The following post is a Book Review of The Tennis Parent’s Bible 2nd Edition
by Rich Neher of TennisMediaGroup.com
MY TAKE (5 Star Review)
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.”
CONTACT: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
