socallefty
G.O.A.T.
I don’t mean those who coach pros when I mean elite coaches. But, every town or city has to have coaches at tennis centers or clubs who develop at least junior players to top rankings in their state and tournament wins for their age groups. For instance, my club has 3 coaches who fit that profile while there are several others who mainly coach adults only. The coaches who are good at developing juniors are willing to take on serious adults who are interested In improvement and practice a lot in between lessons. They charge about $60-80 for lessons.
With regards to costs, there are many parents who invest a lot of money and time in their kids developing into good tennis players with no expectation that they will become pros or earn college scholarships. There are literally more than a hundred kids going through a development program at my club where they play for multiple hours every day under coaching supervision in group and private sessions. Those parents are the people who could afford to do the same themselves if they want to develop their own tennis - but, having time to do so might be the main problem if they have a career. I know many adults who take lessons regularly or participate in group drills multiple times a week at my club with coaches who teach only adult hackers - they are housewives or adults who work a flexible schedule. The issue is that they only play matches otherwise and seem to use these only as hitting sessions and not as realistic ways to improve technique. Without focused practice on their own, they don’t improve much for years, but keep paying for the lessons as they are having fun. They can afford it and it gives them pleasure, augments their self-identity of leading an active/healthy lifestyle which are all good reasons to spend some of their dollars they have earmarked for entertainment.
Tennis is an expensive sport to improve under good coaching still and that’s part of why it is not a mainstream sport in many countries. Unfortunately, it is easier to meet many coaches especially on public courts who have no track record of developing players, tailoring their teaching for specific students, developing custom drills to improve specific technique etc. - they are cheap, but rarely are they the types who cause significant improvement in their adult players. Their strategy is to keep giving a few lessons to many players rather than regular lessons for many years to a limited number of serious ‘students’. Just do your due diligence before your hire a coach depending on what you are looking for.
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