Travel Day; NY Times Asks What's Wrong with U.S. Tennis
We're off to Southern California today for the International Spring Championships/Easter Bowl fortnight. I plan on posting late Sunday with a link to the draws and to check in on whose has qualified in Carson, but in the meantime, here is a story from the New York Times entitled "U.S. Tennis Losing Ground in Developing Players." There isn't much new here, but there are some quotes from Pete Fischer, Sampras's former coach, and Martin Blackman; it's the first time I've seen Blackman publicly quoted in his new USTA position.
Ray Benton, who took over for Blackman at the Junior Champions Tennis Center in College Park, says:
"Kids should learn to play tennis exactly the way they learn to play basketball.”But Neil Amdur doesn't explain the context of that comment, so I'm not sure what Benton means. And wow, I'd be surprised if tennis is missing out because the best athletes are flocking to lacrosse, especially the girls.
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7 comments:
i believe benton meant that basketball is taught universally the same way. elbow in, arc, aim for the box, etc., but tennis is taught so much differently by different ideals and methodology. he seems to think that a universal method originally, especially for kids with signs of talent, will help them grow into a great player with a strong base. maybe then there can be a true american style, like a spanish clay courter, or an australian serve-volleyer etc.
I think he means that basketball is a game that kids can "pick up", play in the street, no special equipment needed (other than a ball, goals are everywhere). Plus basketball is perceived as "cool" so no shortage of players.
On the other hand, tennis requires courts, balls, expensive rackets, lessons, outside motivation, etc etc.
Also with sports like basketball and soccer, anyone can dribble around, take a shot and feel like they are actually "playing". Whereas with tennis it takes a lot of frustration and practice just to get to the point of actually rallying the ball.
Imagine if Chris Paul or Kobe Bryant had equivalent tennis talent to their basketball skills. It comes down to getting those kids to play tennis.
I agree with Mr Fisher that the program is fragmented at the moment and that there is not "one vision".
Patrick McEnroe admits that too when he says they are trying to get a coaching philosophy.
Well Patrick, you have been on the job for almost a year now and you have taken this job on without having a coaching philosophy yourself???
And then you hire Higueras as a director of coaching without a coaching philosophy???
Then you send the kids to Spain for an extended time?
What message are you sending there?
That we don't have the expertise here in the US? Or that we should train our kids the spanish way?
Why not the French system, by the way? Their development system is much better as a base.
I am sure they had a great time and it was a great experience in Barcelona, but how come they all had to travel to Spain for that?
Isn't that why they hired Higueras?
Isn't that your coaching philosophy?
To coach our US players like the spanish do?
What does that say about our own national coaches, the expertise and the confidence that our kids are supposed to get from them???
Isn't that the job for Higueras?
I don't agree with Mr Fisher that ITF events are not important.
And short term goals do get in the way some times of long term goals.
But that is why you are a coach, (and the adult), that guides them trough this difficult time.
Sure, you as a coach know this is not important for what they ultimately need to do as a pro.
But lets be honest, how many ever reach that level to support themselves???
And as a good coach you know to never mention that to a young student. You encourage him or her in competing at whatever level they are at that moment and the ITF tournaments give them another level to compete on an international level.
And anyone who has worked extensively with young kids knows how fragile the confidence of kids can be. So encouragement and winning matches and feedback from playing against your peers is crucial!
Mr Lansdorp,I am sure, believes in coaching privately, since that is what he does, but it is very important to have kids train in groups for the majority of the time.
Kids learn to compete from playing and training with their peers.
You can only train so much privately. Specially starting off in tennis and ages of 6 and 7, all the way trough puberty, kids care about what other kids think and get social feedback and encouragement from their peers, and in many cases, more so than from adults!
It is time that the USTA board starts taking a more active role in monitoring these "non developments" and puts people in place with experience and knowlegde in developing players, instead ex-players with a now fast deminishing name!
Chris Tucker...
As always, you are on the money with you comments.
People, let's understand one thing. No matter what is done to further American tennis, there will always be people who criticize the efforts made by the incumbent leadership.
Chris Tucker,
Pat McEnroe might or might not lead us out of this "tennis recession" and he may never have developed a kid from the ground up BUT, he developed himself into a rather successful professional player that reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam during an era that had him playing with peers named Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Becker, and Edberg to name a few and he's the first high profile former player to take over the reigns at Player Development that has the resources necessary to be successful.
As per your thoughts on the trip to Spain:
Without any knowledge of the details from their trip, I'm going to say that the U.S. juniors didn't go over to Spain just to "learn to train the Spanish way with Spanish coaches" as you put it. In actuality, the trip accomplished exactly what you suggested near the end of your post; playing and training with peers. it just so happened that these peers were from another country!
My educated guess is that the trip to Spain for these juniors was with "our" National Coaches in order to train alongside Spanish juniors and experience their level of intensity during practice thus allowing our juniors the opportunity to gauge themselves against what the top tennis producing country's junior players are doing differently that our kids seem to be missing here in the states.
I would venture to guess that the philosophy behind trip trip stems from the idea that you need to see and feel what the top competition is doing that, you, the lesser competition are not. A classic play that goes on in business all the time.
Think of it this way; the best kids in the United States are practicing against and playing themselves in tournaments so they feel that since they are already better than their peers in the States, then they must have a leg up on the competition in becoming a top professional. In reality, it's actually hindering their progression because it's giving them a false sense of security since it isn't working out that way anymore. It worked out that way 20 years ago when Sampras, Agassi, Courier, and Chang came out of one of the best eras in American tennis, but not anymore.
So, by going over to Spain to see and feel what the Spanish are doing in practice, it might show our kids that they aren't doing enough to reach their full potential or it might show them that they have peers from other countries that are better than they are at this point in their careers so they had better do more if they want to become a top professional.
OR, it might have been a trip for training and playing practice sets with these peers which will make them become better players because that is how you get better as a player; practice and play against players on a consistent basis who are better than you. And if that was the only objective than it's well worth the money spent to go practice toe to toe with the best competition in the world.
AND, to add even more difficulty to the trip, I'm sure that almost all of the training and practice sets were done on clay courts to make it even harder on our kids instead of allowing them the advantage and comfort of playing on a hard court, which would be the surface choice for Americans.
I applaud this trip because it was something different for a change and it was thinking outside the box which is desperately needed since the status quo doesn't seem to be getting the results we desire.
So, to answer your question Chris: No, the USTA didn't hire Jose Higueras to substitute for the experience of going to Spain to train as you posted. It's as if you think Higueras can somehow be a surrogate for the actual hands on experience of training with better players from a foreign country. No coach can do that no matter how good they may or may not be at developing talent.
Eric Amend,
The point I was trying to make was indeed critical, but with reason. I don't believe that there was anthing wrong with American tennis.
In fact, I believe they were going in the right direction.
May I remind everyone that last year the US won ALL international junior events in 14 and 16, both boys and girls!
Obviously this was before they decided the priogram needed a change! Hmmmmmm...I wonder why???
So your comment on having our "lesser kids play with the better juniors in the world would be incorrect.
Patrick McEnroe and Higeuras have a huge responsibility to follow up these results with even better ones and make sure these players are successful at the next level.
The past six months have not proved that to be true!
The results have actually been sliding the other way!
Spain has had a good era of top players (mostly male players)but France actualy has had the most success in developing players in the top 100 with both men and women. Spain does not have a slew of top juniors coming up right now.
They have one talented junior boy at the moment.
We have always produced good top juniors. They have had trouble developing into pro players for different reasons.
They have been very badly managed by the management companies and/or their parents for the wrong reasons of fame and money, instead of becoming good at what you do.
We have had many good examples in the past of American players (who were also successful on clay, without going to Spain by the way)
Our top players in the past were first successful on their own turf (hardcourt) before becoming proficient on the others (Clay and grass).
Obviously, they understood the importance of winning here at home at the US Open as their main goal first.
Think of Chang, Courier and Agassi, all winners of the french open!.(Chang grew up in California on hard, but was early on successful on clay)
Jarred Palmer, Brian Baker and Alex Kuznetsov were both in the finals of the french open juniors two years in a row. 18 and 17 yrs. old at the time. (All got badly injured early on)
So talent is obviously not the problem
Another good example is Donald Young.
A talented young player two years ago, when he won wimbledon juniors and the many challengers following.
Having the parents move over for an experienced coach would be wise.
But they seem to be blinded by the spotlight of fame.
I hope it doesn't get to far that they go down with the already sinking ship.
The problem also lies in having our top juniors train with our top players here in the US more.
And by the way, there are many foreign top players training here in the US as well and a lot of our top coaches are training them here.
There is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, as long as the new ideas make sense, instead of just making a change for the sake of making a change.
How does the USTA board hire a manager and a director of coaching without knowing their plan or coaching philosophy up front!
And how do you pay these guys that kind of money to come up with this direction without a plan.
They are obviously not in touch with history and common sense....
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