BeachTennis
Semi-Pro
To Those Interested in American Tennis:
By Steve Smith: To contact Steve - www.tennissmith.com
When I read in an American magazine (Tennis) that a former student of mine turned down an ‘option’ to assist the governing body of American tennis (USTA) with player development, it is time to write a letter.
The USTA should do their homework and research the matter at hand.
Craig Tiley, a South African, who is the new director of player development for Tennis Australia, was trained in America by an American. Tiley’s first American experience was an education. He was a student in America’s first accredited comprehensive degree plan for tennis teachers (Tyler Junior College, Tyler, Texas).
Tiley was not a high level player. Tiley progressed from an entry level student teacher and became a high level teacher in a very unique program that I designed and directed. Craig was under my direction for seven years.
After earning a specialized degree from Tyler Junior College, Craig continued with us and acquired hours and hours of experience training tennis teachers for occupational competency. In addition, Craig acquired hours and hours of experience in player development. Besides the curriculum for tennis teaching pro-managers, I had a small junior development program based in a small population base that produced more high school state champions than Dallas and Houston combined in the second five years of a ten year period.
In fact, Tiley acquired the ‘know how’ on how to develop NCAA champions long before he moved from Tyler, Texas to Champaign, Illinois. Chad Clark (Texas) and Julie Scott (Stanford) were both students in our program that went on to win NCAA individual titles. Our junior program was the anti-academy with no recruiting, no scholarships and no merchant of flesh scenarios that are prevalent at every level of the game today.
Tiley was a devoted student of the game. He was a tireless worker and literally a former soldier who could follow directives. To reward him for his efforts and to further assist him with his career, I organized player development projects with the governing body of tennis in South Africa that were conducted in Tyler, Texas. Years later when Craig became the Davis Cup Captain of South Africa, while living in America, two of his players had trained in Tyler, Texas in their formative years ( John-Laffnie De Jager and Jeff Coetzee ).
To make an understatement, I know Craig Tiley, his tennis education and story of tennis at the University of Illinois (Champaign, Illinois). Craig’s first trip to the Illinois campus was with me serving as my assistant in a mini-camp conducted for the university’s women’s team. During the camp, a meeting was held with the women’s coach and the interim athletic director at the time as well as Craig and myself. The meeting was a success and Tiley was hired as director of instruction for the university’s new tennis center. Tiley was recommended because of his long list of positive attributes. Although, his ability to teach was the most important.
The progression of the Illinois Men’s team that Tiley took over is a script for a Disney picture. Tennis Magazine referred to the story as a blue print for player development.
Being an insider to the story, I know it from beginning to end. Tiley’s first NCAA champion (Graydon Oliver outdoor/doubles) and his last NCAA champion (Ryler DeHeart indoor/singles) were junior players I trained before they went to Illinois. And within the NCAA rules, I conducted several clinics at Illinois for Tiley during his tenure.
For those trying to understand player development, Tiley’s greatest accomplishment was not winning the NCAA team title with what he called the greatest recruiting class ever in college tennis (Amer Delic, Brian Wilson, Phil Stolt, Michael Calkins). It was developing non blue chip athletes into great college players. Tiley’s early success at Illinois was based on development not recruiting. When Illinois finally won the national team championship, Tiley had a player whose career at Illinois was only one spring semester (Rajeev Ram).
Tiley will organize Tennis Australia from A to Z. The USTA should know the number one factor that they lost out on in not retaining Tiley’s services. He will make sure that everybody associated with player development in Australia understands the neurological connection between how a kid hits the ball on their first day and then a decade later.
There is no substitute for a good beginning. The USTA is spending money and time on players that do not have the technical foundation to build on. The USTA may also be spending money on coaches that do not understand a technical foundation. The athlete is a bio-computer and needs to be programmed from the beginning to avoid the pitfalls of ‘little kid’ tennis, players with no tactical options.
Coaches cannot be pretentious about teaching, they have to understand diagnostic instruction. For a stroke production problem there is a flaw, a cause and a cure.
For example, most coaches do not know all the ramifications of one’s grips. Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is a train coming right at the player. Tiley will create a ‘be brilliant with basics’ philosophy throughout his new organization.
No doubt, Tiley is currently telling top Australian juniors that they need to go back to the drawing board. Winning is a by-product of skills and he has been trained on how to evaluate a player without looking at whether or not they are winning on the local scene.
Tiley will unify Tennis Australia In player development you cannot have a fragmented order of coaching from one level to the next. Tiley’s training will allow him to get the high performance coaches on the same page as the tennis for tots instructors.
It is one thing to understand core and scientific information and another to apply it. Yes, the game has evolved but Tiley will throw out the term ‘modern game.’ Tiley understands that the dimensions of the court and physical laws dictate stroke production, no coach’s opinion or any unique theory.
In regard to tennis history, no one has to look any further back than Roger Federer for a display of fundamentals. Granted there are endless reasons why he is so great. In our sport, unlike others, generally there is no X’s and O’s expert, no teacher in the commentating booth for televised matches. We, the public, are told Federer has great strokes but are not told the nuts and bolts of why he has great strokes. Tiley is trained to do that.
Take into consideration, Andy Roddick, while representing America in 2005 in Davis Cup play, he did not serve and volley once over five sets on a hard court. Roddick, who is a great athlete and great competitor, hits a serve with newsworthy speed. It is my guess that Andy Roddick would run through a wall to get the news on how to improve. He, like the total beginner, needs a true technician in his corner.
Tiley will offer an education for parents and coaches that will be objective. For years, I have documented development by using a ‘make sense’ system of skill testing, filming, and charting (stats). Using this assessment procedure, Tiley will remove the emotional confusion that a player is often put through by their parents trying to interpret conflicting and mixed messages from a number of coaches. It is key to have information and the ability to communicate and apply the information in a clear and simple manner.
Tiley will be politically correct and cleverly deal with the egos of former players and administrators. But, he will again, make sure everybody, even the so called high performance coaches learn first and teach second efficient strokes.
In the crazy ego driven world of player development, I give credit where credit is due. I served apprenticeships under Welby Van Horn, Vic Braden and Dennis Van der Meer as well as having learned from many others.
The fact of the matter, I know the nuts and bolts of what Tiley brings to the table for Tennis Australia. I can assure you of this, when Tiley speaks on the topic of player development I have a long list of coaches with Tiley’s training who can finish his sentences. I also know where he served his apprenticeship.
I welcome the opportunity to speak with someone from the USTA, especially about the application and systematic approach on how to work with players, parents and coaches in regard to developing skills for players twelve and under.
Players need to be competitive and so do coaches and player development organizations. If you would like the ideas, insights and information that Tiley is offering Tennis Australia instead of the USTA, call me. I am an American and I know the so-called blue print that I predict will make a significant impact on tennis history through Australian Tennis.
By Steve Smith: To contact Steve - www.tennissmith.com
When I read in an American magazine (Tennis) that a former student of mine turned down an ‘option’ to assist the governing body of American tennis (USTA) with player development, it is time to write a letter.
The USTA should do their homework and research the matter at hand.
Craig Tiley, a South African, who is the new director of player development for Tennis Australia, was trained in America by an American. Tiley’s first American experience was an education. He was a student in America’s first accredited comprehensive degree plan for tennis teachers (Tyler Junior College, Tyler, Texas).
Tiley was not a high level player. Tiley progressed from an entry level student teacher and became a high level teacher in a very unique program that I designed and directed. Craig was under my direction for seven years.
After earning a specialized degree from Tyler Junior College, Craig continued with us and acquired hours and hours of experience training tennis teachers for occupational competency. In addition, Craig acquired hours and hours of experience in player development. Besides the curriculum for tennis teaching pro-managers, I had a small junior development program based in a small population base that produced more high school state champions than Dallas and Houston combined in the second five years of a ten year period.
In fact, Tiley acquired the ‘know how’ on how to develop NCAA champions long before he moved from Tyler, Texas to Champaign, Illinois. Chad Clark (Texas) and Julie Scott (Stanford) were both students in our program that went on to win NCAA individual titles. Our junior program was the anti-academy with no recruiting, no scholarships and no merchant of flesh scenarios that are prevalent at every level of the game today.
Tiley was a devoted student of the game. He was a tireless worker and literally a former soldier who could follow directives. To reward him for his efforts and to further assist him with his career, I organized player development projects with the governing body of tennis in South Africa that were conducted in Tyler, Texas. Years later when Craig became the Davis Cup Captain of South Africa, while living in America, two of his players had trained in Tyler, Texas in their formative years ( John-Laffnie De Jager and Jeff Coetzee ).
To make an understatement, I know Craig Tiley, his tennis education and story of tennis at the University of Illinois (Champaign, Illinois). Craig’s first trip to the Illinois campus was with me serving as my assistant in a mini-camp conducted for the university’s women’s team. During the camp, a meeting was held with the women’s coach and the interim athletic director at the time as well as Craig and myself. The meeting was a success and Tiley was hired as director of instruction for the university’s new tennis center. Tiley was recommended because of his long list of positive attributes. Although, his ability to teach was the most important.
The progression of the Illinois Men’s team that Tiley took over is a script for a Disney picture. Tennis Magazine referred to the story as a blue print for player development.
Being an insider to the story, I know it from beginning to end. Tiley’s first NCAA champion (Graydon Oliver outdoor/doubles) and his last NCAA champion (Ryler DeHeart indoor/singles) were junior players I trained before they went to Illinois. And within the NCAA rules, I conducted several clinics at Illinois for Tiley during his tenure.
For those trying to understand player development, Tiley’s greatest accomplishment was not winning the NCAA team title with what he called the greatest recruiting class ever in college tennis (Amer Delic, Brian Wilson, Phil Stolt, Michael Calkins). It was developing non blue chip athletes into great college players. Tiley’s early success at Illinois was based on development not recruiting. When Illinois finally won the national team championship, Tiley had a player whose career at Illinois was only one spring semester (Rajeev Ram).
Tiley will organize Tennis Australia from A to Z. The USTA should know the number one factor that they lost out on in not retaining Tiley’s services. He will make sure that everybody associated with player development in Australia understands the neurological connection between how a kid hits the ball on their first day and then a decade later.
There is no substitute for a good beginning. The USTA is spending money and time on players that do not have the technical foundation to build on. The USTA may also be spending money on coaches that do not understand a technical foundation. The athlete is a bio-computer and needs to be programmed from the beginning to avoid the pitfalls of ‘little kid’ tennis, players with no tactical options.
Coaches cannot be pretentious about teaching, they have to understand diagnostic instruction. For a stroke production problem there is a flaw, a cause and a cure.
For example, most coaches do not know all the ramifications of one’s grips. Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is a train coming right at the player. Tiley will create a ‘be brilliant with basics’ philosophy throughout his new organization.
No doubt, Tiley is currently telling top Australian juniors that they need to go back to the drawing board. Winning is a by-product of skills and he has been trained on how to evaluate a player without looking at whether or not they are winning on the local scene.
Tiley will unify Tennis Australia In player development you cannot have a fragmented order of coaching from one level to the next. Tiley’s training will allow him to get the high performance coaches on the same page as the tennis for tots instructors.
It is one thing to understand core and scientific information and another to apply it. Yes, the game has evolved but Tiley will throw out the term ‘modern game.’ Tiley understands that the dimensions of the court and physical laws dictate stroke production, no coach’s opinion or any unique theory.
In regard to tennis history, no one has to look any further back than Roger Federer for a display of fundamentals. Granted there are endless reasons why he is so great. In our sport, unlike others, generally there is no X’s and O’s expert, no teacher in the commentating booth for televised matches. We, the public, are told Federer has great strokes but are not told the nuts and bolts of why he has great strokes. Tiley is trained to do that.
Take into consideration, Andy Roddick, while representing America in 2005 in Davis Cup play, he did not serve and volley once over five sets on a hard court. Roddick, who is a great athlete and great competitor, hits a serve with newsworthy speed. It is my guess that Andy Roddick would run through a wall to get the news on how to improve. He, like the total beginner, needs a true technician in his corner.
Tiley will offer an education for parents and coaches that will be objective. For years, I have documented development by using a ‘make sense’ system of skill testing, filming, and charting (stats). Using this assessment procedure, Tiley will remove the emotional confusion that a player is often put through by their parents trying to interpret conflicting and mixed messages from a number of coaches. It is key to have information and the ability to communicate and apply the information in a clear and simple manner.
Tiley will be politically correct and cleverly deal with the egos of former players and administrators. But, he will again, make sure everybody, even the so called high performance coaches learn first and teach second efficient strokes.
In the crazy ego driven world of player development, I give credit where credit is due. I served apprenticeships under Welby Van Horn, Vic Braden and Dennis Van der Meer as well as having learned from many others.
The fact of the matter, I know the nuts and bolts of what Tiley brings to the table for Tennis Australia. I can assure you of this, when Tiley speaks on the topic of player development I have a long list of coaches with Tiley’s training who can finish his sentences. I also know where he served his apprenticeship.
I welcome the opportunity to speak with someone from the USTA, especially about the application and systematic approach on how to work with players, parents and coaches in regard to developing skills for players twelve and under.
Players need to be competitive and so do coaches and player development organizations. If you would like the ideas, insights and information that Tiley is offering Tennis Australia instead of the USTA, call me. I am an American and I know the so-called blue print that I predict will make a significant impact on tennis history through Australian Tennis.
