You Are Not Entitled to Anything By Lonnie Mitchel n the fall of 2015, we are confronted with young people owning every gadget you can possibly think of, such as the iPhone. You have a computer that fits in the palm of your hand that you can do miraculous things with. A computer 40 years ago could not do half the things our iPhones can do and took up enough space to fill a large storage room. We have sure come a long way! There is danger to having instant gratification at your fingertips and not have to do the work to obtain fulfillment. I spend a great deal of time with the first generation of Millennials who have become used to getting the things they want in a short amount of time. What does this have to do with tennis? In terms of coaching young men and women, I see a complete difference in the young people I coached some 20 years earlier. The overwhelming majority of the college kids I coach come to campus for
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the first time, and as it relates to tennis, they want instant gratification. They feel they are entitled to the reward and are not always willing to put the work in to reach their goals. I spend a great deal of time recruiting young men and women to play tennis at the collegiate level for SUNY Oneonta. The last group of skilled and talented freshman men showed up at practice and many thought they were going to be the number one singles player because they are who they are. I told them that each person will have an opportunity to earn starting positions as we went through the challenge matches. Invariably, when a student lost that challenge match, I could see the “deer in the headlight” look in their faces … the realization of having to work hard at just being a starter would be challenging. What do you say to a young man who has instant gratification in the palm of his hand and won many USTA junior matches and tournaments? Most of these young people were the best player on their high
Long Island Tennis Magazine • January/February 2016 • LITennisMag.com
school squad and is now no longer king of the hill. Now comes the time where you find who has the character to persevere. Who will incinerate the thoughts of entitlement and start doing the work necessary to balance their lives on the tennis court and in the classroom? Who will say that it is “too hard” and simply quit? A common theme I hear if a player quits is “I do not have the passion anymore” and “The classroom is creating excess stress that I cannot balance.” Make no mistake about it … I know what they are saying and I am very good at reading between the lines: “I want it to be fun and easy and have success. If not, I am not going to do it.” Where is it written that tennis is supposed to be fun and easy all the time? When you play collegiate tennis and sports, you have to sacrifice time, and I look them in the face and say welcome to the real world, you will have to earn your spot. This concept is a real world scenario. The adults reading this know that nothing is handed to you, and in most cases, you will have to earn just about everything. For