TENNIS? WHY BOTHER.......................... by Javier Palenque

Tennis parents, look at these facts and make your own calculations:

• Odds of becoming a tennis pro 1 in 10000 or 0.0001%. That does not seem possible. If math is not so clear, divide one dollar into a hundred pieces, then divide the one-piece into another one hundred pieces. Those are your odds of you making it if you still can divide that one left piece by two. Ouch!!! I can't even see it? Another way to look at it is to divide a penny by 100. UFF!!!
• Break-even for a pro is #150 or approx. $160K year. Dad, how much do you make a year?
• It takes 4-8 years to reach the top 200, at a cost of $160K year that is between  $640K-$1,28M. Mary, how much is our house worth?
• Cost to train per year approx. $12K -$50k by age 15, you spent easily in 5-6 yrs. Roughly $60K - $300k. How many mutual funds can you buy with 12K per year?
• Only 7% of top world 100 juniors will be tennis pros and only 1% will be top 20. Top in the world, not in the USA. Hey John, did you win state yet?
• Until you win, you need to front end all expenses, ouch! But, I only make….
• 10,000 hrs. spent by age 18 with odds of 0.0001%? 5 hrs. day for 10 years, I should learn to code…

When one looks at the cold facts, there is absolutely no reason what so ever to aspire to be a professional player, and the cost and investment of time are just mind-blowing. Add to this list the randomness of injuries, bad coaching, mental factors, etc. These variables and experience combined with the real facts make the decision to pursue a pro career delusional. But, none of those horrible stats are why I encourage both of my kids to play tennis and to play it extremely well. I want my kids to play tennis, because I feel that there is no other sport that will prepare them for a life where they need to practice every day, compete every other weekend, win and lose, laugh and cry, become part of a team, make friends and of course exercise daily and learn their nutrition in an obese country, and last devote their daily life to better themselves knowing full well that there are many other players better than them. You see, when my kids are practicing hard every day, I on the way home, make sure to relate the practice to life in the future, let’s say my boy was on fire that day working towards a big competition, I tell my son how I’m preparing for a huge presentation at work or pursuing a business account that we need for the business. Sometimes, also he has to deal with a big loss. Well, at work I also have those experiences and often have to deal with them. Their tennis experience if properly focused will help them in the future, I assure you.

As I look forward a couple of years from now I see my kid at 15, practicing very hard, being fit, focused, worried about how to increase the speed of his serve, savvy with his nutrition and working extremely hard every day towards a goal, as opposed to other kids in his class, who with too much time in their hands, are looking for ways to get high, getting in trouble, out of shape, getting drunk and planning sex parties, etc. I think tennis keeps them, focused, determined, challenged and by the time they turn 18 ready to be champions in life. Through tennis, I will have taught them the value of time and how to use it. You see at 18 my kids will have learned the principles needed to succeed in life: independence, self-reliance, decision making, hard work, balance, determination, standing up after a big fall, disappointment and joy, they will experience the cost of winning and the sacrifices needed to get there, they will learn from losing and having to get up from it and understand that losing is only temporary feedback.

Through their junior tennis careers they will have learned to master the six key pillars of character ( M. Josephnson) through their wins, losses, and disappointments: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship will be well ingrained in their minds. In essence, they will be properly trained to make good choices and right calls in their lives. They will have also learned through the sport some key core values for their own life compass values like:

learning, discipline, resilience, perseverance , positivity and diligence.

You see, to be a good player, you need mastery of all those traits. To be a champion of your own life you need them too. I hope some of you agree with what I will say next, tennis is not about tennis. it's about life and making our country better. Through the sport and through the people the sport touched. Tennis is really important in our lives.

Unlike other parents, who falsely dream a pro career for their kids and the riches tennis will bring, I use tennis to make my kids better citizens, better sons, and daughters, someday a better father and mother, better people all around. Better Americans.While it would be great to get a scholarship to a great school, emphasis on great academic school, not any school that has tennis. I have to plan for that eventuality as coaches make little money. We know that the time we spend together, the adventure of tennis made us closer as a family, kept us working towards a common goal and made our journey as parents and kids the most enjoyable way to spend time together, to bond, to get better, to grow as champions, to make new friends, to travel and stay in lousy hotels because that’s all we could afford, to play younger and older competitors and to laugh together. To live the journey of this experience we know as parenting and life.

Wow!, it seems to me that I have found a way to prepare my kids for their professional careers and it is not in tennis. I’ll take tennis’ horrible odds, knowing full well that for my kids there is simply no other way I would have chosen to spend our time together, to prepare them for when they leave our nest, to be able to fly for themselves and be champions in their own destiny. Yeah!

I love you tennis, I love you. Javier.

 I can be reached at ([email protected]; @palenquej)

Discuss the article and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!