ParentingAces - The Junior Tennis and College Tennis Podcast

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 30 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Coach Hannah Keeling of Georgia Gwinnett College - the winningest college tennis program in the NAIA - joins us to discuss why junior players and their families should take a closer look at this division.Coach Keeling is a former NCAA Division II top-20 singles tennis player and earned four first-team all-conference honors in singles and doubles at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia from 2012-15. She helped the team reach a No. 4 national ranking during the 2012-13 season. Hannah earned a bachelor’s degree in...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 29 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, we hear from 16-year-old Sadira Ouyang and her parents, Erica and JS, about Sadira's incredible progress over the past year and their thoughts on what has led her to her first seeding at a USTA Level 1 tournament.Sadira loves tennis. Actually, Sadira LOVES tennis! Coming from a family with pretty much no tennis knowledge, she and her parents have had to figure out this junior tennis thing from scratch. Relying on other tennis parents and coaches has helped, but both Erica and JS have definitely...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 28 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, father-son duo, Ethan and Eyal Yurconi, share their journey through junior tennis.Being the Coach-Parent of a young player is definitely a challenge, but Eyal and Ethan seem to have found a great balance that works for their family. Being a former top junior and college player himself, Eyal had the lived tennis experience but lacked the coaching knowledge to help his son develop. He educated himself, earned coaching certifications, and continues to learn through platforms such as ours.Ethan, at age 12, wants...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 27 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, coaches Pierre Arnold and Todd Widom are back for some real talk around what it takes for junior tennis players - and their families - to develop to their full potential.Long-time listeners of this pod are all too familiar with Todd Widom and his approach to developing and training players. Todd's developmental coach was Argentinian Pierre Arnold who instilled in Todd and all his players a strong work ethic and commitment to excellence. Pierre is an integral part of Todd's coaching system and recently...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 26 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Swupnil Sahai of SwingVision is back to share with us the latest - and upcoming - developments in this game-changing platform.Not only is SwingVision changing the way we record and review matches, but it now includes a way for any player to access its extensive professional coaches marketplace to have those matches and/or lessons analyzed with in-app commentary and notes. Imagine playing a tournament match which you've recorded with SwingVision then submitting that match to a globally-recognized coach for feedback with notations and...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 25 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Lisa chats with former Wimbledon Junior Finalist, Jordan Cox, live from the Intennse Arena in Atlanta.Jordan Cox began playing tennis at 8 years old and quickly started competing in junior events across the country & around the world. Some key junior tournament highlights include winning the singles & doubles (w Evan King) titles at the Boys 14 USTA Winter Nationals, winning the singles title at the Boys 16 USTA Hard Courts at Kalamazoo, placing 3rd at the Boys 18 USTA Hard Courts at Kalamazoo, and reaching the finals of the...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 24 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Lisa is joined by coach Mark Carruthers, the early developmental coach of the 2025 French Open Junior Girls Champion, Lilli Tagger.Mark Carruthers was born in New Zealand and is 44 years old. As a junior he was the New Zealand National Champion a number of times and played for NZ all over the world since the age of 10. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury followed by some tough mental health challenges at age 16 cut his playing career short. However, he has been coaching professionally since age 24 after earning h...

During the opening weekend of the Intennse League, we had a panel discussion with the Head Women's Coaches of cross-town (friendly) rivals, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia moderated by JY Aubone and Lisa. The UGA Women won the 2025 NCAA Championship just last month.Unfortunately, the video quality didn't come out as we had hoped but the audio is great, so you get an audio-only bonus episode this week! Hear what these two seasoned coaches have to say about junior tennis development, choosing the right coach for your child, what college coaches are looking for during...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 23 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week's episode with JY Aubone was shot live at the brand new Intennse Arena in Atlanta right before opening weekend of this exciting new way to play tennis.JY is working with Intennse to help manage the players as well as to do the live broadcasting via Twitch. In this week's episode, he explains how Intennse works, how it fits into a junior player's overall developmental pathway, and the opportunities it holds for recently graduated college players.I had the opportunity to watch Intennse live during...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 22 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Lisa is joined by former top Danish junior player and current renowned coach, podcaster, and author, Adam Blicher.Adam Blicher is the National Coach of the Faroe Islands and has spent over a decade immersed in coaching and coach development. For six years, he served as a camp and traveling coach for the Danish Tennis Federation, helping shape the next generation of Danish talent. He is the author of Winning Words – How to Unlock Potential Through Communication and the host of Dissecting High Performance in Tenni...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 21 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Lisa chats with Italian talent identifier and coach, Luca Appino who is with his 14-year-old player competing in the Italian Open Junior event.Luca started his career in Italy and for over 10 years was dedicated to the development of tennis schools in various clubs. He became experienced in management, marketing and product testing while working for industry leaders such as Dunlop, Babolat, and Fila.Luca has dedicated a significant part of his work and research to talent scouting. For Babolat, he selected various...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 20 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, we take a deep dive into a new app designed to help players and parents better manage their training and tournaments.Alli Barnes and Jaime Sullivan have been friends since childhood. After Jamie's last child left the proverbial nest, she was ready to let loose her entrepreneurial spirit so she reached out to Alli to collaborate on an app that combined her love of tennis with Alli's love and expertise in the health and wellness arena. TennisIQ was born!We've done a couple...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 19 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week’s episode, father-son duo, Scott and Bode Campbell, are back to take a look at their Junior Tennis Journey as Bode prepares to play college tennis in the Fall.Scott has been a long-time follower of ParentingAces! This is not his and Bode's first time to appear on our podcast. They were here a little over a year ago sharing their perspective on the journey - you can find that podcast at https://parentingaces.com/podcasts/a-parent-player-perspective-on-parentingaces-ft-scott-bode-campbell/.Now that Bode is graduating high school an...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 18 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this episode, Case Western Reserve University Head Men's Tennis Coach, Todd Wojtkowski, offers a little calm after the perfect storm of our last episode. This podcast was filmed live from Claremont Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, CA, host to the 2025 NCAA DIII Men's & Women's Tennis Championships.Todd Wojtkowski has built the Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team into one of the top programs in all of Division III during his 16 seasons at the team's helm, which includes guiding the squad to the NCAA Division III Championship in 2023, the first-ever...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 17 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Lisa is joined by Markus Dayton and John Parsons, both actively working in the college tennis space.With the House vs NCAA settlement still being negotiated, there are a lot of unanswered questions, both for existing college tennis players as well as those junior players aspiring to play college tennis. There has been a lot of discussion online about the various aspects of the settlement and its impact on facets of college tennis including the transfer portal, roster limits, scholarships, and international recruiting....

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 16 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, Coach Jim Harp is back to discuss not only his philosophy of junior tennis development but also his latest passion project, Roots to Racquets.Jim Harp is a highly accomplished tennis coach and the founder of Harp Performance Tennis Inc., established in 2004 in Cumming, Georgia, where he continues to reside with his wife, daughter, and a variety of pets. Renowned for his expertise and dedication to the sport, Jim holds prestigious certifications as a PTR Master Coach and an ITPA Certified Performance Specialist. He is...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 15 of the ParentingAces Podcast! This week's conversation is all about the mental side of tennis and how we can help junior players and their parents develop the necessary tools to have a successful Tennis Journey.Damon Valentino is a mental strength coach and former D1 Tennis Player at Michigan State University. He holds a Masters in Sport & Performance Psychology and is the founderof SIDE STREET Performance Coaching. He is globally renowned as a high performance coach, facilitator and keynote speaker working with professional tennis players and coaches, ITF juniors and parents, a...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 14 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, we hear from the Senior Vice President of UTR Sports and former college coach, Chase Hodges.Before coming to UTR Sports, Chase was the head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach at Georgia Gwinnett College where he led his teams to 15 national championships. Chase knows college tennis and he understands what junior players need in order to be ready for its challenges.Now, in his role at UTR Sports, Chase is very involved in the junior and collegiate side of things. He is always...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 13 of the ParentingAces Podcast! In this week's episode, we continue our discussion of what it takes to become a great coach and how great coaches bring out the best in their players. Coach Chris Marquez is our guest.Chris Marquez is a nationally respected tennis coach with a career built on passion, perseverance, and a deep understanding of player development. A self-described late bloomer, Chris didn’t pick up a racquet until age 11—but by 16, he was ranked among Florida’s top 15 juniors, earning wins over top-10 players, all while coming from a modest...

Welcome to Season 14 Episode 12 of the ParentingAces Podcast! If you've been watching/listening to this podcast for any length of time, you've heard me talk about the importance of mentoring. In this week's episode, Coach Aaron Rusnak of Innovative Tennis Coaching is back with us to discuss his transition from full-time on-court coaching to mentoring those coaches coming up behind him to ensure a better Junior Tennis Experience for coaches, players, and parents.Aaron has been coaching tennis for 30 years following a stint on the USTA Pro Circuit. Recognized as one of the Top 25...