The difficulties of being a tennis parent!

Being a tennis parent to a promising youngster is not an easy task and finding the perfect balance between encouragement and pressure can be a rocky road. As a coach I have seen young hopefuls after a poor performance in competition, brought to tears at the courtside by over-enthusiastic parents. There were even times when pupils of mine were unable to compete in front of their parents due to the overwhelming weight of pressure and expectation.

In some households, tennis seemed to be the only topic of conversation - the subjects varying from technical analysis, competitors’ wins and losses, tournaments etc. This constant tennis talk only served as reminder of the importance of the game in the family - which of course built the pressure yet more. The parents on the whole meant well and absolutely did not mean to cause this grief - they were just carried along on the wave of ambition and competition that manifested itself in this unfortunate way.

Some parents could see the error of their ways and were able to channel their enthusiasm in positive constructive ways. Others were not and generally ended up with a child who no longer wished to play the game.

Every player feels awful at the end of a bad loss - constructive criticism mixed with highlighting the positives, is very much part of the improvement process. There is no place for the outright mental slaughter of a young player.

I was very fortunate as a youngster, as my father was a professional soccer player in England, who played the bulk of his years in the top division. As a result, he had experienced the ups of a great performance and the lows of a bad one. His experience also told him when the time was right to discuss my performances - at the side of the court was not one of them! When it came to my junior tennis days - the cup was definitely always half-full in the eyes of my parents.

The coaching, travelling to tournaments, training camps and the practise sessions, are hard work for any tennis parent. The better the child is, the busier the schedule becomes. But let’s not forget that a happy young player will be a better player in the long run.

JK

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