Jeff Salzenstein has been involved in tennis pretty much his entire life. In Season 8 Episode 3, Jeff shares his tumultuous junior career, going from #1 in the 12's to #69 in the 16's, eventually making his way to the Stanford Men's Tennis Team playing for the inimitable Dick Gould.

After giving the pro tour a go then getting side-lined by multiple injuries, Jeff moved into coaching, developing a variety of online platforms to reach players around the world. Today, his focus is the power of language and the power of communication and how to help others improve. How you talk to yourself, how you communicate as an influencer, and how we're being "programmed" by our larger community are all aspects of Jeff's work as a coach. 

Simply becoming aware of how you speak with your child is Step One of improving communication. Not just the words but also the tone of voice can impact how your junior interprets what you're saying. As parents and coaches, we have to model good communication for our children so they will grow and develop into better communicators as adults. Jeff offers some concrete advice on how we can hone our skills in this arena.

Thank you to my son, Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our new intro and outro music this season! You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

If you’re so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the ParentingAces website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices