Dear Sam

Sam Stosur ranked number nine in the world had a disappointing loss in the second round to China’s Zheng Jie, during the 2013 Australian Open. Up 5-2 in the third and two points away from converting to a victory, in her own words, “At 5-2, I felt great then all of a sudden it obviously went away quickly,” the mental side of her game came unraveled. Zheng won the match 7-5 in the third but then lost in the next round.

Dear Sam,

The good news is the mental game is fixable. You may be experiencing some sleepless nights since your second round loss at the Australian Open to China’s Zheng Jie. You may even be replaying the points when you were up 5-2 in the third, double break point and experiencing your lead and the match reversing it’s course as you weren’t able to get back on track. Ruminating on the thoughts of “Bloody hell my mental focus failed me again” could probably be going through your mind.

No one but you truly knows the feelings of pressure you put upon yourself on the court. Or what it feels like to represent your country on centre court during the Australian Grand Slam. It’s a privilege and unique experience. Your friend Renee Stubbs, who also knows what it feels like to play in this arena, has been tweeting her support, as have many others. 

In the science of the mental game we know that spending time dwelling on toxic thoughts from that match only builds an inner image and expectation that is a faulty story of your true skills and abilities in pressure situations.

A snap shot of your skills, abilities, and determination demonstrates that you have and can rise to the occasion when it counts. You are the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley to win a Grand Slam Singles tournament. In 2011 you beat Serena Williams in the finals of the U.S. Open no small feat. Altogether you have five Grand Slam Titles to date. It’s clear you have the technical and athletic skills and abilities of a great player. You’ve overcome physical adversity. In 2007 you left the tour after months of competing at half speed when you were suffering from undiagnosed Lyme Disease. When you returned to the tour in 2008 your singles play took a back seat to your doubles success, and then in 2010 you decided to focus on singles and take part less in doubles. 

Let’s shift to what you described in your post match press conference as “The loss was 100% mental.” The media has described this as “choking.” In a recent interview on Brain Science Podcast, episode 76, Dr. Sian Beilock, author of “Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To” defines “choking” as “Suboptimal performance-poorer performance than when you would have in a non-stressful situation. And it’s really poor performance in response to the perceived stress of what’s going on. So, someone doesn’t have to think the situation is stressful, but you have to think it’s stressful, and because of that, you end up performing below your ability.” I think you are already clear on this part. 

Now that we have a definition of “choking” it is important to talk about the useful tools for preparing for and having the emotional and physical mastery over these “choking” situations. It’s important here to note that these situations happen quite often in the world of professional sports. Tennis, golf, baseball pitchers, basketball players at the free throw line, kickers in football, athletes who are on center stage by themselves with a lot of down time to think are quite susceptible. Dr. Beilock points out, “One thing that we’ve shown is that highly skilled performers are really susceptible to poor performance, because one thing that happens in these stressful situations is that people become conscious of what they are doing; they start trying to control every step of their performance in a way that disrupts it.” “And in these stressful situations, what we’ve shown is that people often have thoughts or worries about the situation and its consequences, and this essentially uses up important resources, our ability to think, attend on the fly-and essentially causes people to do a couple of things. One of those things is to attend to some information and ignore others.” I am just putting in some guesswork here but in your comments from the post match conference you said, “At 5-2, I felt great, then all of a sudden it obviously went away quite quickly.” “Crazy things start popping into your head. You make an error and you tighten up a little bit, but you try to reset and refocus before that next point.” As someone who works with athletes of all levels, I know that these statements are hallmarks of someone who is experiencing the phenomenon of choking. 

I imagine the pressure and largeness of playing at the Australian Open for you began weeks before the tournament started. The media’s stereotyping questions of how your mental game will hold up based on previous performances there may have contributed to your suboptimal performance in the third set. Dr. Beilock talks about the concept of stereotype threat phenomenon, “The really interesting thing about this phenomenon is that the person who’s aware of the stereotype doesn’t have to endorse the stereotype; they just have to know that someone else believes it. And so, it can be really problematic, because it turns out that just being aware that people hold stereotypes about how you should perform can lead you to fail, even if you don’t endorse them.” It is important to be alert to the media’s doubting questions in pre and post conferences that challenge you to prove them wrong. Your ability to put aside thoughts of previous disappointments and worry about how you will perform is a skill that has to be diligently practiced and prepared for weeks if not months ahead of time. 

I am sure your support team which may still include a sport psychologist prepared you with the standard fare of pre, post, and during match mental training that included, managing the off court distractions of, the media, family, friends and well wishers, agents, sponsors, etc. On court you may have a customized process that included breathing, linking your breath and mental thoughts so they were in synch so your mind and body work together. When the match began to turn you had a plan in place to disrupt wayward thinking and keep your mental emotional energy calm and focused. Okay maybe this part was not quite as solid as it needed to be in this situation but like improving any stroke this is fixable. There are many tools, techniques, and practices that can help you clear the decks of mental distractions so you access your skills and abilities even in the most stressful situations. Being the player you are you will get there. 

There are many simple management techniques that are quite effective. One technique that I have found works well for athletes is to take five minutes before your next match to write down your thoughts and worries about the match and issues connected to the match. Doing so serves as a way of letting those pesky doubts, find a place outside of your mind so you are able to do what you do so well on the court. When you write down all the possible distractions that come into your life during this tournament, and I imagine there are quite a few, also write down how you want to deal with them on your terms so you remain in control of the items you can control. Spend another 5 minutes writing down all the things you are good at as a professional athlete and world class player.  This serves to focus your attention on your larger positive attributes as a successful world class competitor. Prior to your matches spend five minutes twice a day visualizing yourself either by watching actual footage that shows you playing well or sitting quietly imaging your best playing self. In the visualization see the stadium, hear the noise, the audience, the players box, the change over seating. You can even start back at the locker room, and if there is an interview on the way out to the court, know what you will say, include as much detail as you can provide to the imagery. Link the imaging to diaphragmatic breathing, even adding music can help you with your movement and mental rhythm, these are things your sport psychologist can help you with.

When you write down all the possible distractions that come into your life during this tournament, and I imagine there are quite a few, also write down how you want to deal with them on your terms so you remain in control of the things you can control.

I know that the Australian Open has enormous significance to you. Developing mental skills takes time, patience and adjustments, but as a professional playing at the highest level you spend a lot of time on your technical and strategic skills. The mental skills become easier and more automatic with practice. Writing down your worries, breathing, imaging and dealing with distractions may seem too simple a picture of how to fix the choking issue you just endured. There are lots of mental pre-performance and on-court routines that can be customized to your specific needs. Biofeedback and neurofeedback both simple and more involved practices and techniques are also available.  You are a great player to watch and the tennis season is just beginning, so I hope you fire up, focus up, and tweak the mental adjustments so you have a fantastic year.

*This article may also be read @ examiner.

Jerry Smith - Santa Clara U. Women's Soccer

In his 26th season as the Santa Clara University Women’s Soccer Coach Jerry Smith is most proud of being known for the development of his players and teams. Over the year’s Smith has built the Bronco program into a national powerhouse. For nineteen seasons the Women Bronco’s reached the NCAA tournament and have been ranked among the top ten teams in the country. Although he has set and met many goals for himself as a coach his biggest goal is for the Santa Clara program to be recognized as the best women’s soccer program in the country. Smith feels the 2013 team has a good shot of reaching this height of excellence.

SZ: You began your coaching career and coached for seven years at your high school alma mater, Homestead High in Sunnyvale, Ca. During part of that time you also served as the assistant men’s soccer coach at Foothills Junior College in Los Altos, Ca. and put in a one year stint at Foothills Junior College as the head women’s coach. What was your soccer playing experience prior to coaching?

JS: Soccer was the last sport I started playing. I competed in football, baseball, basketball and water skiing. I didn’t take up soccer until I was in the 8th grade at Cupertino Junior High School and the coach there, Earl Montgomery, convinced me to go out for the soccer team. I did and fell in love with the sport. I played on youth teams in the 8th grade and joined an AYSO team. Then I joined a CYSA team. In high school I became the second freshman in school history to make the varsity team. I was honored to be invited to play on the varsity team and ended up being a starting player which was very exciting. I played four years at Homestead High. Afterwards I was recruited to play for Santa Clara University, UCLA, and U.C. Santa Barbara, but chose to attend Foothill Junior College. I felt FJC was the best soccer environment for me as an athlete. The coaches and player’s there were fantastic. There were many foreign player’s on the team and the soccer was a very high level. Soccer was the driving force for me as I wanted to play professional soccer. I attended FJC for two years and played for two seasons. Afterwards I bounced around on various professional teams trying to got a spot. 

At the time the North American Soccer League, had the best player’s in the world. Pele,  Franz Beckenbauer, George Best, and others. There were only two or three American’s on each professional team. There were only about twenty to thirty American’s who made it onto the professional league teams. I was never good enough to make it onto a full time roster. I ended up kind of being signed by teams as a practice player. After a few years I decided I was just going to have to let go of the dream. I went back to school and focused on academics. Then began to get into coaching.

SZ: Your experience as a player enabled you to understand the athletic system and develop an emotional connection to what athletes go through, which is helpful as a coach.

JS: It was helpful and I am painfully aware of how difficult it is to become a professional soccer player. While I have certainly been able to coach young men and women that have continued on to become professional player’s, ninety-percent of them do not go on to play at that level. I can help player’s understand at a very early time what the numbers are in terms of being a professional soccer player and how hard it really is and to some degree what they are going to have to do to make it. At the same time it’s important to have a back up plan and make sure they are marching down both paths, academic and athletic. 

SZ: Who were your coaching role models and mentors during the early stages of your career? 

JS: One of my first influences was my high school basketball coach at Homestead High, Marty Mathieson. He was a fundamentals guy and a discipline guy. He taught me to always put the team first, always work hard,  always be responsible and I learned a lot about coaching young people through him. After high school attending FJC the coach there, George Avakian, taught me a lot about discipline, mental toughness and work ethic. I’ve never worked so hard in my life at least physically the two years I spent at FJC. Under George I learned a lot more about the sophistication of tactics of the game. Prior to his coaching I was just playing and a lot of things fortunately came pretty naturally. I had no idea of the layers of sophistication that were involved in tactical decisions. So I became very aware of how in-depth those decisions could be. It really became interesting for me on an intellectual level trying to break down opponents, maximize team potential and the match analysis that goes on during a game. George was a big influence on creating this awareness.

Two other influential coaches who happened to be assistant coaches at FJC at the time I was playing was Mitch Murray and Steve Sampson. Mitch was also my youth coach and had coached me in club soccer. Steve had attended Homestead High School before I did and went on to play soccer at UCLA. Steve ended up becoming the head coach for the men’s soccer team at Santa Clara U. in 1986. Steve was the person who invited me to come on board at Santa Clara U. in 1987. Mitch who was also an assistant soccer coach at FJC while I was there became Steve’s assistant for the men’s team at Santa Clara U. When I was invited to come on board at Santa Clara U. by Steve I came in with a dual role. I was an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team and the head coach for the women’s soccer team. Looking back the four most influential people were Marty Mathieson, George Avakian, Steve Sampson and Mitch Murray.

SZ: What mental skills do you look for in a potential athletic recruit? With limited opportunities to watch recruits perform under competitive pressure how do you assess whether a player has the skills you are looking for and will fit in with your current team?

JS: In our sport as in most sports it’s broken down into four basic categories, mental skills, physical skills, technical skills and tactical decision making ability. Parents ask me all the time what we are looking for and I say we are looking for athletes who have exceptional aptitude in all four areas. We prioritize what’s important and most important are the mental skills. If a player has the mental skills we can work with that. If they don’t have the mental skills to perform at our level then we move on. If a player has the mental skills then next we look for the physical skills. To be honest most players we recruit have the mental and physical skills. They don’t yet have the technical and tactical but those are areas we feel we can teach. 

Aly Wagner was the Gatorade Youth Player of the Year and number one recruit in the country. She came to SCU and excelled in all four areas. But it’s not common to get a player like Aly. So back to the mental skills, it’s by far the number one most important category and biggest determining factor when it comes to the likelihood that the athlete will have the type of impact on your program you are looking for. 

SZ: Often the phrase mental skills is a broad term. Break it down for me.

JS: These would include mental toughness, work ethic, determination, passion for the sport, competitiveness, self motivated, responsible, team first mentality, leadership, and communication skills. Those would be some of the most important. Yes, we can’t know these things about a player by going out and watching them. We do our homework and research. We have an evaluation form that anyone who works with a potential recruit fills out and sends back to us. It can be a candidates high school counselor, their high school coach, their club coach, it could be an alum of SCU who lives in that area. It could be from a coach that doesn’t necessarily coach the individual but has played against them. When we receive five to ten evaluations things begin to work themselves out and we have a pretty good idea of how the athlete will perform.

SZ: What do you think are important qualities for Freshman athletes to make a successful transition into the collegiate academic/sports environment? What do player’s  need to know about making a commitment to collegiate sports prior to signing on?

JS: The biggest challenge is time management and prioritizing. When I sit down with a recruit I ask them if they think they are a normal person. Most of the time they say, “Yes” and then I tell them that our program is not for them. They are stunned and look at me like what just happened? I tell them that if you are a normal person this program is not for you because they will need to be almost obsessive about studying and soccer. I say, “We are going to prioritize things and academics is number one and soccer is number two. You might be able to do one and two most days. If you think you are going to do more than that or want more than that then this is not the place for you.” 

SZ: That’s an interesting piece of this equation because as you mentioned 90% of the athletes will not make it onto a professional team, yet the commitment for four years of collegiate involvement in sports and academics is pretty socially isolating except as a team participant.

JS: We think the social aspect within the team is a really important skill. When people ask me what I do and I say I teach life skills to young people, because of the stage we are on, because we are trying to be the best team, because we are trying to win the national championship, I can teach the players about responsibility, dedication, sacrifice, commitment, time management and prioritization. Most of the player’s will not go on to the next level of soccer but a lot of them will go on and work for big companies. I receive phone calls every year from Apple, Google, Facebook and other companies in this valley who say, “We are interested in your student athletes because of the type of program they are coming from.” 

SZ: There are four outstanding senior player’s on the 2012/2013 team. Do you create strategy around the strengths of your core player’s? Or do you have a core strategic philosophy and recruit player’s to fit your coaching style? 

JS: It’s a little bit of both. There are some things that are core to our program that in my twenty-six years have not changed. So those are not going to change. For example, our possession style of soccer, we absolutely believe that one of the best ways to be successful is to keep the ball better than our opponent does. That has never changed and is not going to change. Having said that our formation of play changes year to year and even from opponent to opponent. We definitely have a handful of things that are core to our program but every year the dynamics of the team is different. To be a successful coach it’s necessary to be flexible and look at different ways of being successful. 

SZ: Because soccer has such a strong foundation now in the U.S. it must be fun for you to see player’s come into collegiate play prepared and experienced. 

JS: Honestly there are positives and negatives. Absolutely I’m excited about the growth of soccer and the player’s are more sophisticated tactically. Having said that there are youth player’s that focus solely on soccer and we see more burn-out because of that. We see more injuries because of that. Years ago we’d have an occasional ACL injury on 

our team. Then it grew to a two or three ACL’s  per year. Now we are seeing one or two ACL’s before they enter college. There are a lot of different theories but I am absolutely convinced that the kids are focusing on one sport too early. 

For the positives, having women’s soccer in the Olympic Games, World Cup for Women’s Soccer and the U20 World Cup Team, which one of our player’s, Julie Johnston, captained, these are incredible opportunities and very exciting. I am very happy about the growth of the game. I think though we have to be careful about the damage or harm that can be created if we are not careful about giving player’s time off, or cross-training ideas.

SZ: Do you build periodization into the season?

JS: Absolutely we have a schedule of periodization. There are times when soccer is the lowest priority of what we are doing. In fact this upcoming winter phase for us we play basketball, dodge ball, and go for hikes.

SZ: The fun aspects of training.

JS: I tell recruits, and they are surprised when I say this, “You are going to focus on academics and soccer but at the same time you are going to play far less soccer than you did as a youth.” Young kids are playing two to three games a weekend and soccer games are meant to be played once a week. At SCU we do a lot of team building, it’s a big part of what we do. Most of the time this is done away from the field without a soccer ball. 

SZ: Do you have other coaching goals beyond collegiate women’s soccer?

JS: Right now I have three main responsibilities. SCU is certainly one of them but I also work with our Olympic Development Program. In fact I am in the process of overhauling the entire Olympic Development Program for girl’s soccer. It’s a massive undertaking. I’ve been spending three to four hours a day on that project since the summer. This month kind of starts the new programming for the Olympic Development Program. So I’ve been very nervous. I’ve been the biggest critic of our Olympic Development Program saying its not what it was designed to be. If we are to call ourselves an Olympic Development Program we’ve got to do a much better job. Of course what always happens is if you are the biggest critic you become the person who ends up overhauling the system. 

I am also involved in the National Soccer Coaches Association and I’m teaching a course called “The Premier Course” the highest level coaching course we offer. This particular course is being held at De Anza College and began last night. The National Soccer Coaches Association is the largest coaching association in the world and it’s my way of giving back to coaches. 

Do I have other coaching goals? I honestly do and people are surprised when I say this but every month I think about going back to coach the men’s game. I also think I might coach basketball instead of soccer. I love teaching young people. It doesn’t matter if it’s soccer or basketball. At the same time I have set goals for myself and for the SCU Women’s Soccer Program and I haven’t accomplished them all. One of the biggest goals is for SCU to be recognized as the best women’s soccer program in the country. Right now that program is still the University of North Carolina. Although UNC is a team that we’ve defeated three times in the NCAA tournament, twice in the final four and once in the National Championship Game. I feel we are in a pretty good spot but they are the National Champs again this year. UNC has twenty-one National Championships and we have one. I am very motivated for SCU to be the best program in the country. I feel very good about our chances of winning a National Championship next year.

Over the years I’ve had other opportunities. I’ve turned down a lot of coaching jobs including an opportunity to coach our Women’s National Team. It would have meant resigning from SCU and I wasn’t ready to do that as I am still not ready to do that. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be at SCU and motivated to what is in front of us. I am careful not think the grass is greener somewhere else. 

SZ: This summer 2013, you will be running the Santa Clara Girls Soccer Camp. Where can people find more information about the camp schedule? 

JS: Two things I’d like people to know about one is our summer camp sign-up  schedule will be available soon at www.scusoccercamps.com  And second we will be one of the two or three most talented teams in the country Fall of 2013. It’s going to be a very exciting team and I invite people to look into our playing schedule and come watch.

SZ: Do you have an favorite quotes, stories or tips that have influenced your coaching career? 

JS: Years ago myself and a number of other people came up with core values for the Women’s Soccer team. Written on the five walls of my office, written everywhere in our locker room,  and written on all our publications are our core values. The core values are Personal responsibility and commitment to excellence, Embrace the opportunity for growth and success, Respect the game, others and our tradition, Compete with toughness and determination, and Bronco Pride which is more about just being proud to be here at Santa Clara in our athletic program. 

I’m also a big John Wooden fan, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

SZ: Jerry thank you for taking valuable time from your busy day for this interview. 

GO Broncos!

*Featured guests are not former nor current clients of Susan Zaro

*This interview may also be read @ examiner.

Barry Buss - First in a Field of Two

“First in a Field of Two” is Barry Buss’s personal memoir about his junior tennis experience and the strains that put upon his relationship with his father and how this influenced his developmental life as a person and athlete. Barry and his business partner have developed a tennis/clinic seminar project and will be going to tennis clubs throughout the country to educate families concerning the environment of junior tennis, with his book as the foundation for the seminars. Psychologist, Dr. Allen Fox, who wrote the forward to the book says, “This book is a valuable guide for a tennis parent of how not to raise a tennis-playing child...Tennis culture portrays our sport as one big red carpet event riddled with fame, fortune and riches, and that’s all true for a lucky select few. But there are a lot more stories like Barry Buss....There is a lot in here for everybody.” 

SZ: “First in a Field of Two” is a remarkable story of your tennis life and personal survival under the weight of formidable obstacles. It took courage coming to grips with this experience and making your journey visible for all to read. How has writing your story helped your life transition forward?

BB: Thank you. It’s a little early to tell what lasting impact writing my story will have on my life looking forward. Writing this book was a pretty gut wrenching endeavor I must be honest. It would have been nice to have written it once and been done with it. There was no master plan. After it was written I needed to rewrite, edit and proof read, format etc...all which involved revisiting the events again and again and again. I have always dreamed of being able to write a book of some relevance and I hope I have done that. I’m proud and exited for what the near future holds for me. I feel a lot lighter emotionally after getting all of this out and having my story be so enthusiastically received.

SZ: Your story at times is painful to read as your life struggles and addictions became increasingly out of control and detrimental to your goals and athletic talent. The book covers many issues: parental/child sport involvement, developmental issues, bullying, mental-emotional-physical abuse, athletic mental health issues, player/coach communication, are there preventative insights you hope readers will gain from reading this?

BB: It’s an important question that I wish I could give you a nice set of succinct takeaway answers that would leave everyone feeling good but I just can’t. Every young person pursuing excellence in our sport is in a unique dynamic. I wish it were as simple as a laundry list of Do’s and Don’ts that everyone could abide by to avert potential troubles. But it’s not. There are a few factors that are critical to having success in this environment, number one is education. Competitive junior tennis is an extremely  

complex emotional terrain. I don’t think children are emotionally wired to experience the levels of anxiety, disappointment, frustration, fear, elation etc., that a competitive tennis player experiences on a nearly daily basis from a very young age all through-out their playing career. It’s imperative that these athletes are surrounded by an informed supportive team, coaches, team mates, parents,  organizing bodies, everyone has a huge role and responsibility in keeping competitive junior tennis as healthy and nurturing an environment as possible. 

Another is communication. All parties, player, coach, parents need to be able to communicate openly and freely about what’s going on. This is complex when you are dealing with emotionally involved young people. They don’t have the language skills to articulate what they are experiencing internally, so it begins to manifest in all sorts of red  

flag behaviors, such as, cheating, tennis tantrums, tanking, choking, excuse making and in the more extreme cases like my own, a gravitation towards substance abuse and hyper dysfunctional behavior. We can’t be mind readers but we must become expert mood readers and be able to identify quickly when problems are arising and nip them in the bud as best as possible. For there comes a point in dysfunctional behaviors when they take over the host and then it’s too late.

Lastly, trying to keep the bigger picture in mind, or better yet having a bigger picture vision that is rational and attainable. There is an over emphasis on what families and players are trying to get “from” tennis instead of what they are trying to get “out” of tennis. Fame, fortune, riches, rackets, scholarships, trophies, you name it, all the material benefits that come with one type of “success.” Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with the success that comes from being able to win tennis matches. Tennis is competition in its purest sense and the countless hours of grinding hard work needs to be rewarded appropriately and often, but at some point and it’s not easy to see when one is immersed in it, but if one can keep in focus what the bigger life skills are that we take away from pursuing excellence at such a complex sport, then everyone is guaranteed a successful outcome. 

Not everyone can be the best, you can only be your best, and no player or organization can take that away from you. Make tennis an inside job, a personal mission to be the best you can possibly be, so when you’ve hit your last competitive tennis ball, you have that innate belief in yourself that you can put 100% into the next life endeavor you choose and make the most of it. That to me is the ultimate return on one’s investment, to be able to walk away from our sport knowing that you did your absolute best and that no other measuring stick of success really matters. For there is a lot of life left after we put the competitive rackets away. The goal in all this should be to be able to developmentally segue into adult life whole and confident in oneself, instead of feeling battered and beaten and on one’s way to therapy or rehab to have your broken defeated self put back together. Sadly my experience from decades as a player and coach is that the segue is often quite difficult. I believe it does not have to be that way if all parties involved learn and perform their roles well. 

SZ: After an amazing freshman year at UCLA, playing your way up to the number one men’s position then leaving the team at the end of the year, after being burnt out, did you complete your collegiate education? 

BB: Yes, it was a tortuous circuitous route. I started in 1982, transferred twice, and eventually returned to UCLA in 1993-94 and graduated.

SZ: Through the years many junior players have known other players that are in an unreasonably hard, abusive parental situation, as an adult looking back, where do you think an intervention could have been made on your behalf? Where do safety nets need to be in place to help families in this type of distress?

BB: That’s a big question. So much of what happens in the harsher parent/child dynamics is done in private behind closed doors; or in the car on those long drives home. Obviously if physical abuse is seen or suspected that becomes the responsibility of the State and social services to intervene to protect the child, even then the efficacy of such interventions are hard to quantify. The more insidious emotional and psychological abuse that myself and many other peers of mine endured is because we live in a society where the family unit is considered sacrosanct. Who is going to perform an intervention? The USTA is not equipped for such things. Coaches are not skilled in such matters. There is no training of any of the responsible parties entrusted with developing young tennis talent. It’s beyond the skill sets at the larger mega academies. 

It’s very complicated. No one should be interfering with how a parent raises their own child. Yet, at the same time the competitive junior tennis environment is a highly volatile environment in which to raise a child. We, the players, coaches, parents, governing bodies are all in and heavily invested from such a young age. I believe the awareness that the system is conducive to potential problems in child development has increased in my 40 years of being in and around it, but the knowledge and ability to enact the safety nets you ask of is still quite lacking. 

Again, it’s about education. Parents need to be keenly aware of the environment they are putting their kids into. Sadly that education is earned through trial and error with a great deal of error in there. I don’t think you could find a single parent in the junior tennis  world who, not having played the sport as a kid, would have anticipated the pressures and demands on every member of the family unit that having a successful junior tennis playing child can bring forth. For, as I share in the book, when I interviewed many of my peer group as to why they had not put their kids in tennis, a sport so many of them spent their entire childhoods playing, and where many had excelled at on a world stage, the prevailing response was, “I would never put my kid through that.” This comes from the parents who know the game and terrain like few others. Which begs the question who is guiding this generation of players and parents through the minefield that junior tennis can present? Ultimately the safety nets in place today come down to being a very engaged and knowledgeable parent, which I am happy to conclude seems to be the case for many parents, but certainly far from all. 

SZ: In your story it felt that Glenn Bassett who was the UCLA tennis coach at the time admired and respected you as a player as did many other coaches and players. Do you think that coaches today at the collegiate level are better educated to notice and act on “red flags” when a player is having personal struggles? Are there better resources to support the student/athlete in collegiate settings? 

BB: Yes, the coaches are much better at recognizing the red flags and kids in distress. There is not an adult in the tennis world who does not have first hand knowledge of a loved one or close friend who has not struggled in many of the issues I detail in the book so awareness is better than ever. I have friends in the college coaching business and I can list a couple dozen of stellar human beings who are coaching in the college ranks today. These people care about their players as if they were their own children. It’s awesome and quite powerful. The college tennis system is healthy and thriving. Parents should feel very secure in sending their kids off to these schools where their kids health and welfare is more important to these coaches than winning matches and that’s a great thing. 

Colleges have athletic department counselors for troubled student-athletes. The NCAA drug testing regiment could be improved. Coaches are kept out of the loop if there is a positive test and are only informed upon a second positive, by then, it is in the hands of the athletic director as what to do with the troubled athlete. Again, with scarce resources  devising a system that benefits all parties and is cost effective will always be challenging. 

SZ: In hindsight if Coach Bassett had requested you see a counselor at UCLA would you have gone? 

BB: Absolutely! I knew matters were not going in the right direction. Especially when the bipolar symptoms really started to accelerate and become obvious. With the full knowledge of bipolar illness that I have now, I was rapid cycling all throughout my playing career. I left the team my sophomore year and stayed in school. In my junior year it was getting out of control for me, and just randomly walked into the Psychology Dept. at UCLA, walked into the first door I could find open and told the receptionist I wasn’t doing well and could she help me. I was 20 years old, so even then I knew something was up and would have taken any help I could get. When I transferred to UC Irvine as a senior and started playing for Greg Patton, after my first challenge match and five sets of my freaking out on the court, Coach Patton arranged a meeting for me the next day with a school counselor for an evaluation - which I welcomed with open arms.

SZ:  There is a chapter where you share your observations of the Player Boxes of Andy Roddick vs. Bernard Tomic during the 2012 U.S. Open. “Both players’ on-court temperaments being a reflection of their respective support systems; their emotional investment a perfect corollary with the level of emotional support in their Players Boxes.” How do you bring this awareness into your role as a tennis coach today? 

BB: Let me preface my response with, I have never met either Roddick or Tomic nor people in their respective Players Boxes. That aside it’s not hard to draw strong inferences from observation. The Player’s Box is a powerful metaphor. Tennis is unique in that it’s the only sport I know of where coaching is not permitted during play, (with a few exceptions), so on one level it’s the most individual of sports. Yet at the same time the Player’s Box has quite a few seats in it; for parents, siblings, significant others, coaches, trainers, agents. The support system is quite extensive. For us mortals playing away from the cameras and bright lights, it's really no different. Everyone has an important role to play in the development of a successful junior tennis player and if any part of that support system is not holding up their responsibility, in time it will begin to show in the player’s performance. 

I do my best to communicate often with the parents of my players. I give them frequent progress reports, not just on their child’s performance, but in their energy, attitude, effort, preparation etc.. If I see the kids acting out on or off the court, I have made it a staple of my work to get involved with the kids and parents to try to troubleshoot any problems as they arise. Sometimes it has worked out and through hard work with the child and parents, have been able to turn some young lives around, gotten some kids into college programs that weren’t going to get there without some serious work being done with them and their “Player’s Box.” 

SZ: You are now a teaching pro. Where do you teach and what population of players do you teach? 

BB: I take all comers. My current favorite student is a four year old who has the best happy dance you’ll ever see. He has turned his weekly tennis lesson into an art performance. My coaching arc has ranged from coaching college tennis, working as a hitting partner to many successful women tour players, to four fabulous summers in the Hamptons, to a couple of mega tennis complexes in Southern Cal. I now teach at a cool little park in Redondo Beach called Alta Vista. 

SZ: You have a goal to compete in the National 50’s. How’s your training coming along? 

BB: Ironically the fuel for writing the book came from my recent resumption of training when all my old junior stuff started to surface again. The on court anger, the fear to put myself out there completely and be fully vulnerable to frequent disappointments. I haven’t played competitive tennis in fifteen years and I thought the hardest part would be the physical conditioning but it wasn’t. It was the emotional part of playing that I was so rusty at. I will always be athletic and able to hit a tennis ball well, it’s all the other stuff that is the challenge. I always looked at playing as a sort of free therapy in our automated routinized world it is easy to become a stranger to oneself. Not so on the tennis court. The court is where I get introduced to myself in so many ways. If I’m having a great experience playing it’s because all facets of my life are in order. My physical health, mental health, emotional health and likely most importantly my spiritual health and ability to see the bigger picture and the role tennis has always played in my life. It’s a privilege and honor to be able to play a sport so many millions of people admire so much. I still love the feeling of playing great tennis, so if my body can hold up, I look forward to giving it one more good run in the 50’s and see what I can learn from the process. 

SZ: The funding to publish “First in a Field of Two” was well supported on Kickstarter. Now that it’s written how/where can people purchase the book?

BB: A special shout out to all those who were so gracious and generous to support the publication of my book through Kickstarter. The book is available on Amazon and directly through me via the Kickstarter address.

SZ: Do you have any favorite quotes, stories or tips that give your life guidance today?

BB: Thoreau has always been one of my favorites. “A voice said to him - why do you stay here and live this mean moiling life, when a glorious existence is possible for you?

Those same stars twinkle over other fields than these.” This quote has always resonated with me to keep pushing the boundaries of my comfort zones in a lifelong pursuit of a better more fulfilling “glorious existence.”

SZ: Anything you would like to add? 

BB: My story is more the exception than the norm and it should be read as an eye opening expose of what can happen to young people who are brought up in challenging situations. It is not an indictment of anyone or anything. I truly believe that everyone along my life’s path was doing the best they could, myself included. There are no guaranteed outcomes in life, but I know if one keeps trying to push forward to improve their lot in life, good things do come. 

SZ: Barry thank you for taking the time to share your story. Hopefully it will reach  those athletes that may be in need of some personal guidance.

*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro

* This article may also be read @ the examiner on line.

John Van Every - Cross Fit Longevity

Cross Fit describes its strength and conditioning program as “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement,” with the stated goal of improving fitness. Work-outs combine movements such as sprinting, rowing, jumping rope, climbing rope, weight lifting, and many body weight exercises. The equipment used during work-outs include barbells, dumbbells, gymnastic rings, kettle bells, medicine balls and boxes for box jumps to name a few. These elements are brought together in numerous creative combinations for work-outs. Classes typically include a warm-up, a skill development segment, a high intensity work-out and a period of stretching.

John Van Every a Cross Fit Trainer in Santa Cruz has developed a unique program, 

Cross Fit/Longevity, which is geared towards an older client population.

SZ: What’s your sport participation background?

JE: I played high school sports mainly basketball and baseball. I’ve participated in a lot of different sports through the years. Currently I play softball on the weekends in a men’s league. I also mountain bike and my family are big fly fisherman.

SZ: How long have you been an athletic trainer?

JE: For three years. I had joined a Cross Fit gym and was working out there. I fell in love with the programs. I started doing it more and more and entering Cross Fit competitions. One night I was sitting at dinner with my dad and because he’s an active guy I suggested that he try Cross Fit. He said, “I don’t want to get hurt. You guys are like taking working out to an extreme level and I just want overall fitness and not to hurt myself.” This was where Cross Fit Longevity was kinda born, out of this conversation at the dinner table. The idea of developing a Cross Fit program geared towards the older athlete. I hate to put an age on Cross Fit Longevity because there are 30 and 40 year olds who haven’t done anything physical and they can be just as out of shape as someone who’s active in their 60’s. I try not to limit the age limit of the class participants. 

Three years ago I received my level one certification through the Cross Fit trainer program, then I opened Cross Fit Longevity with the hopes of encouraging older athletes to become active in this particular program.

SZ: What other trainings do you have? 

JE: I’m Cross Fit level one certified, Cross Fit football certified and Cross Fit endurance certified. I have kept my trainer credentials focused on the Cross Fit Arena. 

SZ: Are Cross Fit programs franchised?

JE: They are affiliated. So to put a Cross Fit sign on my gym door I pay an affiliate fee, which gives me the Cross Fit name. All the gyms have a different flavor and Cross Fit is open to letting trainers run them however they wish. 

SZ: You can orchestrate your gym anyway you wish.

JE: There’s eight different Cross Fit gyms in Santa Cruz and they are all different. They all cater to different personality types and they have different programming. I run mine pretty heavily based on strength and conditioning. Other gyms may be more heavily focused on gymnastics and endurance. 

SZ: Describe the principles behind Cross Fit and how it’s different from other work-outs. 

JE: The difference from a traditional gym work-out is that Cross Fit takes a lot of different disciplines. In our work-outs there are Olympic lifts, slow lifts which are like back squatting, front squatting, dead lifting, power and strength moves. Clients also develop a lot of gymnastic moves for example, pull-ups, push-ups, rope climbing, wall ball. Cross Fit training takes all those to mix and match the work-outs. Every work-out is different. 

Cross Fit is an overall system of training that builds on a hierarchy;

1. Diet: Lays the molecular foundation for fitness and health.
2. Metabolic Conditioning: builds capacity in the three metabolic pathways aerobic, lactic acid, and phosphocreatine pathways.
3. Gymnastics: Establishes functional capacity for body control and range of motion.
4. Weight lifting and Throwing: Develops ability to control external objects and produce power.
5. Sport: Applies fitness in competitive atmosphere with randomized movements and skill mastery.

People that join a gym typically end up spending most of their time training in an oxidative state. They get on an elliptical machine for an hour and a half and watch t.v.. This raises their heart rate up into a certain level but it doesn’t do much but elevate their heart rate. There’s no spike in their heart rate then recovery. Cross Fit training builds capacity in the three metabolic pathways: phosphocreatine, glycolytic and oxidative. A metabolic pathway is just a method the body uses to produce ATP, the body’s storehouse of energy which is utilized by muscles. A person is as fit as their capacity in each of the three pathways.

SZ: Is training as a group another differing feature from other gyms?

JE: The community aspect is absolutely another large part of Cross Fit training. Everyone kinda knows when people come in, at what times, and what classes they are taking. They cheer each other on. If someone is struggling through a work-out and someone else is done with their sets that person will come over and cheer on the others encouraging them to finish. The sense of community is a big piece of the work-out process.

SZ: You currently run a very popular program in Santa Cruz, Cross Fit Longevity. Is this a regular part of Cross Fit’s programs or a pilot program?

JE: It’s a pilot program. I am the only person running a Master’s program out of all the Cross Fit sites. 

SZ: In the nation or locally?

JE: In the nation. Some sites offer Master’s classes like one class a day. But the programming is not really geared towards them. They just kind of do the same work-outs with lighter weights. My program is focused on things that are happening in older athletes. They need a lot of strength in their legs, glutes, and hips so we focus on getting that strength back first. You can’t have balance, agility and coordination unless you’re strong enough. The first three months of the Longevity Program is to develop strength and technique. Once the base strength is established the athlete is able to do a 

lot more.

SZ: Who is your target senior audience? What inspired you to run this program for clients in the 50 plus years age group?

JE: It was really all around my dad. It’s a demographic that has been missed. People have this impression that these work-outs are only for military, first responders, young kids and that the programs are really intense, hard on the body. My dad is sixty-six years old. He’s in incredible shape and he was the one that said, “You have to target this age group. We are the one’s who need it the most.” 

SZ: If you were talking to a group of seniors who fit into the following categories:

1. Dropped out of an exercise program in their 40’s b) Never were into exercising. c) Were competitive athletes years ago but stopped regular exercising after starting their adult work life. What would you say to these folks to motivate them to try this type of program? 

JE: I would say you can’t afford not to do this. It’s for your health. You can’t do any activity three hours a week and receive the benefits this gives your fitness. Someone can sit in front of a computer fourteen hours a day and one hour a day should be devoted to their fitness. 

SZ: For people concerned about injury, what are the types of preventative measures you take? 

JE: I tell them I’m not here to injure them. I am not in their body so they need to communicate to me. If their muscles are tight, if their hamstrings or back is bothering them, we work around it. I will work to come up with an alternative that’s lower impact, but still receiving the benefits of training their energy pathways. If someone tells me that they have tendontious in their elbows then we will just work on squats and not pull anything on that day. I understand that people have aches and pains and modify work-outs to the clients particular needs. Each day during the warm-up I check in and ask how they are feeling and if there is anything I should be aware of.

SZ: What are the mental/physical hurdles seniors may face when they engage in this program? How do you help them through the early stages so they continue to remain inspired and believe in their abilities to gain fitness in their later years?

JE: I give them a lot of feedback and the community keeps them motivated. There’s such a variety of skills within a Cross Fit program you can’t master any of them so I think people stay motivated and inspired by their progress. They shoot for personal goals. I see clients who may start off dead lifting 45 lbs. and can’t believe they can lift that much. Months later the person has improved to the point of lifting 113 lbs, that’s a big change. People see themselves becoming stronger and the progress of their health I think that’s what inspires them. 

SZ: Do you have any favorite stories, quotes or tips that has given your career guidance?

JE: I love the people that come in to my classes. I think it’s more inspiring for me to see these people come in and make progress in their overall fitness and strength. They may not believe they can do it and then they do it. The people that are consistent, that give the program a shot and work hard are the most inspiring. It makes me realize that what I am doing is totally worth it. It can change peoples outlook and lives. Going through a work-out they don’t think they can get through and getting through it, can carry over and empower other areas of their lives. 

SZ: John thank you for taking time out of your busy day to talk about the training you are providing at Cross Fit/Santa Cruz.

*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro

*This article may also be read @ the examiner online