I was talking to some players recently–it was real late as the matches are running late and I was asked this question. “What is the best thing you can do to improve?” My answer-“Play racquetball.” Next question, “No, I mean what drill is the best or what do you look for?” My answer, “The drill that is the best is the one you need to do to improve. I do not know that that drill is until I see you play.” Next question, “Okay will you watch me play and give me a drill?” My answer, “Yes, of course. Go to my website and pay online or you can just pay me now.” Next came, “Oh, I not want to pay you, I just want the information.” My answer, “What do you do for a living?” Response: “I am a landscaper.”
My response: “Will you come over to my house and landscape my front lawn for free?” I do not want to pay you, I just want my lawn to look nice.
Here is another one I got at the same tournament. “Hey Coach, I wanted to come to your camp last year but I couldn’t go because something came up.”
Me: What do you do for a living? Response: “I am a financial planner.” Me: “I almost hired you but I couldn’t because something came up.”
Funny thing about all of this is I do not mind helping folks but I am mindful of a previous post I did about an incident where I helped a starving artist type for free only to find him going to a competitor and paying my competitor a huge sum of money. He did not value what I gave him. Why? Because it was free. When you pay, you commit. When you commit you improve!
Addendum: If you do not choose the coaching help your path to excellence becomes harder and much longer. The added costs of travel, losing, entry fees, etc. add up. My suggestion is to pay now or you will most assuredly have to pay later!!