ParentingAces - The Junior Tennis and College Tennis Podcast

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 17, of the ParentingAces Podcast! Our conversations around college tennis and COVID-19 continue this week with guest Scott Handback.

Lawrence "Scott" Handback is a junior tennis coach, junior tennis official, and tennis director in North Carolina. He has developed over 70 players who have gone on to play college tennis and understands the unique nature of junior tennis development.

According to Scott, there will be a new equilibrium in college athletics and it will not look anything like what we are used to.

For tennis, there will be big changes coming. Those that continue the collegiate sport will look for new conferences to reduce travel costs or reduce the amount of scholarships offered by the programs. You may see NCAA Division I programs having to do the fundraising that small DII and DIII schools have to do to provide uniforms for players.

As a positive, there will be fewer international players coming to the U.S. to play collegiate tennis. With the current immigration hold and the reduced staffing producing visas for international student-athletes, anyone who does not already have a visa to attend college this fall will not get one for the foreseeable future. This fall season will be a great opportunity for American junior tennis players to have opportunities to play collegiate tennis that they may not have had prior.

Whatever ends up happening, the landscape of college athletics will be significantly different in the future. How quickly those changes occur - only time will tell. What will the long-term impact be? No one knows....yet.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily, please know that ParentingAces is committed to continuing to bring you information and support as it relates to junior tennis and college recruiting. We have created a page on our website specifically dedicated to sharing useful tennis-related resources. You can visit it here.

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 16, of the ParentingAces Podcast. This week's episode is a replay of the Facebook Live chat I had with ITA CEO Tim Russell last week.

In that discussion, Tim and I talked about COVID-19's potential impact on college tennis, what's in store for both entering and returning college tennis players, and what we can all do to help ensure college tennis remains vital and viable for the 2020-21 school year and beyond.

Tim and I plan to have further conversations in a public forum as new information becomes available. In the meantime, please take Tim's advice and follow the ITA, ParentingAces, ZooTennis, and other social media accounts to keep college tennis front and center as some big decisions are being made by the NCAA and others.

To read the article on simultaneous format referenced in our conversation, click here. For a follow-up piece, click here. To read the article that triggered our conversation, click here. For Tim's response to that article, click here.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily, please know that ParentingAces is committed to continuing to bring you information and support as it relates to junior tennis and college recruiting. We have created a page on our website specifically dedicated to sharing useful tennis-related resources. You can visit it here.

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 15, of the ParentingAces Podcast. In this week's episode, my guest, sports journalist Cecil Harris, shares some Tennis History with us in conjunction with the release of his new book, DIFFERENT STROKES: SERENA, VENUS, AND THE UNFINISHED BLACK TENNIS REVOLUTION.

Why should you care about tennis history? Well, as Cecil explains very eloquently in our conversation, children are inspired by the champions they see on tv. And, especially in an individual sport such as tennis, it's important to teach our kids that the sport is about more than just their own participation in it. Knowing who came before them and understanding their contributions is so valuable.

While we're all still on stay at home orders, now is the perfect time to read Cecil's book as a family then open the proverbial door to some discussions about it! To order DIFFERENT STROKES through BookShop.org, click here. You can also find it in our Amazon Shop here.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily, please know that ParentingAces is committed to continuing to bring you information and support as it relates to junior tennis and college recruiting. We have created a page on our website specifically dedicated to sharing useful tennis-related resources. You can visit it here.

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 14, of the ParentingAces Podcast. I hope you're all staying well and continuing to stay home.

In this week's show, I have the pleasure of speaking again with John O'Sullivan, soccer coach and the mastermind behind Changing the Game Project. John has recently released his latest book, EVERY MOMENT MATTERS (click here to purchase through our Amazon Shop), and we dive into its content and discuss how the lessons can apply to tennis coaches and parents.

John is committed to a philosophy of athlete-centered coaching. He devotes whatever time he has - outside his own soccer coaching commitments - educating coaches, national governing bodies, and others on specific tactics to give youth sports back to the kids. During this time of sheltering at home, John is living that philosophy on a daily basis by holding virtual practices with his young athletes which he details in our conversation.

To learn more about John and Changing The Game Project, click here. He is available via email at [email protected].

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily, please know that ParentingAces is committed to continuing to bring you information and support as it relates to junior tennis and college recruiting. We have created a page on our website specifically dedicated to sharing useful tennis-related resources. You can visit it here.

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 13 of the ParentingAces Podcast. I hope this week finds you and your loved ones healthy and well. Coach Todd Widom and I wanted to take the opportunity to talk a little more about what junior tennis players - and coaches - can do during this time of isolation to stay on track with their development and goals. 

To get in touch with Coach Todd, follow him on Facebook and Instagram or email him at [email protected].

As the COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily, please know that ParentingAces is committed to continuing to bring you information and support as it relates to junior tennis and college recruiting. We have created a page on our website specifically dedicated to sharing useful tennis-related resources. You can visit it here.

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 12, of the ParentingAces Podcast.

Boy, is this a strange time for all of us. We are sheltering at home, with our kids, trying to figure out this New Normal. 

Rather than release a brand new episode this week, I thought I would go back to our Archives and re-release a conversation I had with David Benzel, creator of Growing Champions for Life, from August 2012.

In this episode, David and I discuss what it means to be an effective Tennis Parent and the common pitfalls we all face as we try to do what's best and right for our child(ren). 

Since we're all at home anyway, why not use this time to practice some of the techniques David offers up to do better, to be better?

Please do visit David's website at https://www.growingchampionsforlife.com/ and be sure to get on his email list so you're alerted to upcoming webinars and other events. David is a true gem of a human and has a lot of wisdom to share!

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you're interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven't already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 11 of the ParentingAces Podcast!

Elliott is one of the owners at Overland Park Racquet Club. He spends the majority of his time deeply involved with their top junior players. He is a long time Kansas City tennis coach, player and figurehead with now 21 years of tennis coaching experience. Elliott’s players have earned success at every playing level, from more than 50 Missouri Valley Champions, to ITF titleholders and players competing at the Professional level. He has been a USTA Regional Training Center Director, National Prince Plugged In Director and proudly represents the Heart of America as the VP of Junior Competition. Before working in junior development he was a collegiate coach at Saddleback College, Baker University and the University of Kansas. A source of great pride for Elliott is the number of players that he’s trained who have moved on to compete at the NCAA Division I college level. Over 50 players in the past 10 years have gone on to play at the highest level of NCAA competition. Elliott believes that being a student-athlete in college makes for a much more fulfilling overall experience. There is a college out there that is perfect for everyone to pursue their education and tennis goals!

To listen to my 2015 podcast with Elliott, click here.

To reach Elliott via email, click [email protected]

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

We have also started a Patreon page for those of you not ready to take the plunge as a Premium Member. You can make a donation of any size to support our podcast by clicking here. Thank you!

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 10, of the ParentingAces Podcast! We finally have Coach Todd Widom back to discuss the junior coach's role in the college recruiting process.

As Todd has discussed previously on the pod, several of his players have gone on to play very high level college tennis. One of his recent students, Ronnie Hohmann, is in his freshman year at LSU and playing at the top of the singles lineup. What, exactly, is the junior coach's role in helping players and their families choose a college tennis program? How much influence and input should the junior coach have? These are the questions we tackle in this week's show.

To reach Todd Widom, visit his website here or email him at [email protected]. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you're interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven't already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 9, of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week, we are discussing how to prevent injury in our junior players and what to do if/when they do become injured. My guest, Kayla Epperson, has trained with Dr. Neeru Jayanthi (who has been on this podcast several times) and is now in practice herself. As a former college tennis player and injured athlete herself, Kayla brings a unique perspective to today's discussion.

Kayla is a sports physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach. She recently started her own practice in the Chicago Western suburbs so she could work more closely with athletes. She is especially passionate about working with youth athletes and tennis players as she was a competitive junior player and played in college at Indiana University.

Having battled many overuse injuries in her junior and collegiate career, Kayla feels that tennis specific injury prevention programming and education is so important. She shares her experiences and advice with the ParentingAces Community in this episode of our podcast.

To read the Series, Navigating the Sidelines: Perspectives from an Injured Athlete, click here (Part 1), here (Part 2), and here (Part 3).

For more information on the specifics of Kayla's practice, visit https://www.theathleteconnectionpt.com. ParentingAces Premium Members can click here for Kayla's FREE Tennis Insider Rotator Cuff and Scapular Stability Guide and accompanying videos.

You can reach Kayla through her website, www.theathleteconnectionpt.com or by phone at 630-525-1129. She is also reachable by email at [email protected]. 

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you're interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven't already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

We have also started a Patreon page for those of you not ready to take the plunge as a Premium Member. You can make a donation of any size to support our podcast by clicking here. Thank you!

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

Welcome to Season 9, Episode 8, of the ParentingAces Podcast! You are in for a treat this week as we chat with the Dent family: Phil, Taylor, and Jenny!

Taylor Dent, formerly ranked #21 on the ATP Tour, is a past guest on our podcast. He has coached several top players since retiring from professional tennis, and is now running a very successful program in Texas alongside his father and wife.

In this week's episode, all 3 Dents share their coaching philosophy in terms of both on-court and off-court work, and their commitment to producing not only great tennis players but also great humans. 

I first met Taylor at the US Open several years ago when he was working with Jared Donaldson. I couldn't help but be impressed with his no-nonsense approach to sport and his humility when talking about his own accomplishments. 

A few months ago, the director of The Birch Racquet and Lawn Club reached out to me asking if I'd like to interview Taylor, Phil, and Jenny. Of course, I said YES! 

In case you aren't familiar with this very impressive family, here are some facts taken from their academy website:

Taylor

• Formerly Ranked #21 in the world
• Served 149mph at the French Open, 148mph at Wimbledon and 147mph at the US Open — all in 2010, and all serve speed records at these Grand Slams
• Won 4 ATP singles titles in Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003) and Moscow (2003)
• Coached Jared Donaldson (2013-2017) to the top 100 in the world and 2016 US Open 3rd rd
• Placed 4th in the 2004 Olympics in Athens
• Captured wins over Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin during his ATP career
• Recorded in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Taylor and Phil are the only father-son duo to have won ATP titles in the Open Era

Phil

• Known as the Serve Doctor throughout the ATP and WTA tours
• Reached #12 in the world in 1977, finishing the year at #19
• Coached Michael Chang and Maria Sharapova
• Doubles Grand Slam Champion at both the US and Australian Open
• Claimed mixed-doubles champion at the US Open in 1976 (with teammate Billie Jean King)
• Captured wins over Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors during professional tennis career
• Helped lead his native country of Australia to victories at both the Davis Cup in 1977 and the World Team Cup in 1979

Jenny

• Reached #52 in the WTA world rankings
• Competed on the WTA tour for 7 years and accumulated 6 International Tennis Federation Women's Singles titles
• Won the 2005 World Team Tennis Championships with Martina Hingis as her doubles partner
• Competed against Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati during her professional tennis career
• Captured The Missouri State Tennis Title in 1996
• Mother of 4 children and CEO of the Birch Racquet and Lawn Club 

For more information the Dent Tennis Academy in Keller, Texas, click here. You can reach out to Jenny by email at [email protected]. 

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you're interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels 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 the ParentingAces website. If you haven't already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces – we have 4 options for you – by clicking here.

We have also started a Patreon page for those of you not ready to take the plunge as a Premium Member. You can make a donation of any size to support our podcast by clicking here. Thank you!

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