The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
A tennis academy has offered us a scholarship. Should we take it?
This is a touchy subject. Some of my best friends and lifelong business partners run successful academies. I am often presented business plans to open a full time academy, but I am convinced that a new blueprint is needed to ensure that each student is receiving the customized attention he/she deserves. I’ve opened and directed clubs and academies since the mid 1980’s. These include Vic Braden Tennis Colleges, the Rancho San Clemente Tennis Club and the Sherwood Country Club- some of Southern California’s most prestigious clubs. As a result, academies are very familiar territory.
Here are my feelings toward academies in this stage in my coaching career.
The Positive Side:
- Academies provide a terrific social environment for the players. The players can hang out with their peers of both genders.
- Players can experience the bonding of a team versus the individualism the sport often requires.
- A few top players receive free t-shirts, bags and sweats with the academies logo. Other players may receive a discount.
- Academies provide a convenient one-stop shop for parents. In essence, the parents can rely on others to organize and develop their child’s career.
- Academies should provide plenty of free hitting, off- court training options and match play for the motivated individuals.
- Live ball sparring. Players grow from the daily battle.
- Academies get players good. How good? With the rare exception, most attendees advance to high school varsity, top sectionally ranked and/or NCAA to Division 2-3 level college ball.
- A fact is that most juniors are not truly interested in putting the hard work it requires to be a national champion. They are hobbyist. In that situation, academies could be the right choice. Remember, tennis is a terrific hobby.
- Players experience many different coaches and coaching styles.
SPECIAL NOTE: If your child is ranked higher than most players in the academy, you may be able to negotiate attending for FREE in exchange for attracting paying customers to the program. Also, some academies give every attendee a price break thus giving everyone a partial scholarship. That is, if you pay up front! Folks, that’s marketing 101.
The Negative Side:
- Most academies recruit their top players AFTER a quality teacher has developed the student’s skills.
- The paying customer should receive instruction equal to that given to the elite superstars, that attend for FREE. Unfortunately, in some cases, the experienced coaches are busy working privately with the non-paying super stars and NOT with your child.
- In the higher levels of high performance tennis, detailed customization of the lesson plans are required. For example, if a player has holes in their transition game, sending them down to court #6 to get in line with the rest of the group and hit forehands and backhands may not be in the student’s best interest.
- Paying customers do not progress at the quickest rate. Often they have to win to move up into the “higher” level courts. This forces the junior to choose outcome goals over performance goals. This means they avoid building their new weapons as they choose to use their old comfortable “flawed strokes” to try to win. This behavior stalls the exact progression you seek.
- A great young talent positioned in an unsupervised setting will often learn how to goof off, throw their racquet, waist time, go for low percentage shots, over hit, and give half effort.
- Often inexpensive overworked introductory coaches are employed to oversee the paying customers.
FUN FACT: In the last decade, most park & rec’s, high school courts, apartment complex, college courts, country club and city facility have changed the name of their after school junior tennis program to an academy. It sounds more official, doesn’t it?
Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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