I was sent a rather funny story the other day regarding Australia's very own Roger Rasheed and a coaching clinic on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
Who is Roger Rasheed ?
Just ask him, he will explain in great detail.
RR has spent time with Lleyton Hewitt, Grigor Dimitrov, Gael Monfils and Jo Wilfrid Tsonga, a long list of tennis professionals but not quite sure what he does now days, though the following information may give us all an indication.
Roger Rasheed is conducting a two day coaching clinic at a rather obscure tennis club called 'Kawana' which most of us have never heard of however RR has decided to go there, good on him.
Now before we get into the nitty gritty of all of this I suppose we should tell you that John Tomic once sent RR a 'good will' message congratulating him on taking over as coach of Lleyton Hewitt and taking him from World number 1 to World number 19 in around 6 months of 'tuition'.
Hey, don't blame me, John T came up with that information, very astute is Mr T.
Not quite sure how long RR spent with Jo and Gael however I don't believe it was very long, in coaching terms anyhow as it takes years to forge a strong coach/ player relationship.
Interesting, when Grigor Dimitrov switched from RR to his current coach, a bloke with a real flash name, well, his game went berserk and he just won the year ending championships in London. I believe they have been working together for around two years.
Anyhow RR apparently is so well credentialed now days that he is charging the following price for a coaching clinic to top all coaching clinics, $250 per player per day, yes that's correct. But wait there's more.
RR is offering just 5 hours for that price though there is a bonus for every player who pays up, they get lunch with that rather hefty price tag.
Now usually if a student pays $250 for that sort of tuition it will probably be with a past champion of the game or in a group of perhaps 3 to 4 players. My question is this, what if 20 players turn up Rog' ?? How can you justify $50 per hour for that many players ?
There is also one more issue, it's a two day thing, so if you want to play for two days it will cost $500 for ten hours of tuition though if 20 players turn up how is that value ??
Not quite sure who is regulating tennis coaching pricing now days because Roger Rasheed is not really making it affordable now is he ?
Is Tennis Australia doing everything in it's power to make the game affordable or is it simply what I called the sport a long time ago ? A 'Free For all' ? Why is this sort of thing acceptable ?
Well that's tennis for you.
Tennis Australia employ Roger Rasheed to commentate at the Australian Open each year so RR has surely something to do with TA so how does TA allow RR to turn up at some obscure tennis club on the Sunshine Coast of Australia and charge that sort of money to working class parents for their kids to attend 10 hours of coaching ?
Why will RR's methods be better than the local club coach's theories on the game ? Did RR build those players who I mentioned or did he simply just spend time with them ? Is John Tomic correct in his assumption ? Check the rankings on when RR took over as coach of Hewitt, JT is 100 per cent correct.
Anyhow enough of all that.
The point is this, you can go armed to the teeth with all of the information that you think will be enough to build the future of the sport of tennis and charge whatever you think you are worth but the truth is this, you are just another coach with just another theory on possibly the toughest one on one sport in the World.
You may think you are worth $50 per hour in a group session however most intelligent coaches would go with perhaps a $20 - $25 per hour price tag which is not only affordable but also has a hint of humbleness about it and not complete arrogance.
Tennis is a sport that finds success as often as a catching a Blue Marlin with a hand line. It may happen but in reality it won't, the odds are not in your favor.
If someone offers a two day coaching clinic at those sorts of prices it does nothing to change people's minds that tennis is in fact an elitist sport where only the rich will afford to play it.
RR did in fact coach Hewitt, Tsonga, Monfils and Dimitrov but he did not build them. He no longer coaches any of them.
What are you offering for lunch Roger ?
Hope it's not a snag in a bun..........
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