Intercollegiate Tennis Association

Player Development - Joey Scrivano

Joey Scrivano is in his 18th season with Baylor and the guest in this week's College Tennis Coaches Podcast. In his 18 seasons leading the Baylor women's tennis program, Scrivano has put his Lady Bears among the nation's elite, along with 19 combined Big 12 Conference championships between regular season and tournament titles.

He led Baylor to an impressive 14-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 2005-18, and Baylor earned trips to the NCAA Final Four in 2008 and 2011. During that 14-year span, Baylor compiled an astounding 125-16 (.887) record. Scrivano was promoted from head coach to the director of women's tennis in July 2016.

On this episode, we discuss how he stays ahead of the curve with all things player development and his process for planning his student-athletes practice schedule. Also, we talk about why he videos all of his practices and how tennis has become such an influential aspect of Baylor Athletics and the Waco, Texas community.

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:

• 02:01 - Why do you think that player development is such an important aspect of your coaching career?
• 05:08 - What things are you exploring that will help your student-athletes progress in their playing career?
• 07:34 - How do evaluate changes and adapt to your team? Are you taking feedback from your student-athletes?
• 09:40 - How have you been able to instill a high level of professionalism in your student-athletes?
• 11:00 - How do you figure out where student-athletes fit in your profile?
• 13:13 - What is your process for planning your practices?
• 15:20 - Do you record all of your practices?
• 16:33 - Do you have a form of reflection on your own coaching? Do you go back and analyze the job that you have done as a coach?
• 20:54 - What is the biggest theme that you really struggle with when you're trying to develop players? What solutions do you have when you come across that hinderance?
• 23:40 - Has being a father helped you with your coaching style and ego?
• 24:49 - Have you had to adapt how you develop players with changing generations?
• 27:42 - Where do you spend the majority of your time outside of recruiting and player development?
• 29:56 - How do you develop relationships with sport supervisors?
• 32:09 - How did tennis become so influential at Baylor?
• 35:53 - What else are you doing within the community that is allowing you to have such a high level of stature within your athletic department?
• 40:40 - What recommendations or quick tips do you have for coaches on how they can maximize their facility?
• 43:25 - What is a book that made a major impact on you as a coach?
• 45:41 - What is your favorite drill?
• 45:55 - Name one thing you've changed your mind on in recent years - in coaching or in life?
• 47:00 - What is your favorite quote?
• 47:37 - What is one lesson that you hope your players learn by the time they leave Baylor?

Fearless Recruiting - Dr. Bill Moore

This is the second in our series of interviews with an expert. This month speak with Dr. Bill Moore who also happens to be a former college tennis coach. Dr. Moore is an influential author, international speaker and executive coach. He has trained world class athletes, performing artists and business professionals all over the world. In the past several years Dr. Moore has dedicated much of his professional time to helping sales professionals be more effective in their prospecting abilities. 

 

In this podcast we talk about how coaches can go from having a fear of failure to having an excitement for success, the beliefs held by confident recruiters, how a coach can manage their reluctance around self promotion and much much more

 

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:

• 01:12 - What is your experience as a college tennis coach and player?
• 03:45 - What are some of the common themes that emerge from those that change their thinking and habits?
• 11:02 - What are some the issues that you see that hold people back from achieving their sales/recruiting goals?
• 14:16 - How do you focus on promoting your program/university rather than promoting yourself?
• 18:22 - How can coaches make the switch from a "fear of failure" mindset to the excitement for success?
• 23:01 - What are the beliefs and actions of confident recruiters?
• 27:05 - What are some other tools that coaches can use to build their confidence when recruiting?
• 29:19 - How would a coach know if they have a lack of motivation for recruiting or if they are a reluctant recruiter?
• 30:30 - How would you encourage coaches to manage interferences/disruptions?
• 34:25 - What is your definition of high performance?
• 39:17 - Do you have any strategies for coaches to deal with inevitable ups and downs and pressure?
• 41:50 - How could coaches find ways to keep players engaged over the summer & continue team culture? 

Budgeting 101 & Recruiting Tales - Mark Ardizzone

If you want to learn how to maximize your operating budget, this is the episode for you! Mark Ardizzone just completed his first year as the Associate Head Women's Coach at Florida State University. Mark was the Head Coach at Depaul University for 23 seasons leading the team to four Big East Championships. He was also named the ITA Midwest Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2014 and won Big East Coach of the Year honors five times.

 

Mark discusses his humble beginnings in tennis, his transition into college tennis coaching, how he went about maximizing every penny in his budget during his early days at Depaul and how that penny pinching has served him well throughout his college career. He provides some expertise on International Recruiting and shares some hilarious stories from some of his trips to Europe. 

 

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:

• 01:27 - What are some of your experiences as a junior player and college tennis student-athlete?
• 06:33 - How did you move into college tennis coaching?
• 10:40 - How would you encourage coaches to maximize their operating budgets?
• 14:25 - When did you take your first international recruiting trip and what did you learn?
• 17:26 - How did you find ways to stretch your budget when you were recruiting internationally?
• 23:11 - How did you break down the barriers of international recruiting and build trust?
• 26:02 - What is your most memorable international recruiting experience?
• 30:40 - How has your coaching experience changed while going from Mid-Major to Power Five
• 33:57 - What changes have you seen in college tennis in the last couple of decades that concern you?
• 38:00 - What is your hope for the future of college tennis?
• 41:48 - Is there a book that has made a major impact on you as a coach?
• 43:49 - Do you have a favorite tennis drill?
• 46:33 - Name one thing you've changed your mind on in recent years?
• 48:11 - What is one lesson you hope your players have learned from you as they leave your program?

Time Management & Continuing Education - Pam Rende

Pam Rende has led both the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Division III Arcadia for the past 5 seasons. However, Pam has been coaching for over 20 years in the Philadelphia area and has worked with players of all levels from beginner to grand slam participants. She serves on the board of the USTA Philadelphia Area Tennis District and is working towards her PTR Master of Tennis certification.

 

In this podcast we discuss how Pam manages two college teams while running L3 Tennis and leading a staff of seven full time pros and up to 20 seasonal pros. We discuss some of the assumptions people make about a woman coaching a men’s team, why continuing education is so important for coaches and if college coaches should consider pursuing a coaching certification. Pam also provides some great answers to our newly implemented rapid fire round.

 

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here:

01:35 - How did you know that tennis would be the sport you would dedicate your life to?

04:25 - Why did you land on college tennis coaching - what interested you in becoming a coach?

06:19 - Being a female coach, how did the men's team accept you as a their coach when you came on board?

10:05 - Have you found any differences between coaching men and coaching women?

13:55 - Toggling between both genders, how did you develop being able to balance coaching these genders?

14:55 - How do you go about developing relationships with student-athletes?

18:00 - Do you see the gender bias statistics of women as coaches reflected in college athletics?

21:25 - Do you have any advice for young female coaches that are starting out in this profession?

23:30 - How do you manage your time and do you have any management tips/tools?

27:00 - What are some of the coaching programs that you have attended for coaching development?

32:11 - What are some of the lessons that you have learned in life outside of college athletics that have helped you as a coach?

36:51 - What is a book that made a major impact on you as a coach?

37:29 - What is your favorite drill?

39:50 - Name one thing that you have changed your mind on in recent years - in coaching or life!

40:11 - Do you have a favorite quote?

41:10 - What is one lesson you hope your players have learned by the time they leave?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Stories We Tell Ourselves... - Dr. Jim Loehr

This is a special release of the ITA College Tennis Coaches Podcast!

Dr. Jim Loehr is a world renowned performance psychologist and author of 16 books. Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and  law enforcement. He is well known in the tennis industry for his work with Grand Slam champions Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. He is the co-founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute which delivers a science-based energy management training solution to a wide array of industry leaders including 25 of the Fortune 100 companies, Olympic Gold Medalists and the Special Forces.

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 

01:45 - What stories should the coaches be telling their student-athletes in this time of uncertainty?

08:58 - How could college coaches be leaders not only for their teams, but for their athletic departments and communities?

15:45 - How can coaches build resilience in themselves?

19:45 - How should coaches find their purpose and why?

22:28 - How do you encourage coaches to be less concerned about wins/losses and more about their athlete's development?

29:19 - What does the shift in career look like as a coach? How did they shift their attention and focus back to the development of the student-athletes?

35:07 - How would you encourage coaches to increase their skillset in player development?

40:33 - Do you have a story about a student-athlete/player that you worked with that went through personal development?

49:13 - How would you encourage coaches to have players adopt their leadership style and team culture?

 

 

 

Having a Vision - Matt Hill

Matt Hill is the head men’s coach at Arizona State University. He began his coaching career as a volunteer at Alabama, moved to the assistant coaching role at Mississippi State before taking over the program at the University of South Florida. There he inherited a team with a losing record, and 4 years later found themselves in the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. After his success at USF he was named the head coach of the newly reinstated men’s program at Arizona State in 2016, and helped his team to an NCAA berth in just their first year of competition.Matt is one of those rare coaches who appear to excel in all areas of running a college tennis program. He not only has a clear vision for his program at ASU but also a vision for college tennis. Matt’s insights and execution of marketing and fundraising are second to none, and I believe every college coach in the country can learn something from this conversation.

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 

 01:45 - What are some of the steps that you took in the first 3 months of your positions that set you up for success?

04:35 - What are some of the qualities that you look for in an assistant coach?

06:10 - How do you think you are able to convince accomplished players to believe in a losing/new program?

10:01 - What lessons did you learn along the way to set you up to have success along the way?

13:09 - How do you believe you're juggling priorities to build a successful program?

17:06 - What are some of the things that you implement to engage the community & bring fans out?

22:04 - Do you believe that coaches in general have lost sight of the bigger picture?

25:01 - Do you believe that charging admission for college tennis matches is possible?

29:37 - How can coaches get ahead of the discussion of budget cuts?

36:09 - How did you identify and build relationships with potential donors?

38:04 - Are there easier asks from donors - are there traditional items that are easier to ask for?

40:53 - What message do you have for coaches about mindset surrounding the build of your program?

 

 

Creating Your Own Legacy - Dash Connell

Dash Connell is one of the lucky coaches who have the unique honor to coach at their alma mater. He was an All-American at Tyler Junior College before moving on to play for the Texas A & M Aggies under Tim Cass. He returned to Tyler in 2009 to work for his former coach John Peterson, before taking over the head coaching duties in 2011 as interim head coach for one year, being named head coach in 2012. Dash discusses what it was like to follow in the footsteps of a legendary coach in John Peterson, what he learned from him and how he handles the expectations for the tennis program at Tyler. We talk about some the myths college coaches have around junior intercollegiate tennis, the pros and cons of recruiting junior college players and much more.

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 

01:44 - What attracted you to Tyler Junior College?

04:02 - At what point did you figure out that you might want to be a college tennis coach?

05:41 - What qualities did coaches see in you to make you an offer as a coach?

07:01 - What profound lessons did you learn early on from your coaches?

10:57 - Did you feel a lot of pressure to emulate your coaches success?

12:35 - How do you personally manage the pressure to succeed?

14:25 - What were some of the unexpected surprises that you faced when transitioning through your coaching career?

16:47 - How did you put your own personality & philosophy on your team? How did you make your program, your own?

20:07 - What myths do you think exist in the realm of college coaching ranks about Junior College tennis?

22:15 - What are the similarities between Junior College tennis and other divisions?

24:02 - What are the pros & cons of recruiting Junior College tennis student-athletes? Why should other coaches consider recruiting Junior College tennis student-athletes?

26:01 - What are some of the challenges that you face?

28:42 - Why do you think up and coming coaches should consider coaching at the Junior College level?

31:22 - How would you advise Junior College coaches and coaches at any other levels to maximize their potential?

 

From Volunteer to Assistant to Head Coach - Marisa Arce

Marisa Arce is in her 5^th year as a head women’s tennis coach and has nearly completed her first year as the head coach at Depaul University. She started her college coaching career as a volunteer assistant at the University of Oklahoma in 2012 shortly after graduating from the University of Illinois.

In this episode we discuss her decision to start her career as a volunteer, if it was worth it and how she has transitioned from volunteer to assistant coach and on to becoming a head coach. We discuss the challenges of combining college coaching and parenting and how she is navigating her new job, her new-born baby and all the other obligations she is facing at this point in her young coaching career.

 

Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 

2:14 - When did it dawn on you that your career would be as a college tennis coach?   

4:20 - What was the feedback you were getting from the programs that you were applying to?

8:35 - What was different about moving into a full-time assistant role?

17:05 - "Better Allies" by Karen Catlin - 37% of Women's Tennis coaches are women. 

18:20 - Do you think that a male athletic director would have hired you knowing that you were nine-months pregnant at the time? 

23:23 - How do you deal with the struggle of having a family and being a coach? What adjustments did you have to make? 

29:05 - Are there any lessons that you apply today that you learned from any of your coaches along the way that you're applying to your team today?

 

 

 

 

 

Authentic Networking - Silviu Tanasiou

Silviu Tanasoiu is the head men's coach at Cornell. He is setting records at Cornell with his team currently ranked #16 in the ITA Rankings. Prior to coming to Cornell he was the assistant men’s coach at the University of Oklahoma. 

We discuss Silviu's journey from Romania to the U.S.A., his time on the WTA tour, his approach to learning and networking, why he turned down his dream job and what lessons he is learned to date in his young head coaching career.

This is a must listen episode for all college coaches but especially for young international coaches hoping to make a career as a college tennis coach.

Starting From Nothing - Brian Boland

Brian Boland has over 600 victories while serving as the head coach of Indiana State, Virginia and Baylor. He won four national championships in a five year span while at Virginia. He has coached 13 teams who have gone undefeated in conference play and one perfect season at Virginia, going 30-0 in 2013. He has already made his mark at Baylor winning the Big 12 Tournament Title in 2019.

In this conversation we discuss Brian’s early days as a coach at Indiana State, his development as a college coach and his ability to focus. Despite Brian’s obvious passion for college coaching and a never ending resume of incredible accolades, he still has his struggles, doubts and frustrations, just like the rest of us.