ParentingAces - The Junior Tennis and College Tennis Podcast

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 26 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this week's podcast, we revisit the idea of virtual academic learning and do a deep dive into a program based in the UK called Minerva Virtual Academy.

Fabian Spiess grew up in the world of soccer - or as he calls it, football. After realizing his professional career had reached its end, he wanted a way to give back to other young athletes and found his way to Minerva, a unique virtual school for children ages 11-18.

Fabian works across the entire group of Minerva's offerings (Minerva's Virtual Academy, Minerva Tutors and Minerva Homeschooling) to develop relationships and partnerships with sporting governing bodies, academies and clubs to help deliver an education which is accessible, flexible and manageable for young athletes around their athletic commitments. He also works as a mentor to the student-athletes to help them stay grounded in both their academic and athletic pursuits. Minerva places a huge value on what they term the pastoral well-being of each student, putting the person before the athlete. This approach sets them apart from other online learning systems and helps ensure Minerva students are prepared for whatever faces them after graduation.

For more information on Minerva Virtual Academy, here are some links for you:

Website - https://www.minervavirtual.com/mva-for/sport 

Open Event on the 17th of July - https://www.minervavirtual.com/events/july-17th-sports-open-event?utm_source=Parenting%20Aces&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=OpenEvent

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mva.athletes/

Discovery Call Link - https://calendly.com/minervaforathletes/online-school-discovery-call-for-tennis-players

You can also reach out to Fabian directly via email at [email protected].

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

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Welcome to Season 12 Episode 25 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Todd Widom is back to discuss how junior players can take full advantage of their time away from school to maximize their training.

While we realize many junior tennis players are now opting for virtual school, summertime is still a lighter load, academically speaking, and the perfect time to maximize time working on their game both on and off the court.

In this episode, Todd talks about how players can best use the summer months to get in peak physical shape, peak mental shape, and peak competitive shape. He discusses specific drills he uses with his players as well as some of the shortcomings he and his team of coaches have recently noticed in the players who come work with them in Florida.

To contact Todd or to get information on his training, you can reach him at [email protected]. If you aren’t already, be sure to follow him on Facebook and Instagram as well.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 24 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Tanner Stump is back this week to discuss his upcoming college showcase and why these showcases are so valuable to college-bound junior players.

As you may remember from our previous conversation, Tanner is the former Associate Head Coach of the University of Florida Men's Tennis Team and is now working to help educate and mentor other college coaches. To that end, he has tapped into his extensive network to offer a great opportunity to players ages 13-18 who want to play college tennis.

The inaugural Slamstox College Tennis Showcase at Michigan State University August 1-3, 2023, is open to boys and girls with a cost of $399 ($349 if you sign up before July 1st). Included are college coach panel discussions for both parents and players, singles and doubles match play in a round-robin format, and time between matches for one-on-one conversations with the college coaches themselves.

You may notice the dates coincide perfectly with the start of this year's National Hardcourt tournaments in Kalamazoo and San Diego. That was no accident! Tanner is hoping players will use the showcase as a warmup event to prepare for the summer's biggest junior tournament while giving them a chance to play in front of college coaches in a less pressure-packed environment. You should also know that the showcase is a verified UTR event which means all matches CAN count toward the players' rating although Tanner has offered alternatives to that which you will hear him discuss in the podcast.

Tanner has generously offered the following discounts/bonuses to the ParentingAces community - simply type "ParentingAces" in the "How did you hear about us" section of the registration form:

For more information and to register, be sure to visit the showcase webpage at https://www.slamstox.com/en/event/college-tennis-showcase-michigan/. To reach Tanner directly, email him at [email protected].

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 23 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week's episode continues our recent theme around Tennis Parenting with guest Violet Clark.

Violet is the mother to 3 tennis-playing adult daughters, all of whom started playing the sport at young ages at a local grassroots program in their hometown of Chicago. Each daughter had different levels of commitment to tennis but all pursued their love of the game into college. While the two oldest Clarks played at the club level in college, the youngest, Gabrielle, went on to Emory University where she played the top position in both singles and doubles and won the NCAA DIII Singles Championship not once but twice in her four years in Atlanta.

Throughout her daughters' developmental years, Vi became involved in the sport as a valuable volunteer, starting with the Love to Serve Tennis and Education Foundation and eventually moving into her current role on the National Board of the USTA. She has seen first-hand the value of tennis in helping to shape her daughters into the productive women they are today and wants to give back to the sport that has offered so much to her family.

Vi shares her wisdom and experience with us, reflecting on the things she feels she did well and those where she could've done better. It's an honest glimpse behind the scenes of a committed parent looking to provide her children with opportunities to grow their minds and their bodies while learning life lessons throughout the journey.

For more information on Love to Serve, visit their website at https://ltstennisacademy.us/.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 22 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Argentinian Tennis Parent, Hernan Chousa, is back to discuss his thoughts on being a better sports parent as well as his latest book, PARENTSHIFT.

Being a former top junior and professional player himself, Hernan believed he was the best-equipped person to coach his own sons to tennis success. While things started off just fine, there came a point in their journey that Hernan realized he needed to take a step back in order to salvage what was left of his relationship with his oldest son.

It dawned on Hernan that it wasn't his son who needed to change but himself. He began the long journey of self-reflection that eventually led to the healing of their relationship and speaks very candidly about that journey in this week's episode.

Be sure to follow Hernan on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hernanchousa/?hl=en and Twitter at https://twitter.com/chousahernan. His courses are available for purchase on his website at https://www.hernanchousa.com/.

To purchase Hernan's latest book, PARENTSHIFT: THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO BECOME A SUPER PARENT, go to https://amzn.to/3oEU4SF (Note: ParentingAces may receive a small commission from your purchase).

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 21 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. For this week's pod, Lisa chats with sports parents, Mark and Britt McKinney, about their book, THE DRIVE HOME, and some of the things we can do to be better at this Tennis Parent thing.

Mark and Britt have a daughter who participated in competitive cheerleading and a son who still competes in competitive junior golf. They began to realize they each had a role to play in their children's - and their family's - well-being when it came to extra-curricular pursuits and that they weren't doing things as well as they could. They sought counsel from other sports parents but also from highly-successful coaches and business leaders to improve their own sports parenting skills. As they gathered information, they realized other sports parents could likely benefit from their new-found knowledge so decided to write a book together.

THE DRIVE HOME delves into the common issues all sports parents face when helping their children pursue a passion at an elite level. Mark and Britt use humor and personal anecdotes as they share stories of their own missteps and how they have learned to do better as their children are nearing the end of their junior competitive years.

For more information, follow the McKinneys' Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheDriveHomeYouthAthleteParentDynamic. They also have an interactive Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/225725129487601. To order THE DRIVE HOME, click https://amzn.to/3WDA2o4 (ParentingAces may receive a small commission on your order) - for bulk orders, simply email Mark and Britt at [email protected].

About Mark & Britt:

Mark and Britt have been married for 25 years and have walked the fairways of junior golf tournaments for roughly 10 of those. They are the proud parents to two children, Katie Britt and Ben, reside in the upstate of South Carolina, and are proud members of the roller-coaster community of golf parents. 

Mark is a graduate of Clemson University, works in the software industry, and has a passion for storytelling, laughter, and anything golf.  Mark authored his first book, Faith on a Sticky Note in 2010.

Britt is a lifelong educator with a passion for teaching and writing.  She describes herself as an avid golf mom who gladly gives up vacations to walk the grass fairways instead of sandy beaches.  Britt graduated from Georgia Southern University and also holds degrees from Furman University and Augusta University. 

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 20 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week's guests are two former Division I college tennis coaches - Danielle McNamara (Yale) and Tanner Stump (University of Florida) who have taken their expertise to the private sector and are now working with players and coaches on an individual level to continue to grow and improve the college tennis landscape.

When Danielle reached out to me about tackling the topic of growth over results on the podcast, I couldn't wait to get these two behind the mic! As Danielle wrote, "[Tanner and I] were having this really interesting conversation on our thoughts, experiences and beliefs on the need for players (and parents!!) to focus on the long game (e.g. development) over wins today. It seems like so many parents are putting so much pressure on kids to perform so they can 'make it' to the name brand school rather than the process of improvement. Sounds cliche but something I think the two of us really believe in. And ironically, by focusing on results over development it probably makes it less likely that a player will get to the schools they (and/or their parents) are striving for."

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

To reach Danielle, visit her website at dlmcoaching.com then click the Contact tab at https://www.dlmcoaching.com/contact. She is incredibly responsive and can answer any questions you may have. I also encourage you to sign up for her free e-newsletter for some very helpful tips.

To reach Tanner, visit his website at https://collegetenniscrashcourse.com/. You can also email him at [email protected].

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 19 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with Australian tennis enthusiast, Ric Curnow, about his solution to players ducking matches because of a potential negative impact on their UTR.

Since the dawn of junior tennis ratings and rankings, we've seen players opt out of certain tournaments or matches due to fear of losing to a lower-ranked or lower-rated player. Rather than focusing on the benefits to be gained from playing any and all matches, some coaches, parents, and players only focus on outcomes which doesn't serve anyone well.

Ric saw this happening over and over again with Tennis Australia tournaments and wanted to create a solution that could show players (and parents and coaches!) whether a match would be UTR-positive, UTR-neutral, or UTR-negative based on the ratings of the two players involved and the resulting final score. Tennis Neutral was born!

Players can now input their own UTR and that of their upcoming opponent to:

Ric's hope is this will reduce the stress around the unknowables of the UTR algorithm and reduce the number of withdrawals as a result of that stress. Tennis Neutral is a useful tool for coaches wanting to monitor a player's performance under differing circumstance or setting up training sessions between players at different levels. It’s an aid for any serious player, and especially for any prospective college-level player.

As an added bonus, Ric donates all proceeds from the app's purchase to the Nick Kyrgios Foundation which offers sporting opportunities to underprivileged youth in Australia. It's a great cause and should make purchasing the Tennis Neutral app a no-brainer!

For more information and to get the app, visit the Tennis Neutral website at https://www.tennisneutral.com/index.html. If you have additional questions for Ric, you can reach him via email at [email protected].

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 18 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week Lisa chats with Haitham Eletrabi, co-founder and CEO of Tennibot.

We all know the pain of picking up tons of balls during a lesson or ball machine session. It takes up time and energy that could be better spent working on your game. Tennibot is a company that builds robotic assistants for sports. It won TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin 2017, was a finalist in the Silicon Valley Robotics competition in 2018, and has won multiple awards since, including the 2021 European Product Design Top Design Award and the Wingfield Tennis Innovation Award in 2022.

Haitham is a tennis player himself and has captained many USTA teams that won the local chapters and made it to the state (the last team was in 2022). He also currently serves as a board member for the Auburn (Alabama) USTA league. His passion and love for the game come through loud and clear!

For more information via video on Tennibot, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq4cOcfHK6E. You can also email Haitham at [email protected] and visit the website at https://www.tennibot.com/ for info and ordering details. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 17 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this episode, the ITA's Dave Mullins is back to discuss what's happening in the world of College Tennis and to update us on new and returning initiatives to look forward to.

Dave Mullins is the Managing Director of the ITA. As such he works closely with the Tennis For America (TFA) program as well as other areas of the organization and is an incredible resource for us at ParentingAces. In this week’s episode, Dave updates us on the ITA Summer Circuit, ITA's partnership with the USTA and World Tennis Number (WTN), the joint NCAA Championships later this month, and other upcoming events in the works.

For more information on Tennis for America, go to https://www.tennisforamerica.com. To see the 2023 ITA Summer Circuit schedule, go to https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/championships/summer-circuit/. For more information on the ITA, go to https://www.wearecollegetennis.com. You can reach Dave Mullins directly via email at [email protected].

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices