How character building, advanced sports science, and harmony with nature created Asia’s premier tennis training center.

Against All Odds is a 4-part series of how clubs, coaches, and parents got performance tennis right.

At first glance, the Yoshida Memorial Tennis Training Center (TTC) could be any other tennis club; plenty of outdoor and indoor courts, a gym, a restaurant, and other health club amenities. Only once you pause a moment and observe the members amid the club’s surroundings can you appreciate the uniqueness of the TTC. Like a stream flowing gently through a bamboo forest, there is a natural beauty when people and nature are in sync.

At the TTC, social etiquette is as important as stroke biomechanics. Punctuality and respect for the facilities are equal to footwork and the latest in injury rehabilitation.

To create a culture, you need leaders who inspire others to buy into the vision. Enter Munehiro and Kazuko Yoshida. Their dream was simple, yet ambitious, create an environment in which they could use tennis as a vehicle to teach life lessons. They believed if the TTC could instill excellence in simple daily habits the result would be fine tennis players who would also become good citizens and leaders in the Kashiwa community. They opened the courts in the fall of 1990.

There is no singular outstanding person or activity at the TTC, but rather, success is the sum total of many small elements. Little things that may seem insignificant like making eye contact while saying hello and goodbye, showing consideration by being punctual and pleasant to be around, helping others pick up balls, improving a backhand on a ball machine, or planting seedlings in the club garden all add a positive synergy.

They say the proof is in the pudding, so let us examine more closely what the TTC has done. There is an annual waiting list for the children’s grassroots classes. Adult clinics, and match play events are thriving while high-performance training has produced both ATP and WTA players who have represented Japan in Davis Cup and Fed Cup competitions. Then there are the world-class wheelchair tennis programs that have produced Olympic Gold medals and ITF #1 World rankings in singles and doubles.

For the last 35 years, the TTC has hosted a Sports Science and Tennis Education Symposium for Japanese coaches. It is an annual event that brings in foreign experts to teach and share the latest knowledge in the tennis industry. The list of speakers reads like an Honor Roll of Tennis Educators; Dennis Van der Meer, Doug MacCurdy, Chuck Kriese, and Richard Schoenborn to name a few. While TTC is the host, they also share with other clubs by visiting cities all over Japan.

While both management and members are rightly proud of their alumni accomplishments, they cling to the virtues of humility that are so often lost in sports today.

The Yoshida Memorial Tennis Training Center has proven that respect for others, honoring traditions, and embracing coaching education can achieve much more than individual rankings and results.

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