ParentingAces
Posts tagged junior tennis
More Slashing of Opportunities
11 day ago
In case you haven’t heard (!), USTA changed the national junior competition schedule, effective January 1, 2014. A big reason for the change, according to USTA, is to drive competition back to the sections instead of having so many big national tournaments requiring travel all over the country.
Those opposed to the changes, including Yours Truly, kept asking USTA what it was doing to ensure the sections would step up and fill in the gaps. We never got a clear answer.
And, now, that which we feared – that sections would not take on that task but would actually slash competitive opportunities instead – has come to fruition.
I found out this week that the Southern California section is taking a big step in that direction (click here to read More >
Inspiration vs. Motivation
0Last week, David Benzel of Growing Champions for Life offered a free webinar entitled Solve the Mystery of Your Child’s Motivation and Distraction Issues.
During the 40 minutes or so that David spoke, he focused on the fact that inspiration and motivation are two very different animals – inspiration comes from the outside – for example, we might be inspired by reading a book about Nelson Mandela or watching the Olympics – while motivation is created internally as the pursuit to satisfy an unmet need.
Listening to David’s words took such a load off my mind! I finally heard and understood why all my nagging and reminding and pushing falls on deaf ears. There is nothing – not one thing – I can do to make my son take care of his More >
Parent Involvement: How Much Is Too Much?
51 week ago
Lately, I’ve really been struggling even more than usual with how much interaction and involvement I should have in my son’s tennis life. He’s 16 1/2 now, driving a car that we provide him, with 24/7 access to a computer and iPhone. That means he can get himself to the courts and take care of any scheduling or planning that needs to happen related to his tennis. That also means, theoretically, that I can take a step back and let go, let him handle any tennis things with his coach, simply serve as a funding source and chauffeur for the out-of-town tournaments (and, of course, as a sounding board, too, when he needs it). The problem is that he’s a boy, and, like many teenage boys, falls a bit short in the communication department, More >
High School Tennis Revisited
01 week ago
Last year, about this time, I was writing regularly about my son’s experience on his high school tennis team – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
However, due to some ridiculous eligibility rule changes by the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), my son did not play for his school team this year. It was HIS choice, don’t get me wrong, but, basically, our state governing body made it very unattractive for any high-level players to join their high school teams this year – to summarize, the rule said that a player lost eligibility if he or she trained for his/her sport during stated school hours. For my son and many other tennis players, their school hours are modified in such a way as to include “zero period” and online classes so they More >
And Now A Quick Survey . . .
01 week ago
Thank you for answering the poll question I posted earlier this week! Help me gather even more information by answering the 4 multiple choice questions in the survey link below. Feel free to add your comments, too, to clarify any of your choices. And, please do share the survey with your other Tennis Parent friends – the more data I can collect, the better. I will be using your answers in an upcoming article, so stay tuned!
Click here to access the PollDaddy survey
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ParentingAces Poll
11 week ago
Please do me a huge favor and take a few seconds to answer the following poll question for me then share with other parents, players, and coaches. Oh, and you have to click the “Vote” button for your answer to be recorded. I really appreciate your input!
Share this:Share the Love
02 weeks ago
If you listened to this week’s ParentingAces Radio Show, you may recall Sol Schwartz of Holabird Sports talking about one of his ideas for raising money to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, especially those in the tennis community. If you’re not aware of the damage done to our tennis compatriots in the Northeast, take a look at this video:
Sol’s fundraiser is a simple one to implement and goes something like this:
When your child registers to play a junior tennis tournament, have him or her contact the Tournament Director to ask if it would be okay to place a jar at the Tournament Check-In Desk. That jar would be a collection point for whatever spare change players and their parents would like to contribute to the Junior Tennis More >
Vote on ROG in USTA NorCal Section
12 weeks ago
I recently read the following letter from coach Bill Patton addressed to the Board of Directors of USTA NorCal before their May 15 vote on whether to expand ROG competition to 12-and-under players:
Dear NorCal Board of Directors,
I have been coaching for 25 years, have 200+ continuing education units with USPTA, and completed coursework and a thesis in Education. I am running the first ever NIKE Tennis Camps that use compression Tennis Balls. I have used compression balls since 1999.
The mandate that all 12 under players must play in a certain format with regression equipment is misguided and heavy handed, for many reasons, but please allow me to cite my top 7 reasons: 1. There is a wide variability of the playability and quality of More >
USTA Online Sportsmanship Guide
04 weeks ago
I just received the following email from USTA South Carolina due to the fact that my son will be playing in a tournament there this weekend:
Prior to your child’s participation in an the upcoming Bullfrog Designated tournament, please take the time to view the Sportsmanship Guide linked below. Please note that this is being sent to all entrants of the upcoming tournament via blind-copy on this e-mail. Junior tennis should be a fun and rewarding experience for our children. Character building lessons such as hard work, discipline, good sportsmanship, and endurance of adversity are regularly on display. Parents of junior players should also enjoy the time spent with their children, watching them develop not just into better tennis players More >
Too Much Generalizing, In General
41 month ago
in Parenting
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting awfully tired of reading and hearing all the sweeping generalizations made about junior tennis players and their parents. Not all junior players are spoiled, entitled brats. Not all tennis parents are pushy, overbearing brutes. There are plenty of sweet, well-grounded, hard-working, focused kids out there with parents who support and encourage those positive traits.
Yes, I know the bad ones rear their ugly heads from time to time – we all have our War Stories to share in this regard – but why all the generalizations?
I was talking with a good friend of mine recently, and she flat out told me that she encouraged her daughter to quit tennis and to play a different sport because “tennis More >