PathWays by Path

Every recruiting season, families obsess over a rating and college coach Diane Kowalski says it rarely decides anything. She joins Evan Rhodes to break down what actually earns a roster spot, when families should really start the process, and why the email a coach receives can say more than any number. Listen in.

Tennis is generating more data than ever but data analyst Priya Iyer says most families are drowning in numbers they don't know what to do with.On this episode, Priya explains why a 13-year-old only needs to track three things, not forty and why the real skill in analytics isn't collecting data, it's subtracting it. She and host Evan Rhodes dig into what's actually changed in tennis data, what's still hype, and why the player's feel, the coach's read, and the parent's phone video can tell three different stories if nobody puts them in the same room."The data can describe today. It can't author a childhood."Pathways by Path is a show about the decisions, challenges, and journeys shaping competitive tennis for the player, the parent, and the coach. New episodes every Monday.pathtennis.com

If your junior has beautiful strokes and no idea where to hit them, this one's for you.
70% of points end in the first four shots. Three good patterns beat ten flashy ones coach Henrik Sand on Pathways by Path.

What happens when the sport that defines your entire identity is suddenly taken away? This week, Evan Rhodes sits down with 15-year-old junior player Marco Rivera to talk about the side of injury recovery people usually skip: the emotional toll.After eight months away from tennis due to a stress fracture, Marco opens up about the identity crisis of losing the sport, the weight of navigating conflicting recovery plans, and why the most critical breakthrough in his healing wasn't a physical milestone—it was getting his parents, coach, and physio on the exact same page.

In this episode of PathWays by path, host Evan Rhodes sits down with sports dietitian Lina Kirsch to unpack a critical, yet often overlooked, aspect of junior tennis development: elite nutrition.

If you think the biggest obstacle for young athletes is junk food, think again. Lina introduces the concept of "Invisible Nutrition" the hidden energy deficit caused by under-fueling kids who juggle demanding school days, hours of intense on-court training, and gym sessions.

Most junior players aren't underdeveloped because they're not working hard enough. They're underdeveloped because nobody is managing their load.

Tomás Reyes, a strength and conditioning coach who works exclusively with junior tennis players, breaks down what physical preparation actually looks like at the competitive junior level and why the biggest threat to a player's development isn't lack of training. It's a triangle that isn't talking.

The best coaches aren't trying to be the most important person on the court. They're trying to make themselves unnecessary. Lior Avraham breaks down what real coaching looks like and what happens to a junior player when the triangle around them breaks down

The hardest role in junior tennis isn't the player's. It's the parent's.

Rachel Brennan spent years thinking doing more meant helping more. She was wrong. In this episode, she talks about getting out of your kid's way without disappearing, communicating with the coach without becoming the problem, and why the car ride home after a loss matters more than you think.

"Keep the home a soft place to land."

pathtennis.com

Most families enter competitive junior tennis without a map. A career in the U.S. system can cost anywhere from $10,000 to over $100,000 a year and almost no one explains how the pieces fit together.

In this episode, Evan Rhodes sits down with junior coach Ana Solano to break down the real shape of the U.S. development pathway: the seven USTA tournament levels, the ITF Junior circuit, the recruiting metrics that college coaches actually look at and the most expensive mistake families make along the way.

The takeaway: the pathway isn't a ladder. It's a river. Your job is to stay in the boat long enough to find the current that's right for you.

Most juniors lose more matches to their own thoughts than to their opponent's strokes. In our first episode, sports psychologist Marcus Whitfield breaks down why the mental game decides everything and why it can be coached just like a serve.