hey guys people people ask me all the time about you know coaching the art of coaching um you know a while back uh my great friend the late great Tim Heckler he asked me to write the curriculum for the uspta and give a lot of input on My Views and my belief and insight on the game so just to help other people uh teach the game but when people ask me about some of the key uh components of of being a great coach or being uh you know how you get into the Hall of Fame obviously I don't give those things out but when it's all said and done the number one thing that I would say is consistency tra stay true to yourself you want to be consistent and when it's all said and done you got to care about others more than you care about yourself a teacher is a role model they're a father figure okay they're a mentor okay you're going to help people more off the court by how you teach them than maybe you do with their forehand back in and serve and I've pretty much been that way since I started doing this at age 21 years old okay I I've been the same way and the same message and your students and parents can feel that you're going to get the knowledge as you go along and you're going to adjust and adapt because you always want to get smarter and get more educated every day but the key to a great coach you have to be a leader you have to lead by example you can't be saying one thing and then you do you're doing the exact opposite and then the art of communication how you say it why you say it when you say it who you say it to the way I teach a 75y old guy is different than maybe an 18yearold uh guy who's number one in the world in the Juniors or someone top 10 in the world or a six-year-old okay that's the art of coaching you got to be able to adapt you have to be able to adapt okay and it's an EB and flow you might have a plan in your head for that day but you got to be flexible the best PL in the history of the world are flexible that's a big thing with coaching and always remember there's not a wrong way or a right way there's a better way depending on who's in front of you and you might have to adapt it you're going to adapt it you got to feel the temperature feel the temperature of the parent feel the temperature of the student how they do in the last tournament you got to then the most important thing is besides how to educate you got to know how to motivate people want to be around positive people they want you're there to inspire you got to want it more than them you can have such an impact I've had so many players be able to run through broken glass jump over fences they did things they never thought they could do and it's our job as teachers and role models to get them to do that and this is how you have to think this is how you have to think and it's your attitude and your passion if you love to help other people and you can't wait to get on the tennis score okay you're going to be the best you can be the educational part you're going to learn and you should try to get better every day I learn every day from my students I learn every day from the parents okay and a lot of you guys listen this video you can go to net rck okay which I got a whole medley of videos that you can get or just a lot of things biomechanically speaking that you could get you always want to get better and have in your toolbox and you then you have to be then you have to be Flex fible when you're out here you definitely have to be flexible and you got to lead as I said by example and the passion the passion you want to feel it and you got to motivate and you got to know how to go high with your voice and go low you got to know when to hug someone and when you have to be a little tougher on someone you have to be able to adapt it's not your way or the highway that doesn't work especially with kids these days and keeping up with the times I mean that's old old old school if that's the way you are it's your way and that's the only way that works that's never going to work so one of the big keys to this whole thing is you as a person being a to adapt and people ask me all the time like Rick who's your favorite student of all time okay it's kind of crazy because people might think I might say Venus or Serena or capriotti or rodic or mosina or Pierce or Tommy ho or Sonia Kennan I could go on and on Kem Alami Christian rude okay so many players have had the opportunity to coach but it's the easiest question I'm ever asked and this is the way you guys should feel too your favorite student of all time who who's who's on the other side of that net that hour that minute that second if that's the way you think you're going to go to the mountain top good luck