No Excuses
by Cannon Campbell, Tennis Director/Owner

Don’t be an excuse maker or part of the tennis cliché

Are you one of those players that say something like this after you suffer a defeat?

The match was a lot closer than the score

Every game went to deuce

He called every ball out that he the line

His parents were coaching him

She took a 20 minute bathroom break

He was a stinking PUSHER

I just wasn’t feeling very well

My opponent’s strokes were just weird, they made me play bad

I just ran out of energy

I had a tough match earlier in the day and my opponent didn’t

I got a horrible draw

Or maybe the all timer IT JUST WASN’T MY DAY

These are things that I heard very often from our players or parents over the last few years. Way back when I was playing I remember saying a few of these too. Take it from me, having excuses or using and believing cliché’s will not help you to become your best. Benjamin Franklin said “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

Draw strength from athletes that have shown grit and determination to be their very best. Lance Armstrong was only given a 3% chance to survive cancer. He didn’t sit around and make one excuse after another he went on to beat cancer and win 7 Tour De France’s. What about Stefan Edberg (one of the greatest tennis players of all time) playing the Australian Open Singles Final in 1987 with two broken ribs. He eventually lost the match but not because he made an excuse. Another example is my buddy Todd Greene Major League Baseball Player and catcher for the San Francisco Giants in 2006 playing for half of the season with two completely detached rotator cuff muscles. He could have quit and made excuses but again like Lance and Stefan that’s not what winners do.

When things are not going your way or maybe even after a loss try to draw strength from whatever or whoever inspires you and stop being so soft. Go out there and GET TOUGH and lay it on the line. Great players don’t feel the need to make excuses or say cliché’s they take it on the chin and live to fight another day. The great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi said “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.”