Frank Giampaolo's Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Tennis Parent’s Bible 2^nd Edition Reviewed by Rich Neher of Tennis Media Group

Tennis Club Business had been reviewing the 1st Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible in September of 2014. Frank wrote, “Filled with real solutions for players, coaches, and parents, The Tennis Parent’s Bible will teach you everything you didn’t even know… you needed to know.” In the new edition he is expanding on the subject of synergy between the “hardware’ (strokes and game skills) and “software” (mental and emotional development) of juniors, aiming to provide deeper insights into the latter.

“The mission of The Tennis Parent’s Bible is to assist parents and coaches in developing world class young adults on and off the tennis court.”

Throughout the book Frank is repeating some of the most important mental and emotional factors. He writes, “In my opinion, this is just as important as stroke repetition.” He also adds little “pearls of widom” and affirmations throughout the book, like this one:

The Tennis Parent Mission Statement:

“I vow to create a positive experience for my child by providing optimistic emotional guidance, logistical, organizational & financial support, as I oversee my child’s entourage of coaches.”

The Tennis Parent’s Bible 2nd Edition is divided into 8 main sections:

1. World Class Tennis
2. Maximizing Potential at the Quickest Rate
3. The Mental and Emotional Tennis Components
4. Common Questions & Solutions
5. Parent and Player Reality Check
6. Top 50 Tennis Parent Plunders & Cures
7. Customized Player Evaluation
8. Tennis Industry Interviews

“Remember, there is a significant difference between excellence and perfection. Excellent effort is controllable. Perfection is a lie.”

Within those chapters the book covers detailed situations and recommendations. Example: In Section 4 – Common Questions & Solutions – the author details Q+A regarding Practice Session Dramas and Competitive Drams: Internal Struggles. He also details accountability for both players and parents here.

“If a parent is unwilling to be a world class tennis parent, they can’t expect their child to be a world class athlete.”

MY TAKE

Frank Giampaolo doesn’t waste time and space with pretty pictures and important looking graphics. He goes down to the nitty gritty and offers his 30 years of experience in a book parents will find hard to put down. Just the chapter on The Tennis Parent’s Job Description (starting on page 69) alone is worth gold if a parent is really serious about helping develop a world class athlete. Frank assures the reader that “The parent is the architect of their child’s tennis career.” He classifies the parents with detailed explanations as follows:

• The Under Involved Parent
• The CEO Facilitator Parent
• The Over Involved Parent

He writes that a family’s moral code and developmental climate has a lifelong effect on the athlete, whether the parents know it or not. “Because parents and coaches are so influential in shaping their young athletes, I urge you to take an optimistic approach to raising athletic royalty. It is my hopes that by reading this book you’ll fall into the CEO facilitator role of a world class tennis parent.”

What corroborates my positive experience with this book – despite the fact that I don’t have kids playing tennis – and cemented my opinion this is a 5 star read for any tennis parent, student or coach, is the huge number of great testimonials from experts like Jon Wertheim (Sports Illustrated), Johan Kriek (2-time Grand Slam Champion), Nick Saviano (WTA Coach), Peter Smith (USC Men’s Coach), Dick Gould (former Stanford Coach), Angel Lopez (USPTA Master Pro), Dave Fish (Harvard Men’s Coach), Craig Tiley (Australian Open Tournament Director) and many others. Very informative also his interview with Steve Johnson Sr., father of ATP star Stevie Johnson, who says, “Keep it fun. If your children are enjoying tennis, keep it up. I always say, Fun on the court – win in life!”

Johan Kriek spells it out in the Foreword of The Tennis Parent’s Bible – 2nd Edition. “Mastering the game of tennis is a process that demands technical, mental and emotional skills throughout a child’s development. The parents need to understand that competency requires in-depth knowledge. The highly competitive individuals that are not trained the appropriate mental and emotional IQ face incredible anguish for which they have no way of dealing.”

Johan Kriek:

“Frank Giampaolo is a rare guy to have addressed these issues by writing a number of books on developing athletes. I highly recommend this second edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible to any tennis coach or parent. Believe me, even if you think you are an expert tennis coach or parent, you need to read this book.”