Crazy Tennis Parents
Venus and Serena's oh-so-mellow dad
Here’s a provocative idea to save American tennis, entertainingly floated by Huan Hsu in today’s Slate: junk the expensive academies, the fancy training programs, and the sophisticated scouting systems, and replace them with what really produces champions: nutjob tennis parents. Huan writes:
Tennis consists of only a handful of basic strokes and strategies. As such, parents who wouldn’t dare try to teach, say, golf can read a book, watch a few videos, and give capable instruction. What separates the best players from their peers isn’t superior teaching. It’s maniacal devotion.
It’s a good point. Of course, that maniacal devotion often comes with a hefty price–namely, the generous helping of pathology, abuse, and all-purpose weirdness that goes along with it (which the article lists in frightening depth). The unspoken question is, are we willing to pay that price? Or would it perhaps be smarter to take a look at the slightly-less-insane way in which some other successful players are raised (like Federer and Nadal, for instance)?
Rate This
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Share This
2 Responses to “Crazy Tennis Parents”
Comment On This
About The Blog
Buy The Little Book Of Talent
Buy the Talent Code
Recent Posts
In The News
Growing Skill: How It Works
Growing Skill: How It Feels
Huan Hsu really is not far off. What is it that creates a willingness or desire for any child to believe enough in something that they put aside the no effort pleasures of childhood for something requiring effort. I suspect it is presented by these parents as “Just the way it is”.
Huan Hsu has very good points but leaves out a lot to be sure.
First off, the williams sisters were not produced by some dad that did not have any coaching background.
You may want to do little investigative reporting there…uhhh Rick Macci perhaps. Certainly growing up in california it really bothers me to have time and time again people reporting that certain players (like the williams sisters) never had any coaching.. we know this is not a fact…crazy parents…yes (like a fox)!
Richard is a genius, deflected all problems away from his daughters, if you know the man at all, he is a genius.