When you travel to Europe to play a game as tough as Tennis , many thoughts go through your mind but being on the other side of the World and losing to Europeans who didn't speak fluent English can test your sense of humor. In saying that , it was as i have said many times , an 'Education' that set my coaching up and gave me a rather shrewd and 'down to earth' philosophy that in some instances has probably cost me money. In line with my 'Ugly Parent' post that i published just recently on my site I feel that some Parents don't want the 'truth' regarding their child's 'real' ability , they want to hear an 'inflated' version instead , good for their ego as well as their 'prodigy's'. I have always told it how i see it , I make no apologies for it either , because in the end it is a game that is not unlike golf , the similarities of the individual sports are evident. If you kick the ball out of the bush and tell your mates you 'chipped' it then who did you cheat ? And if as a Coach of the game of Tennis you tell the pupil that they are ready to take on the 'big guns' in the City when they are battling to hit 10 balls over in a row then who are you cheating ?
In Europe after a series of first round losses in singles that i was competitive in most , my first victory actually came in the form of a Doubles win in a little town called Garoult , perhaps 100 kilometres from the city of Paris. Peter and I played together for the first time and we made it to the final against two German players and I was lucky enough to be on the same side of the net as a guy who had a great all round game , Pete didn't have too many weaknesses. We came away with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory and we partied long into the night , Peter also won the singles against Brett in the final , an 'Australian whitewash' in Paris......
The prize money wasn't life changing but enough at least to buy some food , fuel and to put a few dollars back into the pocket to keep the sense of humor in tact. How many players who have traveled to Europe can lay claim to winning a Tennis Tournament on their first outing and in the process receive a newspaper article written on them ??! I wish we had kept that paper or at least the article as it would be up in a frame on my wall for all to see , the trophy also has disappeared , probably courtesy of shifting house 15 times over the last 23 years......
The European trip and in particular the Doubles victory with Peter Gerrans will long be remembered as one of those 'life changing experiences' for one reason or another but one thing is for certain . Having an insight into the World of Tennis as opposed to a 'text book education' has defined me as a Coach and I would like to think that my current and future students will continue to learn the game with a realistic approach.I called my site Glenn Thompson Tennis Technique for a reason , forget the gimmicks and the smoke and mirror routines , get the technique right and the rest will fall into place , trust me.......
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