By: Rob Wright
People often ask me how I ended up in America coaching tennis and why I choose to coach here as opposed to my home country of England. Although I grew up playing tennis in England on grass courts and began my coaching career there under the comprehensive Lawn Tennis Association system. I was inspired to become a full-time coach after a coaching position in Greece. I coached at a vacation resort in Rhodes, a beautiful Greek Island, working in the sun all day, hitting balls, and meeting new people. I thought instantly, “This is what I want to do. I love this. I am made for this.” Once the summer was over, I returned to England excited and ready to start my new career as a tennis professional or, as I like to say, “a tennis dream technician.” All geared and ready to go, I stepped out on to the court. It was the first of November. I quickly realized the days of summer were no more. I was cold, wearing four layers, and wet from the drizzle that knew no end. I reminded myself that I had a great gig at a nice membership club. I would have a steady number of lessons, a short drive to work, and be off on all the school holidays. And then, I hand-fed my favorite drill to the realization that it was useless because tennis balls do not bounce in the winter in England, they are more like sponges, which got me thinking about Greece again. Tennis career…yes. In England…maybe not.
While I tried the figure out my next move (literally) and regain the feeling in my fingers and toes from the long days of coaching in the cold, I often found myself on Facebook viewing pictures of my brother and a great friend coaching tennis in America. The beautiful locations, the traveling, meeting new people, working events with ATP and WTA players, the great weather, the attire…shorts and t-shirts, year-round. It was all there, everything I was looking for was there-in America. Could I take a leap of faith and move out west to America? Fast forward three months later and that is exactly what I did. I interviewed and was hired by TENCO. I arrived on Amelia Island, Florida in the middle of February. I was greeted by palm trees, an ocean breeze, and year-round outdoor tennis under the majestic live oaks of the island. My excitement for my tennis future was immense and my eyes were soon opened to a whole new world of opportunity within the tennis industry I never knew existed.
My first goal when I moved America was to work and travel. I knew TENCO had a large network of locations (around 30 locations at the time) with pros traveling from club to club. Within my first year, I worked at locations on Amelia Island, Florida, Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont, Southampton, New York, and Palm Springs, California. What struck me about each location where I worked was the quality of the clubs. These were some of the most beautiful, exclusive tennis clubs and resorts I had ever experienced. The coolest part of it all, these beautiful locations became my place of work, my scenery, my office with a view! These were the types of clubs I had only seen in movies, and it felt like a whole new world with unlimited opportunities.
Now that I was coaching in America, my next undertaking was exploring and gaining an understanding of the career path that lay before me. Director of Tennis is a role, from my experience, that does not exist in England. There are Head Coaches at tennis clubs which are positions that are not easy to come by and are often only available once in a decade when the current Head Coach decides to retire or relocate. Working across the TENCO portfolio, I quickly learned they were growing rapidly as a company and, the best part, they promote from within their network of tennis professionals. The thought of overseeing the operations of a club and being designated as the Director of Tennis was hard for me to comprehend because this career opportunity and level of achievement is not available in England. With TENCO, I received extensive training and was part of a network of tennis professionals that help me build the skill sets necessary to eventually run a successful tennis program and club. After my first two years, all my training and gained experiences earned me the opportunity to direct my first club. It was a small three-court facility with brand new courts and no existing programming. It was my first opportunity to have a club of my own, to establish and develop relations with the resort, and to build something from nothing. Two years and a few more moves later, and I am now the Director of Tennis at a thirty-court, tennis and pickleball resort/country club in Northeast Florida. In my experience, the career progression that TENCO offers is unmatched relative to what is available to tennis professionals working in England.
Another highlight of my tennis career experience in America that I am quite sure does not exist in England is “Tennis Camp.” I do not mean the kid’s camp version where children are dropped off for the day to go play tennis with camp counselors. I am talking about ADULT tennis camp. That is right, in America, adults go to camp! These are some of the most enjoyable and best events I have ever been a part of. The beauty of combining travel to luxury resorts with private groups or events with over sixty campers is honestly the best tennis experience a player can have. Imagine traveling with a group of friends (group size is endless, come with a few or many) to a beautiful tennis resort destination and receiving amazing instruction and a world-class tennis experience. Now imagine you are the tennis pro who is facilitating these experiences for players. Your job is to meet new people and have a lot of fun playing tennis as you all share in the love for the great game of tennis. The vibe and energy during an adult tennis camp is something unique, and something I have never experienced anywhere else. The resorts host a variety of adult tennis camps including ladies’ retreats, doubles bootcamps, tennis and wine weekends, and touring camps. Each event is an opportunity for the tennis professionals to really enjoy themselves out on the tennis court and have a ton of fun with others who are just as passionate about the sport.
As someone who grew up across the pond, “the American dream” and “the land of opportunity” always sounded like a cliché fairytale that seemed a bit silly and ridiculous. Yet this fairytale quickly became my reality. TENCO has grown tremendously since I started and is on its way to becoming one of the largest tennis management companies in the world.
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