Profile by justin hartney

The Sensei F

rancois tells his students to pick up the tennis balls, and tells them to gather around the service line. He exclaims, “If you came here because you think I will make you a better player, you are wrong. I can help you become a better player, but you have to want to be the better player.” The students are excited to face the challenge of hard work and effort to become the player they hope to be. They are now aware that just showing up won’t make them a better player. Like the tool of his trade -the tennis racketFrancois is a device tennis

players can use to become a better player. The racket won’t make a player better, but it allows the player to train and become a better player. The students come to Francois with intentions of becoming a better player just by showing up, but they soon learn that they have to put in work to get results.

Francois emphasizes self-motivation and improvement through effort.

This attitude towards tennis has been inspired by Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset. This book is focused on changing your fixed mindset to a growth mindset. A growth mind-

set is where you approach challenges with the impression that you can overcome them through hard work and effort. Francois takes this idea to the tennis courts and encourages his players to practice hard and to challenge themselves.

Francois was a high school student working at a bakery, cutting bread, trying to make some extra money.

He was also an avid tennis player and wanted to pursue a career in teaching English. One day, while playing tennis, his old tennis coach saw him and offered him a job teaching tennis for Foster City. Francois quit his

Dedicated Motivated Passionate job at the bakery and took up this opportunity. It was only supposed to be the job I do through high school, and I figured I’d do it in college to make money, and somewhere along the line it became the real job.” This potential that Francois’s old coach saw in him was the catalyst for Francois’s tennis coaching career.

Francois saw that other coaches weren’t coaching their students properly, so he decided to coach how he wanted to. He believed that the coach shouldn’t be responsible for the player’s success, but the player should be the one responsible for their own success.

Francois was annoyed that coaches were boasting about their players going on to great places. At Sylvano’s

Tennis Academy where Francois used to coach, the players went to become really good tournament players and go off to college on scholarships. All the other coaches would talk about how they were the runs that should be credited for these kids’ success, but in reality it were the kids that were putting in the effort and trained to reach their goals. Francois thought that the coaches almost wanted their students to succeed more than the kids themselves for the sheer factor of bragging about it.

tennis by going deep into the principles of coaching tennis and is constantly researching new techniques.

When Francois saw something he didn’t like, and thought he could do better, he took the initiative to become the “best” tennis coach. He committed himself to coaching

Francois’s main passion has always been coaching tennis, and he devotes 6 days of the week to teaching tennis at Marymeade Park through the city of Los Altos. When Francois

When Francois went to college, he continued coaching tennis, and studied English. He planned on teaching English, and considered English to always have been his best subject in school. As he continued college, he devoted more and more time to coaching tennis. Francois still pursued his English teaching career, and teaches English at College of San Mateo.

phrases Francois says to his students when they are practicing with him. He encourages his kids in a fun and motivating way which allows them to listen to Francois and respect him as a person.

In order for a coach to teach his students, the students must respect the coach.

This is especially hard with the young kids who are not mature and get easily distracted. Francois has to get their attention and keep them focused if he wants to be a successful coach.

This is a typical weekday for Francois, which consists of teaching tennis to kids. Francois’s life revolves around coaching tennis and researching tennis.

It is the end of August and Francois’s hard work is about to pay off. He has been training his team all summer for the Whitlinger Cup, a tournament where teams play against each other and then the final round is held at Stanford. He is in the final round, a feeling he has grown accustomed to.

Here he will be able to show off his coaching abilities.

tennis bag on the bench and then goes back to his car and gets 4 baskets of tennis balls where he places next to the net. His first lesson of the day is at 4:00 and is a clinic Francois arrives at of kids aged from 10-12, folMarymeade Park at around lowed by two private lessons.

3:15 in his compact white “If you get all of your car. He unpacks all of his tennis gear and heads over shots in, Your mom will let to court 3 where he sets up. you have ice cream for din- As the day continHe sets his notebook and ner!” This is one of many ues, Francois wins more isn’t coaching tennis, he is studying the mechanics of the strokes and researching the principles of tennis, so he can be a better coach.

and more of the matches, nearing victory. Francois rushes to the players when they switch sides and gives them advice and things he witnessed earlier in the match. Francois tells his students, “You have to want to win, you have to want it more than your opponent.” His students are tired and exhausted from playing in the 90 degree summer heat. This doesn’t stop them from playing their best and pulling out all the stops. Francois’s emphasis on effort and being dedicated pay off. He wins his 5th Whitlinger Cup.

to teach kids the “right way” to learn tennis. He started out coaching because he wanted a job, but now he continues coaching because it is his life. Francois commits his time and effort to tennis and maintains strong enthusiasm. He wasn’t happy with the current status of the tennis coaches, so he decided he was going to make a difference.

This motivation to do something about an issue, truly depicts Francois’s dedication. Gerard Ho, a fellow tennis coach, and a father of Chris Ho who played with francois and went off to Dartmouth, describes Francois plans on Francois as, “a dedicated coaching tennis as long as coach. He will do everything he can. He is determined to make sure the kids learn

the right strokes and to go to tournaments and do the right thing.” Francois’s reputation has grown over the years he has coached tennis and is a respected coach in the tennis community.

“I try to provide a home for my students no matter what” -Francois Chan