Welcome to Season 13 Episode 9 of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. This week, journalist Joel Drucker is back to share his thoughts on all things junior and college tennis.

Joel has been around tennis since childhood. He fell in love with the game, growing up within biking distance to courts in his West LA neighborhood. That love of tennis has taken him around the world as a sought-after journalist and thought-leader in our sport. He has watched the game change over his 6+ decades of life and has seen young hopefuls go on to win at the highest levels of the sport and others fizzle out.

Joel recently wrote an in-depth article on rising young junior player, Iva Jovic, who lives and trains in Southern California. He spent time with Iva, her family, and her coaches, trying to understand who this young woman is, not only as a tennis player but also as a person. You can find Joel's article on the Tennis Recruiting website at https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=11532.

Whenever I chat with Joel, whether at a Grand Slam or a junior tournament or just via text message, I am taken by his thoughtfulness around what it takes to succeed in tennis. He has a unique way of looking at - and writing about - the game which is unparalleled. And I always leave our conversations a little wiser and a little "curiouser" to dig deeper.

This particular conversation with Joel meanders into several aspects of junior development, tennis parenting, and what happens when expectations are placed on young players too soon. I hope you'll enjoy Joel's take on our sport and will be inspired to read more of his work! You can find links to his books and articles, as well as a Contact link, on his website at http://joeldrucker.com/.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your fellow tennis players, parents, and coaches. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven’t already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by visiting https://parentingaces.com/membership-join. And check out our logo’d merch as well as our a la carte personal consultations in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). To support ParentingAces' work with a financial donation of any size via PayPal, click here.

CREDITS

Intro & Outro Music: Morgan Stone aka STØNE

Audio & Video Editing: Lisa Stone

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