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Welcome to Season 15 Episode 42 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week, Lisa Stone talks with Dave Mowrey and George Opelka about how Ion Sport evolved from Ion Court, why the platform is about more than scorekeeping, and how it is helping tennis become a more connected experience from juniors to college and beyond.
Dave Mowrey is Founder and CEO of IONSport and alongtime technology executive and entrepreneur with deep experience in streaming video, sports technology, SaaS and data-driven media.
Today, Dave is bringing that experience in video, data and connected technology to racquet sports through IONSport, the destination for college tennis, while also experiencing the junior tennis journey firsthand as the parent of a competitive junior player.
George Opelka has experienced the tennis-parent journey from a child's first racquet all the way to the ATP Tour. His son, Reilly Opelka, began playing at age four, and George has remained closely involved as his parent and longtime advisor through junior development and professional competition.
George also brings more than 30 years of technology and business leadership, including senior positions with tennis-technology companies SwingVision and IONSport. He brings a candid perspective on supporting a young player's dreams, navigating the pressures and sacrifices of competitive tennis, and keeping both the child and family grounded throughout the journey.
Key Takeaways for Tennis Parents
1. Look beyond the final score. A win or loss tells only part of the story. Match data—such as serve percentage, break points, momentum shifts, and match patterns—can help you understand what your child is actually developing.
2. Help your child interpret matches. Encourage your player to explain what happened in the match, what improved, and what they want to work on next. Learning to reflect is more valuable than simply focusing on whether they won or lost.
3. Treat losses as learning opportunities. A loss can still show progress. Help your child identify specific improvements and communicate them clearly rather than treating the result as the only measure of success.
4. Build better recruiting conversations. College coaches want to see coachability, self-awareness, and growth. A player who can share match data and explain their takeaways demonstrates maturity beyond a win-loss record.
5. Use technology to stay informed—not to add pressure. Live scoring, video, and statistics can help parents follow matches remotely and support development. The goal is to create useful conversations, not to overwhelm your child with constant analysis.
6. Choose tournament experiences that keep kids engaged. Clear schedules, live updates, streaming, and accessible match information can make tournaments less stressful and more enjoyable. A positive event experience can help young players stay motivated in the sport.
For more information on IONSport, contact them at [email protected]. The IONSport App is available for players, parents, coaches and fans on iOS and Google Play.
Instagram: @ionsportapp
X: @ionsportapp
LinkedIn: IONSport
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 41 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this episode, Lisa Stone welcomes longtime tennis leaders Barry Buss and David Fish for a conversation about reimagining junior tennis competition in the United States.
Barry and David unpack the pressures families face on the junior tennis pathway—from constant travel, rankings, and point-chasing to the emotional strain placed on players, parents, and coaches. They make the case for a more sustainable model: one that develops confident, resilient young people alongside stronger competitors.
They introduce Match Zone, an approach to local, affordable competition that combines meaningful match play with education around self-awareness, emotional regulation, parent support, and community. Rather than sending families home with another ranking update, the goal is to give players practical skills they can carry into their next match—and beyond tennis.
Tennis Parent Takeaways
It’s a thoughtful, big-picture conversation about making competitive tennis healthier, more accessible, and more developmentally meaningful for families.
Connect with Barry and Dave
To learn more about Barry Buss, Match Zone, and upcoming events designed to create healthier, more developmental competition for junior players, visit https://barrybuss.substack.com/ and follow Match Zone on social media.
David Fish welcomes questions from parents, coaches, and community organizers interested in building more accessible, community-based tennis opportunities. Reach David at [email protected].
Be sure to check out Barry and David’s articles for a deeper look at the ideas behind Match Zone and their vision for the future of American player development.Connect with Lisa
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consultations to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through the ParentingAces shop.
If you’re so inclined, please share this—and all our episodes—with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app.
Be sure to check out our logoed merchandise, as well as our à la carte personal consultations, in our online shop.
Credits
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNEAudio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 40 of the ParentingAces Podcast!Most families misunderstand what college tennis actually demands, and that misunderstanding can cost a player the right opportunity.
Eric Dobsha pulls back the curtain on the reality of high-level Division I tennis, why international recruiting is not a new problem, and how parents can make smarter college choices for their children.
Eric is the owner of Dobsha Tennis, a private academy in Tampa, Florida, known for developing junior players into college-ready competitors. His background as a player, coach, and academy owner gives him a rare, no-nonsense perspective on what junior tennis families need to know before they chase the dream.
From growing up in Titusville, Florida, and hitting against a fence to playing for the Florida Gators, Eric shares the path that shaped his coaching philosophy and the mindset that defines true high performance. He explains why intent matters as much as UTR, why some players thrive in elite environments while others need a different fit, and how the best junior players are often the ones willing to do the work no one else wants to do.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Tennis Parent Takeaways
Eric also breaks down the culture shock many juniors face when they arrive on campus, including the physical grind, mental pressure, and gap between junior tennis effort and college tennis expectations. If your family is weighing college recruiting, wondering about Division I tennis, or trying to understand what high performance really means, this conversation is essential listening.
Learn more about Eric and his academy at https://www.dobshatennis.com/. Also, be sure to follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ericdobshatennis/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TeamDobsha/.
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 39 of the ParentingAces Podcast! Tennis should build confident kids, not exhausted robots. Adriana Dino shares the coaching philosophy that helps young players grow into thinkers, leaders, and lifelong fans of the game—while showing parents exactly when to step back and when to lean in.
Born and raised in Romania, Adriana started with a wooden racket, a straight-talking father, and a coach who changed her life. After playing, studying physical education, and coaching for nearly 20 years in the United States, she brings a rare perspective to the parent-coach-player triangle that drives junior tennis.
Tennis Parent Takeaways
Lisa and Adriana also break down the mental side of junior competition, including what to do after a bad call, how to reset between points, and why tournaments are one of the best classrooms for resilience. Adriana’s approach is simple but powerful: coach the person first, develop the player second, and keep the love for tennis intact for life.
She also shares the unforgettable influence of playing Monica Niculescu as a 14-year-old in Bucharest, and why exposure to higher-level tennis can shape a junior’s mindset long before they’re ready for the professional circuit.
This episode is essential listening for tennis parents, junior players, and coaches who want more than wins—they want growth, confidence, and a healthier relationship with the sport.
Adriana is based in the DC area and coaches players from beginner to advanced, with a focus on bringing out the best in each athlete as a human being first.
Connect with Coach Adriana
To get more information on Coach Adriana, visit her website at www.adrianadinutennisacademy.com. You can email her directly at [email protected]. Be sure to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
Connect with Lisa
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consultations to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through the ParentingAces shop.
If you’re so inclined, please share this—and all our episodes—with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app.
Be sure to check out our logoed merchandise, as well as our à la carte personal consultations, in our online shop.
Credits
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 38 of the ParentingAces Podcast!
What if the biggest mistake in college tennis recruiting is treating tournament results like player development? Lisa Stone and tennis parent Jennifer Faulkner unpack the hard lesson every tennis family needs to hear: UTR, rankings, and constant travel are not the same thing as real growth. Jennifer shares the full arc of her family’s tennis journey, from her daughter Melanie’s gymnastics recruiting experience to her son TJ’s path from a late-start tennis player to freshman engineering major and team member at Rose-Hulman. Along the way, she reveals what happened when they lived far from strong tennis training in Austin, Texas, why they were on the road three to four weekends a month, and how they learned the difference between staying busy and actually getting better.
You’ll discover:
Jennifer also explains the thinking behind TennisCourtGuide, the app she built to help families find college tennis programs that fit both academic priorities and athletic goals. Instead of forcing families to start with brand-name schools, TennisCourtGuide uses a smarter, wider funnel approach so parents and athletes can compare options based on the balance that matters most to them.
This conversation is especially valuable if your player is entering high school, you’re trying to make sense of UTR and recruiting timelines, or you’re wondering whether your child’s development plan is actually moving the needle. If you want a clearer, calmer way to approach college tennis, this episode delivers practical guidance, hard-earned perspective, and a powerful reminder that the right fit is about far more than tennis alone.
If you'd like more information on TennisCourtGuide, you can email them at [email protected] or:
https://www.tenniscourtguide.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tenniscourtguide.app&pcampaignid=web_share
https://www.instagram.com/courtguide?stkn=YzhvMTN3em4wcHU%3D&utm_source=qr
https://www.facebook.com/share/1D7o23T6np/?mibextid=wwXIfr
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 37 of the ParentingAces Podcast!
What can stepping into the unknown teach you about life beyond tennis? Lisa Stone and Levi Hecht talk about the courage to do difficult, scary things when you cannot predict the outcome - because the biggest opportunities often begin outside your comfort zone.
Drawing on Levi’s experiences in Brazil and Argentina, the conversation looks beyond competition and technique to a mindset that applies everywhere: taking a chance, embracing uncertainty, and trusting that an unfamiliar path can lead somewhere meaningful. Whether the result is a breakthrough in tennis or a completely different kind of growth, the willingness to begin matters.
Levi shares the lesson he wants to carry into the rest of his life, while Lisa helps connect that insight to the choices athletes and anyone facing a new challenge must make. It is a candid glimpse at how travel, uncertainty, and difficult decisions can shape more than performance.
Key Takeaways for Parents:
If you would like to get more information on Levi's South American training, you can contact his coach, Todd Widom, at [email protected].
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 36 of the ParentingAces Podcast! Former top junior and Division I tennis player Cassandra Torian joins Lisa Stone to discuss how tennis shaped her resilience, independence, and entrepreneurial mindset.
Cassandra also shares the stories behind Ruley AI, a rules-reference tool for racket sports and youth sports, and Volleybird, a subscription box featuring gear and products for tennis, pickleball, paddle, and other sports.
Key Takeaways for Parents
To get more information on Ruley.AI, go to https://ruley.ai/. For more information on Volleybird, go to https://volleybird.shop/. To reach Cassandra, you can email her at [email protected].
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 35 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week, Lisa talks with Amaury Blondet, a tennis parent, entrepreneur, and creator of PathTennis, about the real-world problems that led him to build a platform for competitive tennis families, coaches, academies, and college teams. They dig into the communication gaps, tournament-planning chaos, and lack of alignment that so many junior tennis families face, and how one tool is trying to bring all of it into one place.
In this episode, Lisa and Amaury discuss how PathTennis helps parents, players, and coaches stay aligned on tournament selection, training blocks, rest, injuries, and progress tracking. They also cover why the core search and tracker tools are free, what’s already available for academies and colleges, and how the platform is built to support long-term development, not just rankings.
As a tennis parent himself, Amaury knows firsthand the pain points that junior tennis can inflict on the entire family. "Tennis is very costly. So first, to sign up is free," he shares. There are certain features of the platform that will remain free for life even when premium features are added down the road.
And for the coaches who are concerned about technology trying to take the place of human interaction, Amaury says, "This is not going to replace you as a coach. This is just a tool to help you get organized."
If you are interested in learning more about PathTennis, visit the website at https://pathtennis.com/ or email Amaury directly at [email protected]. Be sure to follow them on social media:
Instagram: instagram.com/pathtennis
Facebook: facebook.com/pathtennis
TikTok: tiktok.com/@pathtennis
YouTube: youtube.com/@pathtennis
X: x.com/pathtennis
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/pathtennis
For academies wanting to learn more:
https://academy.pathtennis.com/
For colleges/universities wanting to learn more:
https://college.pathtennis.com/
As always, Lisa is available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 34 of the ParentingAces Podcast! Coach Todd Widom is back to talk about what's happening in junior tennis development now and comparing it to how he was developed as a young player.
Those of you who have been part of our ParentingAces Community for a while should be very familiar with Todd and his no-holds-barred approach to working with junior players and their families. This week, he and I talk about the latest rash of backdraw withdrawals at the National Hardcourts, how technology is impacting junior tennis development for both players and coaches, and what it takes to build trust in the player-parent-coach triangle.
If you'd like to get in touch with Todd, you can email him at [email protected]. You can also follow then DM him on Instagram at https://instagram.com/toddwidom_tennis.
As always, I am available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
Welcome to Season 15 Episode 33 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week, UK-based coach, Ryan Horgan, joins the pod to talk about the best ways coaches can get young players to listen and integrate the lessons they are trying to teach through a process called Ecological Dynamics.
Ryan started playing tennis around age 9 and always felt he was developmentally behind his peers. He was able to have a strong junior career but was soon sidelined by some neurological issues that caused him to pivot. He loved the game so decided to transition into coaching.
An opportunity came up for Ryan to work on the island of Cyprus where he now works at an academy training upcoming juniors. In the last year, his passion for coaching took a big leap when he discovered Ecological Dynamics and started integrating it into the communications work he was already doing.
If you are interested in reaching out to Ryan, be sure to follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/communicationforcoaches/ - his DMs are always open!
As always, I am available for one-to-one consults to work with you as you find your way through junior tennis and the college recruiting process. You can purchase and book online through our website at https://parentingaces.com/shop/category/consult-with-lisa-stone/.
If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. Please be sure to check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop.
CREDITS
Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE
Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone
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