them.
Speaker:Like, guys, really, if you want to win, you need two strokes in Atlanta."
Speaker:Don't you want to be a tennis player?
Speaker:That's a whole different discussion we can have.
Speaker:So I think the culture, be it the sport, or being where we are at because of how tennis
Speaker:is evolved here is makes it very challenging.
Speaker:And then the interesting one, as we just talked about, too, as we're seeing more professionals
Speaker:coming out of the college ranks, do you see that changing the dynamic as well?
Speaker:And what, you know, the future holds for tennis because with COVID, there was a fear that
Speaker:men's tennis might go away entirely.
Speaker:But now, all of a sudden, you're seeing more and more kids who have gone to college coming
Speaker:out on the tour and having success.
Speaker:And this is a little bit different.
Speaker:And, you know, is that going to change the way we look at college and the way maybe in
Speaker:this country will make people wake up to the fact that it's not about?
Speaker:I think it bridges, I think it helps bridge the old philosophy, which was the young kid who
Speaker:was becoming an elite tennis player.
Speaker:The first thing on their mind was I want to play professional tennis.
Speaker:I think by seeing this evident with, I don't know the whole story, but I do know what I see
Speaker:doing with my eyes.
Speaker:I think seeing the success of some of these college players to do it, I think there's another,
Speaker:it helps bridge.
Speaker:It's a very viable option.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And I'm not just talking about the division one athlete.
Speaker:I'm talking about whether it's division two, whether it's juke-o, for the right reasons,
Speaker:to be able to, the first thing on a kid's mind, which, near and dear to my heart is to
Speaker:be saying, I aspire to play at the next level.
Speaker:And the next level is not professional tennis.
Speaker:The next level is entertaining, if I can check a box and play collegially.
Speaker:And they're seeing it, and I'm sitting in front of them.
Speaker:And I think that's where it really helpful.
Speaker:And don't you think that's going to help the idea of cultivating the team more?
Speaker:Because now, like you said, when I was growing up with, and I was going to play professional
Speaker:tennis, my coach looked at me and said, look, you're 120 pounds, you're graduating high school,
Speaker:you could probably, with your ability, your effort, we could play D1.
Speaker:You're going to sit out a year.
Speaker:We got to put about 40 pounds on you.
Speaker:I didn't want to sit out a year.
Speaker:I knew I was still going to be five-nine at the end of the day, and I wasn't going to play
Speaker:professional.
Speaker:So growing up in New York, we didn't have the collegiate sport powerhouses that it is down
Speaker:here.
Speaker:So it just wasn't part of my thinking.
Speaker:It wasn't, so I think that's great the way it's going now, that it's becoming, so that should
Speaker:lend itself more to these kids getting exposed to a team environment, hopefully earlier,
Speaker:and maybe getting rid of some of that mommy and daddy influence.
Speaker:I mean, I've never passed judgment, but you look at people who made a foregone, the college
Speaker:route to play professionally, the Corrigal Office of the Koch Office of whatnot.
Speaker:I've never downplayed this, it's very successful in what she's doing.
Speaker:Well, you don't know if she was to go in college, how that might have impacted her professional
Speaker:career.
Speaker:I don't know if it's a financial decision for a lot of people.
Speaker:I don't know if it's more the fact that they just want to be, they want to forego college
Speaker:for whatever the reason.
Speaker:But I think it teaches just so much more that you'll be equipped to deal with the adversity
Speaker:when you're playing professionally.
Speaker:I look at people like when I watch, and I say this to my students all the time, I look
Speaker:at people that are constantly out there and don't look happy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And it's a couple of professional tennis players who stand out when I watch them play.
Speaker:They're constantly looking at their coach's box for assistance, hands on the head and whatnot.
Speaker:Versus kids, the kids, people that have gone through the college, I've been here before.
Speaker:I've done this rather than looking at mom, dad, or so forth on a regular basis for guidance
Speaker:on why are they failing today?
Speaker:You don't see it as much in the college ranks.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I think college is a great bridge, right out of the program.
Speaker:There's a bigger jump from high school tennis to college tennis, and there is from college
Speaker:tennis to pros.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And I think that college tennis won to your point earlier.
Speaker:It gets people out on their own.
Speaker:They're making decisions.
Speaker:They're turning into adults.
Speaker:They're living and getting acclimated by themselves.
Speaker:And that's what they need to do when they're on the tour.
Speaker:So why not be at a place where somebody in many cases are paying you a lot of money to
Speaker:chase a yellow ball, get an education?
Speaker:You're not pushing all your chips into the table, like you would be if you just go straight
Speaker:from juniors to pros.
Speaker:And you're making lifelong friends and you're going to be in an environment that you wouldn't
Speaker:get on the pro tour.
Speaker:So I think you're finding more of those players are enjoying it and they're seeing they're
Speaker:getting a complete experience in a team sport, which is going to help them later.
Speaker:And to our point, we did something with Tim Siegel, former coach of his son, if you're familiar
Speaker:with the story.
Speaker:And to do the event, the amazing part to me was his teammates from Arkansas 40 years ago
Speaker:still come.
Speaker:What do you need us to him?
Speaker:And they all show up and they still are that bond is still there.
Speaker:And you talk, you know, there's no atheists in Foxhole type mentality.
Speaker:All the great parts about the team environment you make friends with a commonality that you've
Speaker:been never met before.
Speaker:And not to laugh about it because it wasn't well-department.
Speaker:You know, thought about, you know, you hear all these kids now with the mental health issues.
Speaker:Couldn't getting growing up, putting it back a little while, getting in that environment
Speaker:where you feel like you have a support system because let's face it, what is Novak have,
Speaker:even though Novak came out, he's got a team.
Speaker:He's got eight guys that travel with him.
Speaker:Number 200 in the world does not have eight people traveling with them, right?
Speaker:They don't have that luxury of having a team.
Speaker:There's very few people at the, even at the elite level that have that team in their box
Speaker:with them, you know, most of them.
Speaker:If you look at who, you know, and how few people make money in tennis, it's a different thing.
Speaker:So how can we do expose this more and make this more of the route that should be taken or
Speaker:looked at seriously because it's going to have my friend and we probably on Andre Janisak,
Speaker:you know, Andre played top level North Carolina.
Speaker:He said, Bobby, tennis, as you said, tennis prepared me for life.
Speaker:I got to hear no a lot.
Speaker:It prepared me for sales.
Speaker:I lost a lot of matches.
Speaker:I lost a lot of points.
Speaker:Well, a lot of people tell me no in the business world too.
Speaker:It comes full circle.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:Back to tennis is a microcosm of life, right?
Speaker:Yes it is.
Speaker:I've got one more thing I want to ask before I ask you guys a king of tennis question.
Speaker:I'll give you each of that because we're running down here.
Speaker:UTA 360.
Speaker:Who wants to give me, you got a short version?
Speaker:You got a 30 second version or a three minute version.
Speaker:You guys got a cool thing that you're helping kids get, it's part of the helping kids get into
Speaker:college thing, right?
Speaker:For kids in our program, basically, we're just, we're looking at tennis and it's now become
Speaker:more than just hitting balls, right?
Speaker:So what we try to do is partner with a various, whether it's an orthopedic sports psychologist,
Speaker:nutritionist, workout person, stretching person.
Speaker:So we just try to connect with experts in the field in the Atlanta area that are able
Speaker:to spend some time doing seminars with our kids and really helping them become fully equipped
Speaker:to be the best player.
Speaker:And as we talked about, it's physical, mental, psychological, how do you handle injuries
Speaker:and things like that.
Speaker:So it's just one way that we just try to do something to be as we first started with.
Speaker:We're trying to create things that we wish we had when we were growing up and if we can
Speaker:make the tennis world better than when we started, then we're doing something right.
Speaker:Not trying to tackle it right, not trying to tackle it all by ourselves.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But go ahead and use in other people's resources, experts in the field to try and create what
Speaker:would be a comprehensive athlete, comprehensive means it's more than just, like what David said,
Speaker:more than hitting forehands back into the big serves.
Speaker:There's nutrition, there's other aspects of it.
Speaker:So not being afraid to say we need help, like Bobby mentioned earlier, and going out and
Speaker:finding some experts in the Atlanta area because they're here, the people that near and
Speaker:dear to their heart, this is their specialty.
Speaker:And not being afraid to say, hey, can you assist us with this because this is not our specialty.
Speaker:And that's the team aspect.
Speaker:Not trying to tackle the law by ourselves, but go ahead and reach out to other people that
Speaker:might be able to help or group, get better and become more comprehensive.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:So to finish up, I've got a King of Tennis question.
Speaker:It's one of my favorite things is I'll let you guys decide.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be college recruiting specifically, but sometimes in this case, I would say, all right,
Speaker:college recruiting, is there anything if you were King of tennis, is there anything you
Speaker:would change?
Speaker:But I'll allow you to zoom out if you want to about anything in tennis.
Speaker:But if you do want to stick with college recruiting specifically, I'm good with that as
Speaker:well.
Speaker:But I'll ask you each individually, I'll start with you Stuart.
Speaker:And I'll say if you were King of tennis, whether it's college recruiting specifically or that
Speaker:pathway or anything in the tennis world, whether it's Atlanta related, is if you were King
Speaker:of tennis, you could just make a decision, snap your fingers, whatever it is.
Speaker:Is there anything you would do or change?
Speaker:I would love to be in whether it's USDA or UTR offices one day with the higher ups,
Speaker:and basically figure out a way to make team, whether it's doubles or whether team events become
Speaker:extremely prevalent for the health and sanity of those that are only playing individual
Speaker:tournaments, singles only, and highlight it.
Speaker:The only way to do it is possibly to get more points for team events, higher level or
Speaker:even doubles events, which I know is a tough sell in an individual sport, but to actually
Speaker:glorify and bring it back the importance of doubles.
Speaker:Doubles and were team events rather than just every weekend, multiple tournaments that
Speaker:are basically singles driven.
Speaker:For a while, I have not found one kid that is used to playing individual singles event
Speaker:ever said to me, I prefer or really like doubles and I love team events.
Speaker:And it's I think it's because of the breath of fresh air.
Speaker:So it came for tennis, I would highlight or glorify more of those events, even if it was
Speaker:on the professional tour, which I know it's not going to sell, whether it's US Open or
Speaker:whatever, find it amazing that they only show the finals of doubles, right?
Speaker:But or whatever it is, whether it's mixed doubles or just that whole concept of bringing
Speaker:that back, bringing that whole concept of glorifying it, whether it's the Davis Cup, whether
Speaker:it's the labor cup, get more involved in those type of team events because I think you'll
Speaker:find that the individuals that are participating find them very relieving as opposed to the
Speaker:constantly battling it each week on having to judge their own results rather than their
Speaker:team results.
Speaker:Good for mental health.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Good for the future of tennis getting into league tennis, talking Atlanta specifically so
Speaker:we need a format and we need an incentivization system.
Speaker:All right, call me next week.
Speaker:I need an answer format incentivization.
Speaker:My King of tennis response is going to be a little bit more geared towards tournaments.
Speaker:I think we should have some tournaments during the course of the year where when the kids
Speaker:sign in, the parents also get to randomly select another player in the draw and they have
Speaker:to go watch that player play as opposed they're watching their own child play.
Speaker:And I think by the end of it, then parents are going to be less stressed because they're
Speaker:going to get to watch somebody else play and hopefully enjoy this board of tennis.
Speaker:Their child is going to be able to tell the parent at the end of the day how their match
Speaker:went and then they can be happy for the rest of the day.
Speaker:So how are you going to incentivize me as the parent to not watch my own child rather
Speaker:than just drawing a rule?
Speaker:Well, I think there's a lot of parents out there that would like to have less stress in
Speaker:their life.
Speaker:So hopefully you'd want to do it.
Speaker:Stress free, tennis free tennis.
Speaker:Stress free tennis.
Speaker:That's exactly right.
Speaker:I'll think of it in other direction which I think this is a great idea.
Speaker:It also allows the parents to have more interaction.
Speaker:I mean, I was telling stories.
Speaker:I played tennis from the time I was 13 and this is what I do for a living.
Speaker:I'm 58.
Speaker:My mother has seen me play tennis one time in my life.
Speaker:She never missed a baseball game.
Speaker:In a baseball game, there was a crowd in a tennis match you're isolated.
Speaker:In New York, you were behind glass.
Speaker:So you were looking down.
Speaker:So the ability to feel like there's a purpose for you to go there and then oh, by the way,
Speaker:look at another child's demeanor and sit there and say, I don't want my child back like
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Or I do want my child to look like that.
Speaker:I think that's one of the best things I've ever heard.
Speaker:I love the absolute.
Speaker:And it goes back to what Stuart was saying and I think it compasses everything, the ability
Speaker:for people to step out of their comfort zone.
Speaker:So important as we talked about.
Speaker:Listen, you're not going to be better until you're comfortable stepping out of your comfort
Speaker:zone.
Speaker:So love it.
Speaker:Very interesting.
Speaker:Same thing with my mother.
Speaker:Her.
Speaker:I'm a mother actually knew everyone on my son's baseball team stats.
Speaker:She knew him by name.
Speaker:She knew how to cheer for him.
Speaker:She knew what their stats were.
Speaker:And not just her grandchild.
Speaker:So that idea is more of that, but again, that's the team aspect.
Speaker:She wasn't better than what I was going to come up with, which is more of that searching
Speaker:for Bobby Fisher thing.
Speaker:We got to stick all the parents in the basement because they're not allowed to be in the room
Speaker:because the parents are awful.
Speaker:And we don't want you around.
Speaker:We'll just have you watch on the screen.
Speaker:Maybe we need more of where the Atlanta tennis open has their air condition sweet and all
Speaker:the parents have to go up there and you have to sit next to the parent that your kid is
Speaker:playing against and you guys have to cheer and figure that out.
Speaker:Well, it would teach the parents to make the whole environment.
Speaker:I mean, I literally heard a story about it.
Speaker:I think we were talking about yesterday where the child wouldn't play another turn because
Speaker:the opponents' parents were yelling at them and the kid walked off the court crying.
Speaker:No, this is that would never happen any place else.
Speaker:You'd get tossed.
Speaker:Why does it happen here?
Speaker:That's a cultural thing that, like you said, I think that's a great way to teach another
Speaker:segment.
Speaker:We just have to jump into the next one.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:David Stoley.
Speaker:Stuart Russell.
Speaker:Bobby Schindler's always.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I really appreciate your time.
Speaker:Yeah, thanks.
Speaker:Thanks for having us.
Speaker:We'll do it again.
Speaker:Thanks, guys.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
Speaker:We want to thank Rejovenate.com for use of the studio and be sure to hit that follow button.
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Speaker:And with that, we're out.
Speaker:See you next time.
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