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School News | Monday, April 24, 2017

Coach’s advice: ‘Let what you do in life do the talking for you’

Tennis legend, hall-of-famer Nick Bollettieri, 86, imparts life lessons at Pace High

Tennis twosome: Pro tennis coaching legend Nick Bollettieri poses with Msgr. Edward Pace High School tennis coach Anthony Lilly during Bollettieri's visit to Pace March 28.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Tennis twosome: Pro tennis coaching legend Nick Bollettieri poses with Msgr. Edward Pace High School tennis coach Anthony Lilly during Bollettieri's visit to Pace March 28.

MIAMI GARDENS | Nick Bollettieri has coached tennis most of his life. He is the go-to guy for players such as Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and both Venus and Serena Williams. Bollettieri has guided 10 tennis players to a worldwide number one ranking, and has been inducted into 10 halls of fame.

At the end of March, he could have spent his morning on the Key Biscayne courts of the Miami Open, watching the tournament and rubbing elbows with tennis aficionados. Instead, he chose to visit Msgr. Edward Pace High School to do what he has always loved: Give back to the community.

“I come here not as a preacher, but as a person that has experienced thousands and thousands of events,” Bollettieri said to over 200 students at the school, including Pace’s tennis team.

Along with the selfies and meet-and-greet with the coach, the team reaped a few additional perks: personal autographed copies of Bollettieri’s book, “Changing the Game,” and a one week summer scholarship to attend the Bradenton-based IMG Academy for athletic and sports performance.

“It’s really an honor,” said Steve Erick Taranto, a freshman. “He’s really a legend.”


‘Get the ball over’

During the Q & A session with Bollettieri, Steve Erick asked for some sound advice on the game. One of the coach’s tips was simple: hit the ball over the net one more time than your opponent.

Pro tennis coach Nick Bolletierri imparts lessons about winning, on and off the tennis courts, during his visit to Pace High March 28.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Pro tennis coach Nick Bolletierri imparts lessons about winning, on and off the tennis courts, during his visit to Pace High March 28.

“That’s all you gotta do. I don’t care what it takes, you get that ball over.”

Physically, anyone can do it. But Bollettieri pointed out that what sidetracks most players is the mental aspect of the game.

“When you play the game, you play to win. Take advantage of what the other person can’t do and what you can do, but most importantly say to yourself, ‘I’m a winner.’ If you do that, you have a better chance of winning,” the coach said.

That mental training is the reason why the IMG Academy caters to athletes of all levels and from various sports, but also why military personnel, including the Army Rangers, Navy Seals and Royal Air Force, go to the campus.

Bollettieri’s coaching philosophies transcend beyond the tennis courts, and have also earned him invitations to speak at West Point Military Academy, the University of Oxford in England, and Harvard.

“Can you imagine me, Nick Bollettieri, speaking in a room full of geniuses?” he said.

While he recognized the sacrifices required to get into a renowned school, and how attending any of those schools can give students an advantage in the future, he said who they are when they get out of school is what’s most valuable.

“Education is the foundation of the world,” said Bollettieri.

Msgr. Edward Pace High Principal Ana Garcia poses with pro tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, center, and former Opa-Locka police chief James Wright, who arranged the hall-of-famer's visit to the school.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Msgr. Edward Pace High Principal Ana Garcia poses with pro tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, center, and former Opa-Locka police chief James Wright, who arranged the hall-of-famer's visit to the school.

He commended Pace’s faculty for molding good tennis players and athletes, but advised them to help their students focus more on what they will do after graduation. At the IMG Academy, his faculty prepares students not only for sports, but for life.

“The amount of kids that we help get into college is the biggest thing,” he said.

The IMG Academy, originally called the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, was founded in 1978 on a 40-acre campus — about the size of PACE. It has expanded to 500 acres, and now specializes not just in tennis but also in golf, basketball, baseball, football, lacrosse, soccer, and track and field.

The sports records and rankings of its alumni are meritorious, but what Bollettieri is most proud of are the 1,100 fulltime high school students who live on campus and perform exceptionally, not only on the fields and courts but in the classrooms and in life.

Despite the academy’s success, however, Bollettieri received plenty of criticism, especially from the media and sports psychiatrists who claimed he was pushing athletes too hard. He remembers his mother’s fury at the critics, but said his father put it all in perspective.

“My dad would say, ‘Let what you do in life do the talking for you.’ Those words of advice helped me become who I am today.”

 

Giving back

As the academy grew, so did Bollettieri’s desire to give back to the community.

He recalled, during the late 1980s, sitting on a bench at the French Open with another tennis hall-of-famer, Arthur Ashe, and having a conversation about inner city kids who would probably never have the opportunity to play tennis. Ashe and Bollettieri chose a park in Newark, New Jersey, to try out an outreach tennis program.

“As we walked into the park, with gun shells on the grass and the police guarding us, Arthur looked over his shoulder and said, ‘Nick, are we coming back?’ And I said, ‘Yes, Arthur.’ Then he said, ‘Nick, we cannot give these children one day of hope, and never come back.’”

For 13 years, Bollettieri ran the Ashe-Bollettieri Cities Tennis Program.

“Nick is extremely zealous about giving back to the community and especially inspired by programs that help children,” said James Wright, former Opa Locka police chief and Miami Gardens mayoral candidate, who helped arrange Bollettieri’s visit to Pace.

This year, Bollettieri plans to travel about 225,000 miles around the world doing community outreach and speaking at various institutions. While the travels could take a toll on anyone, Bollettieri, who will turn 86 in July, said the opportunity to help others is a boon for him.

“The impact that you make on people’s lives goes on for generations. And that’s why I’m a rich guy: because I help people, then their children, and then their grandchildren.”

And if his sheer will power and mental fitness were not enough, Bolletieri exercises every night. He stretches, lifts weights, and does hundreds of sit-ups.

“You’ve gotta take care of yourself. You only have one body and one mind,” he said. “When people say to me, ‘Nick, how do you feel today?’, I tell them, ‘I’m above ground, baby, and I’m smiling and it ain’t bad.’”

Nick Bollettieri (center, back row) poses for a group shot with Pace High's tennis team.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Nick Bollettieri (center, back row) poses for a group shot with Pace High's tennis team.


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