tennisking1
Senior Member

May not be this year but you'll see me and my family there in the not to distant future, group or no group. I'm working on a very cunning plan.

That oil slick is ridiculous. What a waste. It would have been easier on you guys to go to N.O. as well. Oh well. If you guys want to come, please give us a call and say that Brett Waters (me) has been talking to you. We will do a nice discount for a group. This island is an absolute awesome getaway. 250 restaurants on this island. Unbelievable. Most of our top dog juniors head home for the summer and do their respective tournaments and then come back for the school year, but we will have quite a few very good players here whose parents have actually moved here because of the tennis. We should have 6 or 7 top 20 in the nation girls and boys here as well as quite a tremendous group of juniors who come in for summer camps. Normally, we have around 17 or 18 top 20 juniors here, but a few leave to go home for the summer. This is a very safe area too. Horseback riding, mall, pool, beach, Harbor Town, golf, and probably the best bike trails anywhere in the U.S..

I'm glad to hear you have been webified, it makes it feel more official I'll bet. Good to hear about the kids doing so well. It must be very satisfying to be getting results from your students. It really seems that you guys have the right approach to teaching.T-Bar is really starting to dislike our little group over here in Ft. Worth. We operate out of a public tennis center and our kids are beating the upper eschelon tennis center's kids on a regular basis. The irony being that most of the kids there are pretty well off but none of the local clubs has a decent youth program. I'm still working on getting out to HH. Maybe we can do a group trip like our group did to Fla over spring break. We were planning on going to N.O. this summer to work with Monica Seles's former coach but it fell through due to scheduling issues. Probably for the better anyway since N.O. is one of the best food cities on earth and is currently unable to source fresh local seafood due to evil oil slick.Thanks BP!

Hi Arc! Things are going great. Finally got a "just woke up and feel like crap" picture up of me on the website. Excellent results coming from the kids in tournaments. We have a 12 year old that just came from your area that will be here until October. He doesn't seem to like the training over at T-Bar. I think I have found the key formula as to why Smith Stearns is the best academy (in my mind). The coaches mold themselves to the player instead of the kids having to mold to the coach. I think it our willingness to pay attention to that is the reason we keep having such great results with the kids from the top to the bottom. Our "bottom" group has really shot up the rankings and they have really, really exploded in their games. I am quite proud of them.

How's it going in HH?

Ummmmmm...Food!

Awesome. We have it all here. Great food and golf as well. Hopefully I will be up and running on the website soon. I've only been here for a couple of months and I guess I am on a trial basis. Everything seems to be working very well and hopefully I will be considered part of the family soon enough. Come visit us......

I really appreciate the information. Hopefully our family will be able to visit Hilton Head in the not too distant future for vacation/tennis. It would be great to check out Smith Stearns, meet you and the other pros, and play on some clay courts which is something we are severely lacking here in Texas (the closest one is in Dallas at T-Bar M tennis center) The coaches here put a trip together for the juniors over spring break recently to Boca Raton so the kids could get a bit of clay court training and play some Florida kids to see how they measured up. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and we plan on going next year.

I've already checked out some of the packages for Sea Pines and the tennis clinics. I've also heard the fishing there is really good too! Perhaps we'll get out there within the next couple of years.

I'll definetly stay in touch.

Rikard is a great coach and knows his stuff. I have not heard of Scott, but if he is helping players get better, that is exactly what you want. I don't know if Rikard is affiliated fully with anyone, but he definitely is working with players somewhere in that area. He is by far the best coach that I know of out that way. Jimmy Brown out at the Newcombe Tennis Ranch is quite good too, but not as personable as Rikard. Rikard has a good personality and adapts his way of teaching to the individual. I know there are some good athletes in Texas. I was offered a coaching position at an academy in Houston, but turned it down. Too big of a city for me. I believe I am at the best academy in the U.S. at Smith Stearns. The coaches all act with class and they all have played at a minimum at the Division 1 level in college (Clemson being the weakest). That's not bad by any means. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask at anytime.

Actually it is Scott Smashey. (If you or anyone you know knows of him I would appreciate some feedback) He has worked with Maureen Drake, among others, in the past and is still good friends with her. He also has close ties with and sent a local player to work with Martina Hingis' former coach down in New Orleans last summer. I believe that Rikard is working as a Pro at Southlake Tennis Center which is a bit to the northwest of Fort Worth but very close. The next time I'm up that way I'll make a point to stop and say hello. It is good to know someone of his caliber is in the area. We actually have some really good potential here in Texas for some great juniors coming up with coaches like these guys. We are just a bit behind in ages and experience compared to the established programs in Texas but all the kids working under Scott and his co conspirator Stephen Bruwer (formerly of U.Tenn. Martin via South Africa) have been steadily climbing in rankings.