ParentingAces - The Junior Tennis and College Tennis Podcast

Welcome to Season 12 Episode 6 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Former Head Women's Coach at Yale, Danielle McNamara, returns to dig into choosing the proper tournaments given all the rating/ranking changes.

Last week, we spoke with ITA CEO Tim Russell about the ITA's recently-announced partnership with WTN. Many of you are feeling some confusion about how best to position your junior player(s) to find a college tennis playing opportunity - do you play USTA tournaments, WTN tournaments, ITF tournaments, or does it even matter?

Danielle has recently transitioned into a new role as a consultant to players and parents who are struggling with training, scheduling, and/or recruiting. In this week's episode, she gives some very helpful tips and advice to make the Junior Tennis Journey and College Recruiting go a bit more smoothly.

To reach Danielle, visit her website at dlmcoaching.com then click the Contact tab at https://www.dlmcoaching.com/contact. She is 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.

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 5 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Tim Russell joins us to discuss the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) announcement regarding its relationship with the USTA, ITF, and World Tennis Number (WTN).

For those of you following the various rating systems over the last several months, you know USTA announced it would be using WTN instead of UTR moving forward. We all wondered how this would play out for college tennis recruiting and recently had our questions answered when the ITA announcement was released.

Tim Russell, who is the CEO of the ITA, explains to us why the ITA decided to adopt WTN, what this looks like for college recruiting, and how it fits into the larger developmental landscape. He answers many of the questions our listeners have been asking regarding the impact on junior tournament selection and recruiting efforts, so please tune in and share with anyone considering the college tennis pathway.

For more information on the ITA announcement, go to https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/2023/01/05/wtn-named-official-rating-of-college-tennis/. For information on the ATP/ITA Accelerator Program, go to https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/2023/01/18/atp-and-ita-unite-to-accelerate-professional-development/. If you have additional questions, you can email Tim 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 4 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Our returning guest this week is Coach JY Aubone who takes a deep dive into the difference between "liking" and "loving" tennis and what that can mean for overall junior development.

Those of you who are long-time listeners of our podcast are very familiar with JY and his no-nonsense approach to helping junior players reach their full potential. Whether it's through his virtual coaching services or in-person instruction, JY has a real talent for assessing a player's commitment to doing what it takes to achieve their stated goals. He understands that going all in isn't for every child, and he helps parents understand where they should best allocate their financial and other resources to make the journey an enjoyable one for all involved.

If you have more questions or would like to get in touch with JY, you can reach him via his website, AuboneTennis.com. If you aren’t already, be sure to follow JY on Facebook, Twitter, 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 3 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Our guest this week is Coach Rick Macci who you may know from KING RICHARD as the coach of Venus and Serena Williams.

Rick is a Hall of Fame coach who has been working with tennis athletes since he was 22 years old. Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Sofia Kenin - these are just a few of the players who have worked with Rick over the years.

A self-taught player himself, Rick has developed a coaching style that seems to resonate with players who want to reach their highest potential. He focuses on the process rather than short-term results and feels parents are an important and crucial part of a junior player's tennis journey. Rick sees his role as a tennis coach and also a life coach and understands how to educate parents to be assets to their children throughout the process.

To get in touch with Rick Macci, you can email him at [email protected]. He has also generously shared his phone number for those who would like to chat with him: 561-445-2747. Or visit his website at https://rickmacci.com/. Be sure to follow Rick on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube 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 2 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. Coach Todd Widom is back with us discussing the limitations of talent identification in young athletes.

Governing bodies in junior tennis have traditionally relied on talent ID to determine where to allocate their financial and coaching resources. Players as young as 8 years old would get "tapped" by the organization based on guesses made about their future size, commitment to the sport, and upside potential. As we know, that has led to many mistakes over the years with some children being the Chosen Ones then burning out due to over-playing or injuries and other children being denied coaching and financial resources well before they had a chance to grow into their potential.

In this week's podcast, Todd Widom discusses the limitations of traditional tennis talent identification. He argues that the current system of identifying talent fails to account for the differences between players and their individual journeys. He also explains why tennis players need to be evaluated more holistically and how to create a better system of talent identification.

Todd and I chat about the factors to consider when trying to decide who will "make it" and who won't, and why Talent ID is such an inexact science. We present several different schools of thought and what parents should consider when deciding whether to invest their time and money in expensive coaching and tournament play.

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 the premiere episode of Season 12 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. We are so excited to bring back coach and tennis parenting author, Frank Giampaolo, to discuss his latest book and his thoughts on how we as parents can help our children have a more positive experience as they go on their Junior Tennis Journey.

Frank has been coaching for over 30 years in Southern California and around the world and has worked with top juniors who have gone on to have great college and professional careers. But Frank isn't just a coach; he's also a Tennis Parent who helped his daughter reach her tennis goals. Frank understands what it takes from the parent side to survive and thrive in our sport.

If you're interested in attending one of Frank's workshops or just want to chat with him, you can email him at [email protected]. Frank is also active on social media - just click the link to follow him: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

To receive your FREE copy of Frank's latest book, email [email protected] with FRANK'S BOOK in the subject line.

To purchase Frank's books online, click here (NOTE: ParentingAces may receive a small commission when you order).

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 11, Episode 37, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This is our final episode of Season 11 and what better way to close out the year than by taking a deep dive into the mental side of junior tennis development with Dr. Peter Scales!

Coach Pete Scales, Ph.D. is an internationally known developmental psychologist and expert in positive youth development, a U.S. Professional Tennis Association-certified tennis teaching pro, long-time high school boys and girls tennis coach, mental strength consultant to college tennis teams, award-winning mental game author, and regular mental game columnist for Racquet Sports Industry Magazine.

Coach Pete is the author of the award-winning book, Mental and Emotional Training for Tennis: Compete-Learn-Honor (Coaches Choice, 2019). His latest book is The Compete-Learn-Honor Playbook: Simple Steps to Take Your Mental & Emotional Tennis & Pickleball Game to a New Level.

In this week's podcast, Pete shares with us some simple and very effective ways we as parents and coaches can help our developing players improve their mental skills, gaining those small margins that can make a big difference in overall tennis - and human! - development. He emphasizes the importance of learning, then practicing, rituals and routines to give players the confidence to perform at their highest level.

If you're interested in speaking with Coach Pete, you can reach him via email at [email protected]. He's available for consultations and for virtual mental skills coaching. To purchase his latest book, please use this link to the ParentingAces Amazon Shop: https://amzn.to/3hsRPOj.

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!).

Happy Holidays and we'll see you in January 2023!

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 11, Episode 36, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Todd Widom is back to discuss the challenges of developing junior players indoors versus outdoors.

As you're well aware, there are many paths to success for junior tennis players. Some players grow up in sunny, warm climates where they can train outdoors year 'round. However, there are just as many who grow up in variable climates where indoor tennis is the norm for much of the year. Does one type of training environment offer an advantage over the other?

Coach Todd Widom dives into the ways junior developmental coaches can set up their players to better handle the challenges that indoor training poses. And these challenges aren't only about hitting tennis balls but also about handling weather conditions, tactical adjustments, and mentality. All skills that not only serve these players well on the court but also outside of tennis in the rest of their lives.

To contact Todd or to get 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!).

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 11, Episode 34, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, Lisa chats with Fellow Tennis Parent, Hugo Aguirre.

When you have multiple children playing the same sport, oftentimes you can simply repeat the developmental process with each child. Tennis, however, is different. What works for one child won't necessarily work for the next one, even if they are siblings.

Hugo Aguirre found that out first hand. His older child, a daughter who is now playing college tennis in California, went the more traditional route with her development, working with a variety of coaches in and around Miami throughout her junior tennis journey, playing tournaments locally and elsewhere, and reaching her goal to play college tennis.

Hugo's son, Matteo, however, now age 11, is on a different path. Feeling frustrated by the opportunities available to his son in Miami, Hugo decided to move his family outside the US and try a alternative route. Hugo studied and became a certified coach himself but hired more experienced coaches in a variety of countries to work with his son who has the goal to be the #1 men's player in the world.

After living in Ecuador, Serbia, Hungary, and now, Italy, Hugo feels he has found the right training ground for his son.

The Professione Tennis Academy outside of Florence, Italy, takes a unique approach to junior tennis development, combining technique and tactics with on-court mental training. The philosophy is to get players uncomfortable in practice so they can better handle discomfort during competition. They use a variety of drills to teach these skills which Hugo details in this episode.

For more information on the academy, visit their website at https://www.professionetennis.it/. You can also find them on Instagram at @Professionetennis.

Hugo has offered to connect with any parents who may have questions or want more details about the academy and his family's decision to move outside the US. 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!).

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 11, Episode 34, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, we focus on off-court strength and conditioning with certified coach James Shapiro.

James grew up playing junior tennis then moved into the coaching realm. He realized there was a missing piece when it came to the off-court training for young players - there were fitness coaches out there but very few who knew the ins and outs specific to tennis training. James continued his education, earning two masters degrees, and now works with players of all ages and levels in the Southern California area.

To get more information on James or to contact him, visit his website at https://jameslshapiro.com/. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of 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!).

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

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