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Player/Parent Harmony

The following post is an excerpt from Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible- coming soon!  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Parent Player Harmony

 

“Extraordinarily successful athletes have parents that have mastered their managerial role.”

 

One of the most important duties of a parent is to instill harmony along the journey. Through a parent’s unconditional love and support, the ultimate outcome of the athletic journey should be to create a well-balanced, world class adult and family harmony.

 

Behaviors that Foster Parent-Player Harmony:

  • Leave notes under their pillow reminding them how proud you are of their efforts.
  • After a loss, give your child time and space.
  • On a daily basis, be effort orientate versus outcome orientated.
  • Understand the parents’ job descriptions.
  • Abide by the tennis parent match day guidelines.
  • Execute a deliberate, customized developmental plan.
  • Put visions and goals in writing to keep the team on the same page.
  • Remember that your actions speak louder than your words.

 

“A parent should hold the athlete accountable for poor behavior. Instilling manors and good sportsmanship is part of the balanced approach.”

 

Parent Entourage Synergy

The player, parent and coach synergy is the foundation of raising athletic royalty. Just as the player-parent relationship lasts a life time, so do the positive life lessons taught by a quality tennis coach.

 

“Choose wisely as you assemble your child’s team. Your cast of coaches and trainers will shape and define your child.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate 

 

Negative Parental Behaviors to Avoid

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloThe Tennis Parent's Bible by Frank Giampaolo

Negative Parental Behaviors to Avoid

Listed below are common negative behaviors of an athlete’s parent.

Problem Tennis Parent Attributes:

  • Unrealistic assessment of their child’s level.
  • Unrealistic expectations.
  • Over emphasizing winning and rankings.
  • Coaching their children without coaching credentials.
  • Coddling and pampering the child too much.
  • Pushing the children into playing tennis.
  • Frequently discusses the financial burden of tennis in front of the athlete.
  • Assisting the coach in coaching during their child’s lessons.
  • Placing their needs and motives above their child.
  • Allowing their mood to mirror their child’s outcome.
  • Refusing to allow the athlete to make any decisions.
  • Neglecting to apply the periodization training method.
  • Becoming negative or violent when success is not achieved.
  • Unrealistic scheduling.
  • Critiquing and or blaming the coach after their child’s loss.
  • Failing to follow a deliberate customized developmental plan.
  • Expecting their part time coach to handle all the child’s full time needs.
  • Criticizing the child’s performance and skills in front of the child.
  • Neglecting to observe new coaches in action before hiring them.
  • Unaware of the importance of brain typing or body typing in their child’s development.
  • Living vicariously through their child’s success

If you’re not sure whether your tennis parenting attitude is positive or a bit too negative simply ask your athlete. They’ll have a pretty darn good clue.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Accelerating Growth

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloFrank Giampaolo

Question: Why is it hard for some athletes to make changes?

 

Frank: Let’s take another look into personality profiles. People with a sensate judging (SJ) dominate brain type are actually wired to be safe. In their mind, being safe provides a sense of security. For them conformity is comfortable. Standardization is key. To these SJ personalities, change is uncertain and therefore feared.

Others personality types, especially intuitive perceivers (NP), are wired to trust their natural inquisitive instincts and be more risk takers. These NP personalities are future oriented and boldly see the world as something to conquer. It’s in their DNA (nature.)  These inborn characteristics are called genetic predisposition.

A person’s ultimate belief system is a result of both their genetic predisposition (nature) and their life experiences (nurture) -such as upbringing, surroundings and parental views. Humans naturally protect their beliefs, some way more than others.

When confronted by different ideas or opinions a chemical reaction triggers a response. To the SJ personalities, this new idea may be viewed as a threat because it hasn’t been analyzed yet, so avoiding it is often normal.

When new techniques are presented to these folks they are often uncomfortable simply because the information is different. The new method clashes with the old comfortable method so the new method is disregarded as wrong.

 

“Sometimes the new way is actually the right way…but it feels wrong to the SJ athlete coach and/or parent.”

 

In seeking change, consider your athlete’s brain type and body type.  For example, asking a fine motor skilled dominant body type player to change their foot work, core balance and stability is going to be much more difficult than asking a gross motor skilled dominant player to do the same task.

 

“Motivate your athlete to accept change.  Although change can be difficult, by refusing to change and grow … you will likely be left behind.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Benefits of Opponent Profiling

The following post is an excerpt from the NEW Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible- Coming Soon!  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Frank Giampaolo

 

Opponent Profiling

At the advanced levels, every player has efficient strokes. In tournament competition what often separates the champion from the field is their mental and emotional skill sets. This includes paying attention to why points are won and lost. They manage the score, their strategies and their performance anxieties as well as their focus control. Winners enjoy adapting to the ever changing challenges of closing out sets and matches. Winners maintain their poise under stress because they are one step ahead of the opponent by opponent profiling. I encourage both the parents and the coaches to begin to develop each athlete’s mental and emotional “muscles” at an early stage.

 

“In any sport, experts don’t simply see where the action is… they can see where the action is going to be in the very near future.”

 

Opponent profiling is essentially paying attention to the opponent’s patterns and tactics and applying the appropriate counter tactics.

Benefits of Opponent Profiling:

  • Controlling the tipping points and energy of the match.
  • Shutting down the opponents preferred play. Forcing them to shift to their less comfortable patterns at crunch time.
  • Gaining the critical mental/ emotional edge in tiebreakers.
  • Inflating their own confidence while systematically deflating the opponents.
  • Intimidating the opponent by out-thinking them-staying on top of their preferred patterns.

Just as I urged players earlier in this mental chapter to design and rehearse their “Top 7” patterns (2 ball shot sequence), I also have high hopes that your athletes will progress one step further and apply the art of spotting the opponents favorite shot sequences.

Identifying the Opponent’s “Top 7” Categories:

  • Top serving pattern to the deuce side.
  • Top serving pattern on the ad side.
  • Favorite return pattern and position versus a big first serve.
  • Favorite pattern and position versus a weaker second serve.
  • Favorite rally pattern.
  • Favorite short ball option.
  • Favorite approach shot pattern.

“Forcing talented opponents out of their comfort zone requires your athlete to identify and systematically shut down the opponent’s favorite strategies and tactics.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Special JOHAN KRIEK TENNIS WORKSHOP

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Frank is teaming up with 2-Time Grand Slam Champ Johan Kriek for a Special East Coast

Appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This is a combination Tennis Parents Summit &

High Performance Mental-Emotional Workshop for Serious Athletes.

Enrollment is limited and there’s only a dozen spots left. See the below info for details!

The Team at Frank Giampaolo books

THE TENNIS PARENT’S WORKSHOP:
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2015
Parents, Players and Primary Coaches Welcome!TOPIC: CUSTOMIZED EVALUATION
PACKAGE

SESSION # 1
9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.

  • Navigating Your Entourage
  • Identifying Brain Types & Body Types
  • Organizing Game Plans
  • Customized Match Day Preparation
  • Opponent Profiling
  • Developing Secondary Strokes
  • Between Point/Change-Over Rituals
  • Handling Gamesmanship & Hardships
  • Organizing their Weekly Planner
  • Developing & Rehearsing their
  • Top 7 Patterns
  • Tactics Vs. Styles of Play
TOPIC: THE ROLE OF THE TENNIS PARENT
SESSION # 2
1:30 – 12:00 P.M.
  • Why Educating Parents Matters
  • The Essential Job Descriptions of a Tennis Parent
  • Tennis Parent Blunders & Cures
  • Parental Match Day Sabotage
  • Why Positive Synergy between the Athletes, Coaches and Parents Accelerates
COST
Players and Coaches are Free
JKTA Members, Palisades Members and CITC Members – $100 for one parent $150 for two
JKTA Guest- $200 per person or $250 for family of threeLunch is not included

SPECIAL GIFTS: 2 FREE Additional eBooks:
How to Attract a College Athletic Scholarship

RSVP
CALL: Daga at (704)488-2314
Email: info@johankriektennis.com

VENUE:
Charlotte Indoor Tennis Club
8401 Sharon Lakes Dr.
Charlotte, NC. 28210

SPEAKER: Frank Giampaolo
Frank is a veteran high performance tennis coach and bestselling author. His book The Tennis Parent’s Bible is being used by ITF Coaches, academy directors, parents and coaches worldwide. Championship Tennis with publisher Human Kinetics reached bestselling status. Frank’s innovative approach to tennis parent’s education has found great success nationally and internationally. Contact: FGSA@earthlink.net

JOHAN KRIEK Contact Information
Johan Kriek Tennis Academy: johankriektennis.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JohanKriekTennis

The SECOND Edition Coming Soon!

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Question: Should parents be discouraged or encouraged to watch practice?

 

Frank: I encourage the parents to be involved in the learning process. There’s so much “GOOD” that comes from positive entourage synergy. However, there are two situations in which I will speak privately with the parents and explain to them that their presence during the practice session may be stunting the growth they seek.

The first situation is if the child has told me that their efforts are constantly being overly criticized by their parents or if the parents are so outcome driven, the athlete feels immense added pressure to perform perfectly or else. Athletes and their parents should seek excellence …not perfection.

 

“Stress and fear are not optimal learning environments. Maximizing potential comes with the freedom of making mistakes.”

 

Players need to experiment and try things “their own way.” Junior athletes have often confided in me that when their primary tennis parent is in attendance, they’re later bombarded for hours with a laundry list of additional failures that need to be fixed. The player begins to feel hopeless – believing that they will never be good enough.

The second situation in which a parental discussion is in order involves overly protective, mildly obsessed parents. In today’s world, they are commonly called “Helicopter” parents. The nickname comes from their neurotic hovering on and around the court every session as they attempt to dominate the coach-athlete relationship. (If you suspect that you or your spouse may be a bit of a helicopter parent, the next question is for you.)

Parents, if your child feels additional stress from your presents, it’s in everyone’s best interest to take the time to get educated in the process of raising athletic royalty. If you’re interested, I have a detailed book on the topic actually called: Raising Athletic Royalty: Insights to Inspire for a Lifetime. It’s everything you didn’t even know…you needed to know.

 

 

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Championship Tennis at US Open

usopen 2015 book store
Frank’s best seller, CHAMPIONSHIP TENNIS is still a featured instructional book
at this year’s US OPEN!

Championship Tennis Cover

Cheating in Tennis

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

 

“Cheating only creates a false sense of security.”Frank Giampaolo Maximizing Tennis Potential Junior Tennis

 

Those who have relied on manipulating, cheating and gamesmanship as their primary weapon in junior tennis match play lack the essential self-confidence needed at higher level tennis.

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Coming Soon

The following post is an excerpt from the NEW The Tennis Parent’s Bible coming soon!

Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloFrank Giampaolo

 

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

 

Due to the over-whelming response to the 2010, bestselling first edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible, I’ve been traveling the world with coaching seminars, tennis parent workshops and working with private families of passionate athletes. Throughout my travels, I continued my quest to go deeper into the process of raising athletic royalty.  In the past five years, I’ve increased my knowledge tenfold and I want to share these discoveries with you.

I was compelled to write the first edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible for two very important reasons:

First and foremost, I found that the old system of raising elite athletes lacked player, parent and coach synergy. And secondly, a successful organized guide to support parents in developing athletic royalty had not been established.

After years of coaching and working with players, parents, coaches and researchers, I had developed a more efficient way of organizing the tennis player’s team. I am obviously an “outside the box” style of thinker… I always have been. It’s my genetic predisposition. I found that by educating the tennis parent about the nuances of tennis development, the developmental process was more successful and the journey was appreciated.

 

“The modern epidemic of mediocrity, stemming all the way back from 1950’s and the assembly line mentality, is ineffective in athletic development.”

 

Educating the athlete’s parents is a revolutionary way to achieve greater family harmony while maximizing player potential at a quicker rate.

To illustrate my philosophy, here is an example of why your children shouldn’t be placed in groups based solely on their age. Customization is essential. I know 6 year olds that are more coordinated and athletically mature than 12 year olds and 17 year olds more emotionally immature than 10 year olds. Some athletes thrive in shorter sessions, some in longer sessions. Some enjoy training in groups of peers, some prefer private sessions. Growth development schedules are diverse. Different personality profiles require different approaches to their development.  This book’s intent is to break the old fashion standardizations beginning with the role of the tennis parent in the developmental process.

Invested selfless parents deeply want to be involved in their children’s lives and be a part of the team. Telling the primary care givers to “butt out”, which is sadly the industry norm, isn’t in anyone’s best interest. Tennis parent education has been the most ignored and mysterious topic in the industry and I intend to continue my quest in changing this direction.

Regardless of the stage of development, The Tennis Parent’s Bible will assist you, the tennis parent, in maximizing your child’s tennis potential at the quickest rate. The evolutionary state of tennis demands parents be more involved and informed, due to the ever increasing demands of the game. The competition is bigger, faster and stronger. Around the globe, the competition is training more efficiently. The days of raising a talented athlete while being a passive parent are long gone. The Tennis Parent’s Bible is essential reading for those interested in developing confident, self-reliant and accomplished children.


 

 

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Parent Player Harmony

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Parent Player Harmony

 

“Extraordinarily successful athletes have parents that have mastered their managerial role.”

One of the most important duties of a parent is to instill harmony along the journey. Performance orientated (as opposed to outcome oriented) parents have the greatest chance at enjoying the process of raising athletic royalty. Parents should understand that their role as a tennis parent offers them the opportunity to use sports to foster life lessons. Through a parent’s unconditional love and support, the ultimate outcome of the athletic journey should be to create a well-balanced, world class adult and family harmony.

Behaviors that Foster Parent-Player Harmony:

  1. Emphasize the education of positive life lessons.
  2. Leave notes under their pillow reminding them how proud you are of their efforts.
  3. After a loss, give your child time and space.
  4. On a daily basis, be effort orientate versus outcome orientated.
  5. Understand the parents’ job descriptions.
  6. Abide by the tennis parent match day guidelines.
  7. Execute a deliberate, customized developmental plan.
  8. Put visions and goals in writing to keep the team on same page.
  9. Emphasize the development of all four major components
    (Strokes mechanics, mental, emotional, athleticism)
  10. Remember that your actions speak louder than your words.

 

“A parent should hold the athlete accountable for poor behavior. Instilling manors and good sportsmanship is part of the balanced approach.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate