10 Minutes of Tennis: How to Find the Right Coach with special guest Kenyon Generette-Oliver

Episode #33 Season 24: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

Welcome to an engaging episode of Atlanta Tennis Podcast, powered by GoTennis. Listen to the insightful exchanges between host Shaun and our guest, Justin Yeo and Kenyon Generette- Oliver on finding the right coach for your skill development. The exciting conversation touches on several important characteristics of coach selection in the vibrant tennis backdrop of Atlanta- thighs to be considered before selection, role of various tennis related institutions, challenges in building an ambassador system to connect aspirants and coaches, and plausible navigation tools. 

Our Honorable Guests

Justin Yeo: Justi Yeo is the australian professional tennis coach who is currently living in Puerto Rico.  Yeo has a coaching career expanding over a few decades. This pro coach runs a tennis academy in Melbourne.

Kenyon Generette- Oliver: He is currently a partner with the Universal Tennis Academy and the head teaching pro of Agnes Scott.  Prior to this, he has worked with some of the top Atlanta tennis clubs and has 20 years long coaching experience with juniors. He is also a USPTA certified coach. 

Highlights of the Episode

1.Types of Tennis Coaches

Justine describes three broad types of coaches, one is likely to encounter.

• Independent Coaches: They are versatile and flexible in nature.Usually works with players of all ages and skill levels.
• Country Club Coaches: They are often tied with a single club. They shoulder various responsibilities, depending on their positions. Their expertises includes- administrations, planning events and on court training. Though with additional responsibilities, the scope of actual coaching is very limited. 
• High-Performance Coaches: They specialize in developing professional players. Most of the time they work with skill development in young players to improve their performance to the next level. These days they are also working with adults for continuous improvement of skills. Their goal is to bring high quality performance out of the players. 

2.Significance of Proper Alignment 

Yeo explains that a player must have a clear goal and understanding of their own requirements. Before settling with a coach, they should consider the background of the trainer and ensure proper sinking of their needs with the coach’s speciality. It is important in crafting tailored approaches- from grip techniques to adjusting focus, everything must cater towards exploring the potential of the aspirant.

3.Challenges in the TennisThriving Backdrop of Atlanta

Atlanta is one of the largest tennis centers in the world. This unique city provides plenty of opportunity for coaches and aspiring tennis players. However, the challenges are also fierce here: 

• Lack of attempts from USTA, USPTA, GPTA and other organizations to create centralized documentation on certified tennis coaches. Unawareness of the existing database on the part of general people,  is equally challenging. 
• Lack of personal networking among coaches to limit word of mouth referral systems.
• Around 40% of the coaches are not certified. Many certified coaches do not want to keep their certificates up to date due to various issues, like- fees.

Takeaways of the Episode

Plausible Solutions and Alternatives

• GoTennis launched the Coach Finder feature to connect potential players with certified coaches in Atlanta.  Their discussion centers around the benefits of a well-developed centralized system like this to the players, parents and coaches. The conversation explores how such attempts can help GPTA and how a possible reformation of GPTA can help in the networking of coaches around Atlanta.   They discuss how organizations like the GPTA (Georgia Professional Tennis Association) and USTA (United States Tennis Association) can support a more unified community through education, networking, and certification.

A Change of Cultures

• The episode’s ultimate suggestion is that collaboration is a must for improvement of Atlanta tennis. The guests and host advocate for a data driven referral system that can easily connect proper coaches with students in terms of locations, skill level and preferred goals.

Connect and Share your Experiences with Us

If you find the podcast on finding the right coach informative, then please encourage us with your subscription. Share with your teammates and peers. If you have any tennis story that you would like us to cover in our podcast, do share it with us in My Tennis Story. 

YouTube LIVE Replay: https://youtube.com/live/2o_tkxh6SbY

Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]

https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]

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Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]

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