BELIEFS
1. Idealistic Realism: to go after your dreams, such as being a professional tennis player, while accepting all outcomes including loss and pain. In addition, doing everything to maximize your talent in holistic ways by being as technically, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and strategically skilled as possible.
a. Coaches and consultants must adapt to the player’s age, talent, personality, learning style, and commitment level because what players say is not often what they do.
b. One does not always need to do everything asked to keep acing it on their journey to their best you.; i.e., a younger player not ready to make higher commitments can still make slight changes over time. By doing so, enough motivation and momentum can be sustained to keep up with the competition.
2. Purposeful Vision: entails the following:
a. Students’ Intrinsic Motivation: Genuinely wanting to do something such as tennis versus being overly pushed by outside forces into doing it.
b. Balance: Since success and greatness does not always feel good, being truly at peace with no regrets entails sacrifice, leaving nothing left to chance, maximizing the quality and quantity of your tennis, and balancing your schedule with rest, recovery, fun, and good-natured people.
3. Quality Values: on and off the court based upon CHA principles of Courage, Honesty, and Accountability.
a. Rather than get frustrated at people’s inflexibility, flaws, and ego-based missions built on pure self-interest and pride, which is limited, unfulfilling, and depressing, I focus on more important things than oneself, such as acting righteously, prioritizing people’s higher intentions, and taking advantage of wisdom. For example, in the words of Greek philosopher Epictetus, “It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
b. I empower students to express themselves with kindness, humility, and in CHA ways. At the same time, I encourage caution and boundaries. These traits exemplify opposing yet necessary qualities for success, as often both happiness and success are a balance of distinct objectives (i.e., stress-recovery balancing and being easygoing yet cautious with boundaries).
4. Healthy Communication: Between all parties on the team including player, coach, family, and outside influences.
a. To help all team members keep CHA principles and the highest-level professionalism and transparency, I communicate with everyone and if need mediate any existing or potential for conflict.
b. Empowering delicate situations requires the utmost respect and healthy push. Since I assess everything the player and their team does, I ensure that all parties are accountable with their roles, and make sure all on and off-court skills and details are developed in the most efficient and progressive way, I aim to make the uncomfortable parts of the process as comfortable as possible.
5. External and Self-Support
a. From those who you trust and can accept healthy critique from such as religious leaders, family, friends, and mentors (i.e., therapist, life coaches).
b. Self-Esteem: Feeling good about yourself versus relying on others or temptations/ addictions to fulfill you. Since the only person you can depend on 100% of the time in tennis and life is yourself, players create a Personal Coaching Tool (PCT) booklet as part of the program, which provides both comfort and ongoing resources including mental toughness and strategy.
PLAYER MENTALITY
1. As opposed to rushing the process/instant gratification needs, which leads to closemindedness, insecurity, self-esteem damage, anxiety, and future poor results, success in all aspects of life requires the following to be emphasized:
a. Acting upon courageous, honest, and accountable values.
b. Working effectively with others
c. Being patient with your results.
d. Maximizing everything you control including
your practice and tournament preparation.
e. Letting go of tightness on- and off the court.
f. Improvising such as waking up early for added fitness and/or training extra repetitions even if it is just shadow hitting. In addition, willingness to learn and sacrifice by working on your tennis regardless of environmental obstacles such as snow and rain.
g. Problem solving by being more creative and digging deeper on-court.
2. Toughness/ Standards: Like Novak Djokovic’s belief about the impossibility of recreating a similar, war-torn Serbian-like environment with his kid, I believe in the following:
a. No differently than advancing from one grade to the next in school by achieving clear aims, you must work on all technical, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and strategical skills in an efficient ordering flow.
b. Hence, and often needed is lessoning tournaments and rewards on- and off the court until the player consistently works on their practice goals.
3. Assertiveness: i.e., taking control of practices with morality, and handling obstacles such as cheating and weather challenges
4. Professionalism in the ways below and at the right time bringing in experts.
a. Equipment Management
b. Injury Prevention, Fitness, and Periodization
c. Practice Scheduling and Life Organizational Skills
d. Tournament Preparation
e. Mental Toughness Routines: Pre, During and Post Practice and Matches
f. Nutrition and other Lifestyle habits.; i.e., consistent sleep, healthy air, and sunlight
5. Inner Strength/ Confidence
a. Besides being coachable and learning from others, you must be “your own best coach” to persevere past roadblocks and execute great practice habits instinctively under competitive pressure in all environments.
b. “Being your own best coach” comes from keeping high-level values and standards, believing in your own worth and abilities, staying self-disciplined, and practicing daily rituals that focus on your positives and helping calm your mind.
c. The PCT booklet aids all on and off-court habits by helping you follow through with all the repetitive work needed for acing it on the journey to your best you.
COACHING SUPPORT
1. In line with the belief that it takes a village to help a person and solve challenging problems, even the best coaches in the world can learn by consulting with others. Examples of coaching challenges include managing a currently unmotivated student with effective team energy and coaching. In addition, students who are unwilling to emphasize process goals in tournaments, and as a result develop bad habits such as tightness and technical issues.
2. Since most coaches can learn from the latest teachings and technologies, I make suggestions based upon my skills as a player and coach and my continual education from coaching experts and research. By watching practice and match videos, I provide constructive feedback to ensure that students are swinging the ball powerfully with looseness and ball heaviness, control, depth, precision, and movement against every type of shot, spin, and game style, while at the same time prioritizing the coach’s vision.
3. By making sure students are working on all the details needed to be their best you, creating ideal energy, assisting with any obstacle on court, and if need be, coordinating the communication between multiple coaches to simplify things, open-minded coaches can help players progress faster and further.
TEAM ENERGY
1. Idealistic Realism
a. Going after your dreams, such as being a professional tennis player, while accepting all outcomes including loss and pain. Also, doing everything to maximize your talent in holistic ways by being as technically, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and strategically skilled as possible.
b. Coaches and consultants must adapt to the player’s age, talent, personality, learning style, and commitment level because what players say is not often what they do.
c. . Improving at realistic levels according to age and other factors. i.e., it is ok for a young kid to make slight changes over time, if he or she is not ready to make higher commitments and do everything asked to eventually keep acing it on their journey to their best you. By doing so, enough motivation and momentum can be sustained to keep up with the competition.
2. Purposeful Vision:
3.Healthy Communication
a.To help all team members (i.e., player, coach, family, outside influences), maintain CHA principles and the highest-level professionalism and transparency, I communicate with everyone and if need mediate any existing or potential for conflict.
b. Empowering delicate situations requires the utmost respect and healthy push. Since I assess everything the player and their team does, I see to that all parties are accountable with their roles, and ensure all on and off-court skills and details are developed in the most efficient and progressive way, I make the uncomfortable parts of the process as comfortable as possible.
4. PLAYER MENTALITY 1b. As opposed to rushing the process/instant gratification needs, which leads to close-mindedness, insecurity, self-esteem damage, anxiety, and future poor results, success in all aspects of life requires the following to be emphasized:
5. 2b. At times, lesson tournaments and rewards on- and off the court until the player consistently works on their practice goals.
6. COACHING SUPPORT 1a. Since it takes a village to help a person and solve challenging problems, even the best coaches in the world can learn by consulting with others. Examples of coaching challenges include managing a currently unmotivated student with effective team energy and coaching. In addition, students who are unwilling to emphasize process goals in tournaments, and as a result develop bad habits such as tightness and technical issues.
7. 3. By making sure students are working on all the details needed to be their best you, creating ideal energy, assisting with oncourt obstacles, and if need be, coordinating the communication between multiple coaches, open-minded coaches can help players progress faster and further.
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