The legendary Canadian coach Louis Cayer often says, “I coach people tennis — not tennis to people.” The message is clear: our primary job is to develop people with good character and life skills. Beyond that, I believe that our secondary job is to accelerate their learning curve. That is, to increase the rate at which our players improve. We know that if you take four players, give them a basket of balls and a thousand hours of court time, they will improve. Our job is to make sure they improve faster than they would on their own, and if you’re even slightly competitive, faster than they would with another coach. This ability to learn fast will benefit them greatly in life after tennis.
Both of these goals relate to what I call the Success Qualities. John Wooden defined success as “the peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable.” After lengthy reflection and careful study of some of the highest achievers, whether in tennis or other, I’m confident that the three Success Qualities are
· essential life skills
· key to improving faster than others
· crucial to maximizing your potential and achieving Wooden’s version of success
The three qualities are:
· Hard worker
· Fast learner
· Mature
In a series of posts, I’m going to go in depth on all three. For each quality, I will define it, demonstrate how to look for it, and explain how to develop it.
Part 3 coming soon!
For a Success Qualities assessment tool, click here.
