The old days.

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Permalink Reply by John Carpenter on May 6, 2009 at 11:26pm

Hi Dean, enjoyed the story thoroughly. One weekend when I was 10 I sat mesmerized in front of the TV as Rosewall beat Laver in a match that went way past my bedtime and I was hooked on tennis given a local kid named Jimmy Connors had just beaten a top ten player in the world while in high school. If a kid from East St. Louis (yes, Jimmy was originally from there though he would attend Belleville East HS where my dad taught) could do it, then I could do it, too. I was too short to play other sports and I noticed that the great Pancho Segura (he was 5'6") was even shorter than me. When Beta came out my parents were the first on the block to get a machine and I taped every tennis match I could and copied Bjorn Borg. I quickly became a top local player as I could not afford tennis lessons and instead read every tennis book I could find. I could play anyone at any level, then I went to a large and fairly expensive tennis academy held at the U of Illinois and lo and behold they told me I could not hit like Borg, that I would hurt myself hitting off the back foot. They said Stan Smith was the model of the perfect strokes and so I dutifully complied. I was a great junior with promise, with colleges looking at me when I took my first tennis lessons at 16. After that summer spent changing my swing and taking countless lessons, I came back and went from number one to number four in my school. Funny thing was my doubles partner in tournaments was Jerry Clark of Cahokia. He never had a coach as he wouldn't allow anyone to change his game and he was fabulous with a huge topspin game that would be effective today. He used a western forehand that amazed everyone and just turned it over to his one handed backhand without even a grip change and was a very great player but finally gave up his dream to play in the pros because no one would coach him respecting his way of playing with the western grip and huge topspin. I got to play and practice with future pros Juan Farrow, Arjun Fernando, Ken Flach, and Robbie Seguso a lot and even played Trey Waltke from across the river. When Juan Farrow served, the ball looked like a tortilla. I tried to qualify to play the pro tour but realized I was washed up despite practicing eight hours a day at times and reading everything I could to gain an edge. I never lost my love of tennis or wanting to teach the game. Taught my first lessons in 1980, got certified the next year. I taught tennis in Riverside California for four straight summers and then I did eight years military and gave lessons to countless little kids from Guam to Puerto Rico. There is likely no tennis method in the English language I have not read of or studied for it's efficacy. I watched Tennis Magazine laugh at Oscar's first book (the 1989 green one) in their 1990 review which is the only reason I didn't buy it then. I listened at the1993 USPTA Midwest Convention as two very famous coaches stood in front of at least a hundred coaches and agreed they believed studies would prove Oscar's theories had no real merit which were drawing attention now that Bud Collins had put his name behind Oscar and on the cover of the 2nd edition. Ten years I ignored Oscar, even when his site started popping up all over the internet. At 45, I had severe tennis elbow and could barely teach two days in a row and was a 3.5 player when I got the DVDs. At 48, I am hitting 6.0 groundstrokes and I could get results on court that would stand up to if not exceed many of the USA's best known names in coaching. At 50, I just received my Masters Degree in Education and I train and certify coaches in Oscar Wegner's new Modern Tennis Methodology Coaching Academy. But all that tennis knowledge I had before Oscar meant that I was at best a mediocre teacher trusting the USPTA and PTR. Now I have a PHD in Tennis Teaching, courtesy of Oscar. And there are more and more of us that are carrying on the legacy of allowing each student to reach for their athletic potential by using Modern Tennis Methodology's play by instinct and feel techniques. Oscar didn't invent "modern tennis." He was just the first coach to figure out the best way to play the game biomechanically given there are only so many ways you can move your arms and legs efficiently.

Permalink Reply by Dean Wright on May 6, 2009 at 11:45pm

John, My girlfriend is from Belleville Illinois, She just turned 50, you may have grown up togather. Thanks for that, I wnt through all that classic game stuff to and wasn't very good at it. topspin was the only way I could get the ball in. I was threatened by high school coaches about it, but they couldn't say much I beat all thir classic players and Borg was winning everything playing that way. I think the bottom line is that people prefer comfort over excellant, and teaching pro were comphy teaching the way they were taught and thats wy the change has been so slow.

John Carpenter said:

Hi Dean, enjoyed the story thoroughly. One weekend when I was 10 I sat mesmerized in front of the TV as Rosewall beat Laver in a match that went way past my bedtime and I was hooked on tennis given a local kid named Jimmy Connors had just beaten a top ten player in the world while in high school. If a kid from East St. Louis (yes, Jimmy was originally from there though he would attend Belleville East HS where my dad taught) could do it, then I could do it, too. I was too short to play other sports and I noticed that the great Pancho Segura (he was 5'6") was even shorter than me. When Beta came out my parents were the first on the block to get a machine and I taped every tennis match I could and copied Bjorn Borg. I quickly became a top local player as I could not afford tennis lessons and instead read every tennis book I could find. I could play anyone at any level, then I went to a large and fairly expensive tennis academy held at the U of Illinois and lo and behold they told me I could not hit like Borg, that I would hurt myself hitting off the back foot. They said Stan Smith was the model of the perfect strokes and so I dutifully complied. I was a great junior with promise, with colleges looking at me when I took my first tennis lessons at 16. After that summer spent changing my swing and taking countless lessons, I came back and went from number one to number four in my school. Funny thing was my doubles partner in tournaments was Jerry Clark of Cahokia. He never had a coach as he wouldn't allow anyone to change his game and he was fabulous with a huge topspin game that would be effective today. He used a western forehand that amazed everyone and just turned it over to his one handed backhand without even a grip change and was a very great player but finally gave up his dream to play in the pros because no one would coach him respecting his way of playing with the western grip and huge topspin. I got to play and practice with future pros Juan Farrow, Arjun Fernando, Ken Flach, and Robbie Seguso a lot and even played Trey Waltke from across the river. When Juan Farrow served, the ball looked like a tortilla. I tried to qualify to play the pro tour but realized I was washed up despite practicing eight hours a day at times and reading everything I could to gain an edge. I never lost my love of tennis or wanting to teach the game. Taught my first lessons in 1980, got certified the next year. I taught tennis in Riverside California for four straight summers and then I did eight years military and gave lessons to countless little kids from Guam to Puerto Rico. There is likely no tennis method in the English language I have not read of or studied for it's efficacy. I watched Tennis Magazine laugh at Oscar's first book (the 1989 green one) in their 1990 review which is the only reason I didn't buy it then. I listened at the1993 USPTA Midwest Convention as two very famous coaches stood in front of at least a hundred coaches and agreed they believed studies would prove Oscar's theories had no real merit which were drawing attention now that Bud Collins had put his name behind Oscar and on the cover of the 2nd edition. Ten years I ignored Oscar, even when his site started popping up all over the internet. At 45, I had severe tennis elbow and could barely teach two days in a row and was a 3.5 player when I got the DVDs. At 48, I am hitting 6.0 groundstrokes and I could get results on court that would stand up to if not exceed many of the USA's best known names in coaching. At 50, I just received my Masters Degree in Education and I train and certify coaches in Oscar Wegner's new Modern Tennis Methodology Coaching Academy. But all that tennis knowledge I had before Oscar meant that I was at best a mediocre teacher trusting the USPTA and PTR. Now I have a PHD in Tennis Teaching, courtesy of Oscar. And there are more and more of us that are carrying on the legacy of allowing each student to reach for their athletic potential by using Modern Tennis Methodology's play by instinct and feel techniques. Oscar didn't invent "modern tennis." He was just the first coach to figure out the best way to play the game biomechanically given there are only so many ways you can move your arms and legs efficiently.

Permalink Reply by Lucile Bosche´ on May 7, 2009 at 12:14am

Wow, Dean, that's a great story! And thanks for saluting MTM. I really look forward to hearing about your successes with MTM on this forum. BTW, Oscar coachaed Borg briefly during his second comeback. It is a fascinating story that perhaps Oscar will share with us when he returns from Europe next week.