Kirk AndersonQ&Awith

USPTA Tim Heckler Hall of Fame Inductee

Marisa Lampe Director of Marketing & Communications

Kirk Anderson is a USPTA Master Professional and has been a member of the association for five decades. Over the years, Anderson has been a popular speaker, written several books on coaching and served as the USPTA director of education. In this Q&A, Anderson discusses his induction to the USPTA Tim Heckler Hall of Fame, the importance of continuing education and his upcoming book releases.

Q: Kirk, tennis has been part of your life for quite some time. How did it all begin?

A: I got a late start in tennis. I went to a small high school outside Kalamazoo, in a place called Parchment, Michigan. I didn’t necessarily have the greatest experience with team sports. I had one basketball coach who said, “I’ll keep you on the team, but you’re not going to play because you’re too small.” So, I didn’t play much my freshman year, but I worked hard. With an individual sport like tennis, there were no barriers. The summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I played a lot of tennis in the park with friends. We had fun and played all day until it got dark. It was just an enjoyable sport. It gave me the opportunity to run, hit, compete and completely control my own destiny. That’s what grabbed me.

I had a coach my senior year who ran a summer program. He asked me to take over and I thought, “Wow. What a deal.” I could teach tennis, make a little money, be outside and do what I like to do. So that was my start—pretty humble beginnings. I began teaching the day after I graduated and worked all summer.

I thought it was even better than playing because students appreciated it and I was helping them get better as people and players.

Q: You’re in rarified air as just a small group of people who have reached the Master Professional level from both the USPTA and PTR. What led you to pursue these two distinctions?

A: I always wanted to excel. I didn’t have a lot of high-level playing experience, so I wanted to distinguish and differentiate myself. I thought, do you want to be a sailor, or do you want to be a Navy Seal, do you want to be a carpenter, or do you want to be a craftsman? I wanted to be the best of the best, and it has definitely opened up doors that aren’t available to other people because I achieved that level. If you’re interested in becoming a Master Professional, find a mentor, look at the criteria, get started and document everything. It’s a long-term goal but if you’ve been in the business for 10 years, you should be able to check a lot of things off and you’ll get there and achieve your goal.

Q: You have 50 years of service to USPTA. What are some of your favorite memories from your time with our association?

A: You look back after 50 years and you have a lot of memories. But the memories that we still talk about and laugh about are the networking that was done at divisional and national conventions. People that I ran into starting in the early 70s, we were breaking ground. We learned from each other, we shared each other’s successes, we learned from each other’s mistakes and when we went to conferences, we became very good friends. There are probably 20 people who are still in the business now that I became close with just through being around each other and sharing stories. Those experiences are the most memorable to me.

Q: What are the things you’ve been most proud of as a tennis-teaching professional?

A: Obviously, it is the development of my students. A couple years ago I asked a former student, “You were in my program for six years. What do you remember most?” He thought about it for a short time, and said, “Coach, there are three things I remember. Number one—our practices were going to be really well organized. Number two — we were going to work really hard. Number three—at one time or another, we were going to laugh like crazy.” And I thought, “Oh, that’s pretty good.” I am proud of that.

On the flip side are the courses we developed for coaching tennis. The books we wrote and the online courses were innovative and groundbreaking. We did that with a lot of cooperation with USPTA and PTR and the US Olympic Committee. We got the information online and available for mass distribution in a short amount of time, so I’m proud of that, too.

Q: Speaking of those coaching resources, you served as the USPTA director of education back in the early 90s. In your opinion, what are the most crucial things for a coach to learn?

A: I think the most important thing to learn is to keep learning. You’ll want to continue to learn skills, tactics and techniques and keep refining them to become the best teacher you can be. The second piece is to realize you’re not only teaching tennis, but you need to teach people. You need to learn how to connect with kids, adults, seniors and special needs people. They all have different needs and come for different reasons, so you need to be able to learn how to teach them all. The third piece is that we are not only teaching tennis, we are not only teaching people, we are changing lives. If people ask me what I did for a living, I would say I changed the lives of a lot of people. I gave them confidence, encouraged them and supported them. We developed trust. As far as I’m concerned, we teach tennis, we teach people and more importantly, we change lives.

Q: How important is it for coaches to receive continuing education?

A: The people I mentioned, who were in conventions with me 50 years ago, are still learning. They’re still in the front row taking notes. There’s no secret why they’re still in the business. It’s because they are still learning. I have always struggled with people who complain about continuing education. If you’re not reading books, going to courses and doing things online, you’re not going to be around in 10 or 15 years. Plus, if you’re continually growing, innovating and accumulating knowledge, your students pick up on that, too.

Q: You’ve written or co-authored 14 tennis books. Is there anything on the horizon you’re working on?

A: Yes! I have a book that’s almost finished called Tennis Beyond Lessons: Coach Yourself to Better Tennis. It’s not a technique book. It’s about decision-making, competing, preparing, all the things that happen outside of a skill- based lesson that are going to make you perform better. I also have a second book I am working on for youth coaches. This one is based on relationships and connections — how do you make that connection and how do you build that relationship with your students? I’ve surveyed more than 3,000 coaches over the last 10 years, and I asked them to think of one characteristic to describe their favorite coach. Almost every answer is about the relationship, not the knowledge the coach passed along. They were encouraging, motivating, I could trust them and they believed in me. Those types of things come up repeatedly, so that’s what that book is about.

Q: Is there one moment that stands out for you being a USPTA member?

A: I wrote a curriculum for Wounded Warriors. I had to do a lot of research about working with people with disabilities and with PTSD. I was aware this could be tough emotionally and physically. We started with foam balls on a short court, and the people I was planning with said, “Kirk, that’s not going to work. These guys are soldiers and they aren’t going to buy this short court stuff.” I said let me give it a try, and so we did. We went to the military base to work with 20 wounded warriors, and it was incredible. We were laughing, they were having fun and kidding each other. We had lunch and they talked about what they were going to do on the weekends, riding their bikes, being with their families. I had such a good feeling that, okay we are working with wounded warriors, but they’re just like any other person. On the second day of the workshop one of them called me over and said he had to talk to me. He got right in my face and said, “Coach, don’t ever stop what you’re doing because it makes a difference.” Then he gave me a hug. That’s one thing I’ll always remember in my coaching career because it was pretty significant.

Q: Do you have any advice you’d want to pass along to young USPTA members?

A: Have you heard of the starfish story? There was a man going to the shore and the night before he arrived, there was a big storm. The storm washed up thousands and thousands of starfish onto the shore. When he approached the shore, in the distance he saw somebody stooping down and throwing starfish back out into the ocean. He walked up to him and said, “Sir, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m throwing these starfish out into the ocean because when the sun comes up these starfish will get dried out on the shore and die. The guy says, “There are thousands of starfish on the shore. How can you possibly make a difference?” He threw another starfish in the ocean, and said, “Well, I made a difference for that one, didn’t I?”

You never know what impact you’re going to have on your students. I didn’t know my former student Danny Faber would become the CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, or that Eric Walsh was going to be a chief engineer for Whirlpool, but you make a difference. That’s one thing that I want to pass along. Every student is important. Reach them, motivate them, keep them in the game, because that’s the opportunity we have as coaches. The other piece of advice is to look at yourself as a teaching pro. Make sure you’re working on things that are going to make you better every day, so that ultimately, you’re the best coach you can be.

Q: What does it mean to you to be inducted into the USPTA Tim Heckler Hall of Fame?

A: I was incredibly honored and speechless. I was trembling when John (Embree) called to tell me I had been selected for induction. I couldn’t be more grateful for this recognition. I went right to the USPTA website and looked at the people who are in the Hall of Fame and I thought wow, what an incredible group, and then I thought I’m so proud of the fact that I can be recognized as more of a development coach, rather than from coaching at the highest level. I have always struggled with that because I think you can be a high-performance coach at the developmental level, and I have always wanted to be the best development coach in the world. So, it gave me that recognition of yes, someone can be recognized for working with people at the development level. I am so grateful to have spent my career working with people, getting them started and getting them excited about the game, because it’s such a great game.