Damn it! Help needed....
So many thoughts, would love opinoins... Probably best to start off with some history to make the story more understandable. Sorry for a lot of text there are a couple of awesome vids at the bottom if you make it though
There is a big tennis high school (year 10-12) that has national intake. Only the top 10 or extremely talented on the rise youngsters ever get a contract to actually enter the school. I was never good enough to make it and I envied the people with the luck to get in there because they get to play tennis 20h a week and so much physical excercise to make a dream of tennis stardome true. I even did some work placement there in order to get a foot in the door but I never really did. Entering the club with its massive top range facillites always made me feel so very little, they were the best and although I won a couple of tournaments in the club I never felt up to their standards. They also brag about them creating Robin Sderling (no. 5 in the world last year) and it just caused it to be even bigger in my eyes.
Since I never got into the high school I decided to try to beat the world as a underdog. Practicing, putting my soul into my training. Then I decided to go to Australia and play, instead of following everyone else to America. I never did have quite the weight to my name in order to get into a decent college team so I though maybe I will get a fair go in Australia. Sadly I injured my wrist after a couple of successful runs in tournaments prior to moving, shattering some bones in my right hand (I'm a leftie luckily) from stress caused by tennis and the disc in the hand is also stuffed (with kind words). I played on, managed to do some decent couple of games but doc told me I could not play more tennis, so partied it up for 2 years or so... Then found a calling with coaching. I actually got to coach with one of Australia's finest coaches and got a lot of tutoring from a legend, who has plenty of top 100 players and one female grand slam winner under his wings. A whole new world of tennis was opened up before my eyes, technique, biomechanics, shot production, tactical thinking etc... etc...
Sponged up from their knowledge and worked my arse off for 3 years, making it all the way to headcoach of a great academy. Had players in the Australian regional and national squads and one even in the juniors davis cup team bench. Sadly circumstances forced me out of the country and had to move back to my native Sweden.
There I secured a position as temporary head coach at the parallell club of the high school mentioned earlier. With all my new skills being able to fully see the strokes and the keys how to produce mechanically enhanced shots, I was absolutely appalled by how bad it was at the particular high school. They only practice quantity, no quality and bad technical habits get larger for every year they are at the school. I could not speak up, they did not listen to what I had to say, painfully ignoring me and after private tutoring some of the up and coming players I got sat down with the director. Who specifically told me I was not allowed to discuss technical aspects anymore...
A big fucking insult really, handling me like I was a person who does not know shit. Granted the biomechanical teachings that I have recieved are considered revolutionising (but they have been around for the last 20 odd years) but they could at least have heard my explenations out. They didn't and I left the club in more or less rage (ended it in good terms though).
Decided to simply work at a industry away from tennis, tired of being told I don't know what I am doing.
That all said I decided to help out a young talent in the town I live, she loved my ideas of tennis and is now up and coming, beating a no.20 ranked girl in the country a year older than her ageclass (13). So suddenly she is generating much attention from the tennis high school. They actually invited me to coach her for the sake of their headcoach being on the court with me.
Now what the fuck is all that about? I'm not sure how to interpret the invitation. Should I be flattered that they might like my ideas and want to find out more? Or do they want to "teach me" how to make her better....
It is a bad situation if there is anything negative in it. Being young I would not be able to talk back even if they want to teach her the wrong things. Who am I to tell them that I do not agree with them? They have coached Robin Sderling? (granted he left the place after a year because he didn't think they knew shit).
If I am cocky, which I obviously will be unless I drop to my knees and praiser their devine knowledge, they will do anything to see me burn within tennis Sweden. Also they will without a doubt fuck my player up, technique will be repressed and unbenificial for her natural tendancies and she will not be able to develop in any decent way. She would however be able to have hits with extremely talented players...
So if I manage to get to be the only technical and tactical coach and they can handle the physical coaching (movement, physique etc) that would be the ideal solution, however my experience tells me that won't be the case....
Wtf can I do? if I decline the invitation I will be fucked and considered not doing the best for my player. If I accept I might get 2h of them telling me I don't know shit, without me really being able to say anything in return not looking like a dick infront of said player....
So many thoughts, would love opinoins... Probably best to start off with some history to make the story more understandable. Sorry for a lot of text there are a couple of awesome vids at the bottom if you make it though
There is a big tennis high school (year 10-12) that has national intake. Only the top 10 or extremely talented on the rise youngsters ever get a contract to actually enter the school. I was never good enough to make it and I envied the people with the luck to get in there because they get to play tennis 20h a week and so much physical excercise to make a dream of tennis stardome true. I even did some work placement there in order to get a foot in the door but I never really did. Entering the club with its massive top range facillites always made me feel so very little, they were the best and although I won a couple of tournaments in the club I never felt up to their standards. They also brag about them creating Robin Sderling (no. 5 in the world last year) and it just caused it to be even bigger in my eyes.
Since I never got into the high school I decided to try to beat the world as a underdog. Practicing, putting my soul into my training. Then I decided to go to Australia and play, instead of following everyone else to America. I never did have quite the weight to my name in order to get into a decent college team so I though maybe I will get a fair go in Australia. Sadly I injured my wrist after a couple of successful runs in tournaments prior to moving, shattering some bones in my right hand (I'm a leftie luckily) from stress caused by tennis and the disc in the hand is also stuffed (with kind words). I played on, managed to do some decent couple of games but doc told me I could not play more tennis, so partied it up for 2 years or so... Then found a calling with coaching. I actually got to coach with one of Australia's finest coaches and got a lot of tutoring from a legend, who has plenty of top 100 players and one female grand slam winner under his wings. A whole new world of tennis was opened up before my eyes, technique, biomechanics, shot production, tactical thinking etc... etc...
Sponged up from their knowledge and worked my arse off for 3 years, making it all the way to headcoach of a great academy. Had players in the Australian regional and national squads and one even in the juniors davis cup team bench. Sadly circumstances forced me out of the country and had to move back to my native Sweden.
There I secured a position as temporary head coach at the parallell club of the high school mentioned earlier. With all my new skills being able to fully see the strokes and the keys how to produce mechanically enhanced shots, I was absolutely appalled by how bad it was at the particular high school. They only practice quantity, no quality and bad technical habits get larger for every year they are at the school. I could not speak up, they did not listen to what I had to say, painfully ignoring me and after private tutoring some of the up and coming players I got sat down with the director. Who specifically told me I was not allowed to discuss technical aspects anymore...
A big fucking insult really, handling me like I was a person who does not know shit. Granted the biomechanical teachings that I have recieved are considered revolutionising (but they have been around for the last 20 odd years) but they could at least have heard my explenations out. They didn't and I left the club in more or less rage (ended it in good terms though).
Decided to simply work at a industry away from tennis, tired of being told I don't know what I am doing.
That all said I decided to help out a young talent in the town I live, she loved my ideas of tennis and is now up and coming, beating a no.20 ranked girl in the country a year older than her ageclass (13). So suddenly she is generating much attention from the tennis high school. They actually invited me to coach her for the sake of their headcoach being on the court with me.
Now what the fuck is all that about? I'm not sure how to interpret the invitation. Should I be flattered that they might like my ideas and want to find out more? Or do they want to "teach me" how to make her better....
It is a bad situation if there is anything negative in it. Being young I would not be able to talk back even if they want to teach her the wrong things. Who am I to tell them that I do not agree with them? They have coached Robin Sderling? (granted he left the place after a year because he didn't think they knew shit).
If I am cocky, which I obviously will be unless I drop to my knees and praiser their devine knowledge, they will do anything to see me burn within tennis Sweden. Also they will without a doubt fuck my player up, technique will be repressed and unbenificial for her natural tendancies and she will not be able to develop in any decent way. She would however be able to have hits with extremely talented players...
So if I manage to get to be the only technical and tactical coach and they can handle the physical coaching (movement, physique etc) that would be the ideal solution, however my experience tells me that won't be the case....
Wtf can I do? if I decline the invitation I will be fucked and considered not doing the best for my player. If I accept I might get 2h of them telling me I don't know shit, without me really being able to say anything in return not looking like a dick infront of said player....
tequilasunrise:
I say go for it. Of course there's a chance that you'll get 2h of them saying you don't know shit (your words, not mine 
) but what if it's goes a lot better than that. She's obviously done well with your coaching methods and after all, maybe you can teach them a thing or two about thier methods. 
) but what if it's goes a lot better than that. She's obviously done well with your coaching methods and after all, maybe you can teach them a thing or two about thier methods. 
lemolaura:
I say go for it, don't let fear hold you back x
x