October 1, 2020
A few years ago I was watching a wonderful tennis match during the Small College National Championships at the Palmetto Tennis Center. A few of the tournament level juniors from our junior program were sitting in close proximity and enjoying the match as well.
August 1, 2020
I believe making personal decisions about how we conduct our lives and choosing this or that is one of the most empowering things we do. As all parents know, we cannot let our kids make very many of those choices that have long term consequences.
July 1, 2020
How many of you have seen the movie Dead Poets Society? Yeah, it’s a dated film, and the title is more than a little weak. It caused me to pass it up many times over for other choices with better titles.
June 1, 2020
As I was at my desk working one morning, one of our patrons stopped by to chat with Michael (the youth pro at Palmetto Tennis Center). After concluding their conversation and on the way out the door, she asked if I would consider writing an article about how to cope with nerves while playing important matches.
March 1, 2020
Recently, I was listening to one of Tony Robbins’ motivational CDs and came across a bit of information that seemed to make a lot of sense...
February 1, 2020
About this time of year I generally dedicate “Mark My Words” to some renewal of spirit and awakening of sorts for the coming season.
January 1, 2020
You have all seen them, doing some choreographed routine in the end zone that looks like something from a Broadway play. Or the one I hate the most, strutting around behind the line of scrimmage with their arms outstretched wagging their helmet up and down like a bobble head doll.
December 1, 2019
I was thinking back to my prep school days (no, not a posh boarding school in New England--Strom Thurmond High in Edgefield) and was trying to assimilate the qualities I liked most about my favorite teachers.
November 1, 2019
A while back when I was still in Sumter, SC I offered up a bit of praise to one of our junior tennis players during our High Performance Clinic. What she had done wasn’t really an athletic feat, but she had managed to stack an unbelievably large amount of tennis balls on her racket while we were in the process of picking up.
October 1, 2019
So, how did all of this grunting in tennis get started? I am not positive, but I believe it all began when we, as coaches, started encouraging our players to exhale as they hit, rather than holding their breath.
September 1, 2019
As a new league season is underway, here are some things I’ve learned the hard way from captaining and being captained for 20+ years.
August 1, 2019
Earlier this week, I sat down to prepare an article for the paper and as I began to gather my thoughts I was barraged by what felt like a hundred other things trying to steal my attention from the keyboard.
July 1, 2019
I was recently considering how debilitating fear can be to a tennis player. I think I can say with reasonable certainty that fear rates the highest on the scale of things that can negatively impact a tennis player’s performance.
June 1, 2019
With the French Open upon us, I thought this might be an opportune moment to share a few thoughts about things to watch for while enjoying the tennis skills of the best players in the world.
May 1, 2019
For years I had an inspirational etching on the wall of my office at the clubs where I worked. It will soon be on my office wall again here at West Lake. It is called the “Pyramid of Success.”
April 1, 2019
Years ago when I was just a young lad, I decided I needed a tennis lesson. To no one’s surprise there is no tennis professional to call upon in Edgefield, South Carolina.
March 1, 2019
A number of years ago and quite by chance, mind you, I received the best lesson ever on the art of communication. The most interesting part of this lesson is that it did not occur at a conference or seminar or from one of the country’s top clinicians speaking on how to communicate.
