"Who’s my coach?" - The challenges of picking the right one

During my career of 40 plus years in the business I have met all kinds of coaches, thousands that make our industry proud, full of motivation and honesty, the kind of teachers that you would be lucky if they agree to mentor your child.

But also I have met some great salesmen. Although Salesmanship is important in any business, it has to be backed up by truth, honesty and integrity.

For instance, I like camping, and the funnest part of camping is buying the gear and getting ready for your trip. It takes weeks and months to find the correct heater for my tent, the right tent poles and for sure the proper sleeping bag. I research forever until i pull the trigger on an item, and thats just for a leisure hobby.

When you want to buy any product or get any kind of service these days, whats the first thing you do? You Google it.

You will find reviews , opinions and youtube videos of thousands of people who have tried the product and gave their feedback and opinion.

Except for Tennis Coaches!! It seems that their services are top secret and almost ghostly. We usually find some questionable instructional videos at best, with no proper background to ensure credibility, but nothing about players or parents experiences with a specific coach.

In my case, i am a tennis pro, and certifying and evaluating tennis coaches is part of my job, so when i need a coach for my daughter i can find a decent coach who fulfills my needs and is within my budget, but what about the thousands of parents who go to work every day as doctors , engineers and business men and women who know nothing about tennis?

So, if you are looking for a tennis coach you will not find any reviews, you will not find any evaluations, no ratings, and for sure there is no organization or entity to protect you from making the $100K mistake by background checking coaches and their track record.

Why is that ?

what would you do to find more information on a tennis coach who holds the dreams of your young one in their hands?

Since there is no information on the coach, you decide to go meet him or her personally and ask questions. The good ones are great talkers, they will make claims, give you a frame that will dazzle your eyes and satisfy your tennis brain.

So you commit.

6 months later and $24,000 in the hole, you figure out your mistake and make another move, of course with less trust than before and again no way to know any better.

I want to believe that we can do better than that for our clients, parents and players. I believe that in an age of internet and AI we can produce a system of evaluation based on proper criteria and feedback from parents, players and organizations to properly vet all coaches.

I know that some might take my words as distrust in tennis coaches, but its quite the contrary, i feel extremely disappointed for the injustice done to the good and proper coaches, all because the previous salesman played a game on the parents and their son or daughter.

Who will build that system? Will it have some favoritism? Is money and finances gonna play a role?

I don't know.

But anything is better than the current situation, and if we can help only a small percentage of parents make better choices and better decisions , i am sure we will expand our sport and bring tennis back to its sportsmanship and high integrity days.

For now, Please do your homework and research claims of any coach and better yet, talk to previous players that have spend months with that coach and hear their stories. That will give you the best chance of an enjoyable and worthy experience.