'WORD FOR WORD'

The following piece of literature is from a person who i must get in contact with at some stage , just looking for their address now, it's quite simply BRILLIANT, here it is , word for word from 'tennis insiders.com;
'Right now there are about 14 US players on the ATP and WTA tours who are earning a net profit. They span about 17.5 years of playing on tour. That means that the US as a Country produces about 8 1/10's of one paying job per year as a pro tennis player. If you are pushing your child for that 8 1/10's of one job then you need to have your head examined. The pro tennis system is broken beyond belief. It is nothing short of a flat out Business catastrophe perpetrated against our sport .... but it is still our catastrophe. So unless you are going to start a new pro tour ..... you are looking at 80 percent of one paying job per year. 
It cracks me up that the 100's of 1000's of dollars that people spend on their kid's tennis, berating them after their losses, devoting their entire family's live's to the cause ..... only to find out that the average professional tennis player loses money as opposed to makes it. People look at Anna Dok and Maria as the norm when they should be going to Number 759 on the rankings to give that guy a call. His life is slightly different than limousine's and cheering crowds.'
There is slightly more to this fantastic article but what i have just written is the main idea, brilliant isn't it ? It goes on to say that 'Coaches' should be focusing on making sure that these kids are still playing when they are 70 as opposed to trying to make it their life until then. Now this is no set up , i promise you , I have a good buddy in Queensland who sent me that email last night , we used to play together at Coops in Brisbane when we were 16 and 17 year old's respectively. Please take the time if you haven't already to read some of my last chapters regarding burn out of kids and lining tennis 'coaches' pockets , particularly in the off season where i believe maybe a 90 minute session once a week just to keep your shot memory fresh is plenty. This 90 minute session does not of course have to be with a 'coach' who charges $70 per hour for the 'privilege' of gracing the court with him. 
I touched on a subject regarding a kid who i used to teach locally but who went through the burn out phase through aimless hitting and endless tournaments to please his 'coach' and to be used as a publicity poster for the organization burning him out . Well this kid is slowly but surely finding his way back into the game, as are two of his mates who hit with me when they get the occasional urge . We have a bit of fun with the game now days and i always tell them the following things. ' Forget the fact that you didn't make it as Pro's , percentage wise it was never going to happen , but you guys can play the game well . Look what i did 20 something years ago , the game took me to Europe and taught me the realistic side of World tennis standard , something that i would recommend to some parents who think their child is a 'World beater'.
Was i under any illusions when i went to Europe to play ? Ha! It was an education trip for me as i knew that teaching the game was where i was at , trying to make money from playing was a Walt Disney story. So back to these young players i hit with occasionally. 
I find that it's a responsibility of guys like myself to keep these young players in touch with the game despite their obvious past that had them hating the game by the time they ceased play . Now days it's for fun but just some days you can see that these players still have the fire that they once owned plus sensational double handed back hands that may just one day take them across to the other side of the World as it did with myself.  
Christian Segni and Brett Patten both reached World number 1 at different times for their 40's age group not long ago, now there's a more realistic goal......