Student to me: “Yes, Coach XYZ called me and asked me if they could coach me.”
Calling students of other coaches is a huge no-no for me. I have said this before on this forum and I will repeat it again; I will never call anyone and ask them if I can coach them. Let me be more clear-I have never called an athlete and asked if I could coach them. Any athlete I work with, even the best, all came to me and asked me. They must come to me. All and I repeat-All of my athletes have come to me. I have to repeat this because my detractors believe I go around trolling for athletes.
I have even cut a few loose that have championship potential.
Why?
If you think you can get a fast answer to your racquetball issues-you are wrong. It takes time and work to build a champion. Some people are not happy with the long haul.
In fact, I now explain this to newbies. I want my players to improve; all of them! That means I have to point out where they need to improve. Recently I had an athlete post some video on facebook and all the fans raved about how great my athlete was hitting the ball. That same video I had reviewed with my athlete and explained a few minor mistakes.
My way works. I proved it in the 70s. 80s, 90s, and am still proving it. I don’t go to tournaments with three players–I go with a few more than that!–in the US Open I had 18 and 11 were pros. How is that possible?
I coach players to coach themselves. You see many of my athletes going into the coaching business? That is because they have learned the game and learned self analysis.
In National juniors last year I had 7. I may lose a few athletes because I do not seek people and I do not stretch ethics, but I do get motivated athletes. I am friendly to players of all levels but this is nothing new. I have always been that way. I respect athletes and I especially respect effort! In the long run four things are great about this approach.
1. Athletes who need me are ready to be coached.
2. If I sought out athletes and tried to “talk” them into coaching, I would need them; not the other way around!
3. Success builds more success; this is true in games won and true of my group of athletes l!
Go get’em tigers!!