After 35 years of teaching tennis, I am leaving the industry, once and for all, for good. There will be no comebacks like Jonny Farnham or Lleyton Hewitt, it's dun n dusted and here's why:
The following three experiences were over the last 18 months of an Interstate travel/coaching trip that I embarked on and nothing is exaggerated, nothing is falsified, everything is 100 percent factual.
Club 1 - I made some calls in January 2023 to some tennis coaches on the east coast of Australia looking for a sea change of sorts. One part of the World stood out more than anywhere else and I was fortunate enough to land a spot in Term 1, well, I thought I was lucky, things weren't however as they seemed.
I was told I would be looking at approximately 25 hours per week, at $40 per hour, the standard rate it seems nowadays for a qualified tennis coach, although some coaches will in fact pay you more, some less.
Week 1- I did 12 hours, not quite what I was looking for but it paid the rent that week, only just. It just so happened that the same week I started, another coach pulled the pin due to personal reasons. I received a phone call;
"Hey GT, we have a bit going on at present, how would you like to do around 30 hours per week?"
Sounds great, look forward to it.
To this day, I still don't actually know where those '30 hours' went as I only did 13 hours that very next week. Maybe he gave them to someone else, who knows?
A few days went by and no money went through my bank account so I naturally made a call to the boss.
"Aaaah sorry GT, I forgot to put your pay through, will do it straight away".
I sent through a message stating that I would be moving on, all the best.
(Centrelink pays more than what I received on those 2 weeks and they actually pay on time).
Club 2 - I made some calls once again and secured another position coaching in another state on the east coast. On face value, everything seemed pretty appealing, the club was one kilometer from where I was staying and the boss seemed a ripper bloke.
We didn't even discuss pay but I simply assumed it would be at least $40 as he seemed pretty keen to take on an experienced coach.
Week 1- I did around 22 hours, a bit of a step up from what I had done at the previous club however when I looked at my pay slip I noticed that $35 was my hourly rate. Was I wrong to have not talked pay before I even commenced or was I simply a little too trusting of an industry that every now and then rewards an experience coach for his or her knowledge?
Some red ball lessons I did I was coordinating 6 kids of say 6 years or even younger who were paying $20 per session so after doing the sums on what was going into the head coach's pocket and what was going into mine, well, I felt that he was simply taking the piss.
For instance, in that particular lesson I made $17.50 for the half hour, the head coach cleared $102.50.
Is it just me or is that a discrepancy that wreaks of taking the piss?
I did in fact see out the entire term there but one thing stood out as much as the lack of dollars I was making, none of the kids could volley and I mean NONE.
On one particular occasion, the boss said to me "Hey GT, I noticed you like doing a lot of volley drills, none of my students here like to volley". (No shit).
Now, when I say that none of the students could volley, I mean that all of the students I taught that term had as much knowledge of the volley that I have of being able to hit a par on a golf course, it was staggering.
Personally, I teach every student EVERY shot, not just the glamorous shots.
But at least I finished the term, just enough hours available each week to pay for the rent and a few beers at the end of it.
Would I do it all again?
Yeah, why not? My theory was simple, perhaps somewhere I may just land a gig that resulted in a reasonable hourly rate with enough hours to get me by plus an appreciation of the 35 years or so I had completed in a sport that I was in fact beginning to lose some faith in.
Club 3 - Living the life of a gypsy of sorts had been appealing, all of my kids had grown up and left the nest, I was single, no ties, no real responsibilities in life, no debt, nothing really holding me back from the lifestyle I had been thinking about for years.
So, could this next particular gig be the one?
I was hopeful....
The location was perfect, basically on the beach, just enough hours to fund the lifestyle I yearned for and an hourly rate that I suppose was fairly standard as I was finding out with each club I coached at ($40 per hour).
The red ball sessions were daily however the groups weren't as big so basically it wasn't as big a head mess as the previous club. Red ball groups can be bearable, but only if the numbers are small.
The adult lessons were enjoyable and again, mainly 3 or 4 in a group so as far as the stress levels were concerned, well, it wasn't too messy.
On the second last week however I was asked to take on an extra 3 adults in my group which took the numbers up to 7 due to overbooking of the courts that night (an error admitted by the boss). Now just on that, if another coach is sent home and a group is almost doubled for another coach, should the profits be split or at the least, divided?
In other words, I received $40 for that hour, the boss received a bonus $60 for the hour with the extra 3 students in that group which equated to an extra $100 for that hour as the other coach was sent home due to the courts being overbooked.
Final sums on that particular hour - GT $40, Boss man $100 (after paying me).
Next day - a public holiday. (Courts were still open though for business and a competition was in fact being played).
I received a message from the boss, could I come in and look after his business for a few hours as he had 'double booked' himself again.
No worries, can do.
Here's the clincher; I was to be paid $30 per hour as opposed to the $40 I was actually on all term simply because in his mind, the work I was asked to do for him was 'less'. My question was this; Why would you drop someone's hourly rate on a public holiday no matter what the task was??
Shouldn't it have at least been the same?
So, I did the sums as I had been doing over not only that incident, but the one the night before where I made the boss an extra $100 clear, plus the club before that and the club before that too and I came up with this conclusion;
The Tennis Coaching Industry is a circus, it's unregulated, it's full of cowboys who make up their own rules as they go along and qualified tennis coaches are not being looked after. My son makes $42 an hour and he's 20 years of age. He works for a grain company and whilst his job has responsibilities, he is an unskilled laborer, (no offence buddy if you read this).
My point is this; If you are a qualified tennis coach and are basically responsible for students of all ages coming through the gate (let's face it, if you are no good, the student numbers will soon drop off) then surely the head coach needs to look after you, yet it's not happening.
In fact, from what I have experienced over the past 18 months throughout coaching at 3 different tennis clubs I would even go as far as to say that qualified tennis coaches are simply treated as 'ball hitters' and we all know in this industry what the difference is between both.
I ran my own coaching business back home in the West and trust me, you are only as good as your assistants......
Most will know what I mean in that respect.
So, it's dun n dusted, I vow never to return to an industry that is so far gone as far as common sense is concerned and it's all due to people being left in charge of tennis clubs and businesses who fail to see that if you look after the people who can grow your business and clubs then they deserve to be looked after in more ways than one.
Good luck with your future ball hitters guys, this coach has retired......
GT
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