I follow a blog written by Tim Elmore entitled Growing Leaders.  It is full of wisdom for parents, coaches and anyone who works with young people.  I read a lot of Tim’s work because he is all about developing leadership skills for future generations.  A lot of his work fits in with my coaching philosophy.

PA Turnpike Toll Ticket

Recently he wrote a blog post where he introduces this concept of Tollbooths versus Roadblocks.  I thought this was such a great metaphor for a developing tennis player and I want to share it with you.  I am not going to steal Tim’s words so here is an excerpt from his original blog post.

 

 

As we move through various stages of our lives, we reach junctions—points of transition—where we must shift gears and slow down. Suddenly, we realize we have to pay a price to proceed. It’s like a tollbooth. The price might be a tough decision we must make or a situation we must leave behind; it may mean a class we must take or a job we must quit. For many, it could be a career that won’t seem to launch as we had planned. It can be anything that is costly to us. It’s at these moments that we discover that the junction will either become a tollbooth or a roadblock. We either choose to pay the price…or we can’t find it in ourselves to do what is hard. And we get stuck. – Tim Elmore

After reading this I hope you see how it fits in with a developing player.  Each athlete is on their own journey with a unique destination.  Some want to play high school tennis, some win a junior tournament, others secure a college scholarship, or maybe even compete professionally.  Regardless of the desired destination they are all on a journey to get there and along the way there will be sacrifices to be made and tolls to be paid.  If players look at these points where they have switch gears and slow down as tollbooths versus roadblocks that will stop them forever they’ll keep growing and developing.  They will also learn a valuable life lesson.  Some tolls or sacrifices will have a higher price than others but knowing it is something they must do to continue on their journey is a great long-term motivator.  Thank you Tim for posting this on your blog it is a wonderful metaphor.

I do not have kids yet but I already have dreams of Little Alex Jr. picking tennis as his favorite sport, holding all kinds of trophies, and being ranked #1 in the world at the age of 10.  Then the other day I was reading a new book about motor learning and it really made me have some deep thoughts about my dream.  I know my book choices may be a bit nerdy but I love reading stuff that helps me become a better teacher or coach.  Anyway, my deep thoughts came from this section where the author basically explained that young athletes with a great deal of success early on in their junior career are typically not the ones who make it to the elite levels of the game.  Now common sense would lead one to believe that if they were #1 in the world at the age of 10 the potential to be #1 in the world as a professional is certainly there.  However, this early success turned to elite professional success scenario rarely happens and it really comes down to a pretty simple concept of learning and improving.

So lets imagine Alex Jr. is #1 in the world at the age of 10.  He obviously has figured some things out and has learned how to win.  The problem lies in human nature telling us to cling to safety.  You see because he has achieved so much and obviously what he is doing is working causes him tend to cling to what has worked in the past in his training.  The old saying, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind.  What if Alex Jr. always spent all his time training technique on the tennis court because that is what he had initial success with?  Then his strength, power and overall athletic development would suffer in the long run because he did not put in any work off the court.  What if his serve technique was slightly flawed and he never took the time to correct it because the serve was good enough to get him all the wins and #1 ranking?  Then long-term his flawed technique would eventually catch up with him and his peers would surpass him.  The truth is that early success and clinging to what got a player that early success is going to eventually be what hampers continued growth and improvement.  This is a product oriented mentality, meaning it is all about winning and results.  This is in opposition to a process oriented mentality, meaning always trying to learn and improve regardless of the outcome or product.

My dream has changed for Little Alex Jr.,  I want him to be good at tennis but not the best, especially at a young age.  I want him to have to struggle, lose a few matches, and respond by continually looking to get better.  I want him to focus on the process of getting better each and every day and knowing sometimes he has to go out of his comfort zone to do it.  Finally, I want him to be focused on his long-term development as a tennis player.  I think those are the attributes the greats of the game have and that is where I really would dream of him being.  They are also the attributes I approach my coaching career with.

Now if you are fortunate enough to have a young child be very successful at a young age I think with the right guidance and grounded roots they can harness that early success into long-term success.  It will not be easy but with the right guidance, focusing on the process over the product, and looking forward to continually getting better I think it can be done.

Fun, enjoyment and love of the game should always be at the core of a tennis player’s development regardless of age or competitive level.  I think unfortunately sometimes players, parents and coaches get too caught up in last tournament loss, the team record or training simply to win.  Don’t get me wrong I think competing and setting performance goals are incredibly important but at the root of it all players need to be having fun, loving the game, and doing it for the “right” internally motivated reasons.

Truth be told the best players have a common trait and that is their love of the game.  Listen to the next interview from Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak or Serena Williams during the French Open and you will see what I mean, they love the game.  Just last night a reporter asked Roger Federer about retiring and he gracefully answered by saying something to the effect that he still has so much love, passion and respect for the game which motivates him to still give so much in both his training and competition he is not ready to walk away.  Now there is a man who has won more big tournaments than anyone in history and made hundreds of millions of dollars and even after all of that Roger is playing the game for the “right” reasons and still having fun doing so.

Tennis at high school, college and higher levels takes hours upon hours of technical work, practice matches, strategic training, and even tough off court physical training and the only reason I can think that someone would be motivated to put in that much hard work is because they love what they are doing.  That doesn’t mean that they necessarily love running hill sprints or playing practice sets in the middle of a hot summer day.  In fact, they probably do not love that but they do love playing tennis so they are internally motivated to do whatever it takes to be the best they can be at what they love.

Players, parents, and coaches please try not to lose sight of the fact that tennis is a game and it should be fun.  You will be surprised how quickly you will improve when you start focusing on the internal reasons why you play the game versus the external reasons like winning and rankings.  As my friend Chuck Kriese says, “The moment junior players start worrying about their ranking is the moment they stop getting better at tennis.”

Coach Kyle Bailey was on my friend Chuck Kriese’s American Tennis Radio Show today talking about the recruiting in college tennis.  He was also kind enough to share his College Recruiting Timeline with all the critical steps.  This information is pure gold if you or your son/daughter will attempt to secure a scholarship.  As you’ll find out and as Coach Bailey says, “You have to look for the fit that fits you.”