Are you the parent of a promising young tennis player?
Are you taking your kids and driving them to training and tournaments and forking out money and everything that is needed for this game, this quite complex game of tennis? Well I hope I can help you out with some tips for being the best tennis parent you can be and obviously in being a parent myself, I understand the home life as well as the professional life on the court, and I feel like hopefully I can help you become a better tennis parent and help your kids become the best they can be.
The first thing that I want to talk about is that the kids are not a reflection of you as a parent.
"If they don't succeed it doesn't mean you're not doing the right job."
You don't have to worry about what people think about you as a parent. All you have to worry about is what your child thinks of you at the end of the day (and I love my kids more than anything). At the end of the day, it's about enjoying an experience with your family and whether or not you become successful, whether or not your child wins grand slams, local tournaments, nationals, is irrelevant to your parenting. At the end of the day your child is going to become (or will be) your child much longer than they are a tennis player.
We only have a certain amount of time in this game and the most important part about being a parent, is being a parent. Your kids will love you for being a parent and they'll hate you for being a tennis parent. So the most important thing is to be there for them and listen to them, because it's sometimes all a tennis kid needs is an ear to bark at after a match and to let you know how they feel, how they felt on the court. They need to let off steam.
I think it's a really important thing is to just listen to them, because your kids are out there feeling it and obviously you feel it because it's an emotional attachment when you're watching the match. But, they feel it and I feel as though they deserve the right for us to listen. It's something I'm improving in my parenting, but listening is a critical component of being the best parent you can be.