This may end up being a big hire for West Ottawa Tennis. When looking at candidates, I look for the following (in order of importance):
#1 Do they love kids and love West Ottawa Tennis?
#2 Do they have a high knowledge of the game?
#3 Are they likely to make a long-term commitment to the program?
I will consider any hire if they love our kids and our program enough. If they have #1 and #2, then we've got an excellent candidate. When they have all three, that's the home run. It looks like this may be what we have in Coach Floch. He loves this community, has a high tennis IQ, and I don't get the impression he likes to be average at things he cares about. I've asked him to write an introduction, and I've included it below for you to read:
#1 Do they love kids and love West Ottawa Tennis?
#2 Do they have a high knowledge of the game?
#3 Are they likely to make a long-term commitment to the program?
I will consider any hire if they love our kids and our program enough. If they have #1 and #2, then we've got an excellent candidate. When they have all three, that's the home run. It looks like this may be what we have in Coach Floch. He loves this community, has a high tennis IQ, and I don't get the impression he likes to be average at things he cares about. I've asked him to write an introduction, and I've included it below for you to read:
I love tennis! I have been playing and coaching for over 30 years. I believe tennis is not only a game of wins and losses but a game that teaches us a lot about ourselves and about life. In his acceptance speech in 2011 for his Hall of Fame induction Andre Agassi said the following:
"Tennis has not only given me much, it has taught me much. It is no accident that tennis uses the language of life; service, advantage, break, fault, love. The lessons of tennis are the lessons of maturity. In tennis you prepare and you prepare and one day your preparation seems futile; nothing is working and the other guy has got your number cold. So you improvise. In tennis you learn what I do instantly affects what you do and vice versa. Tennis makes you perceptive, proactive and reactive all at the same time. Tennis teaches you the subtlety of human interaction, the curse and blessing of cause and effect." ... I couldn't agree more Andre.
After a junior career I played for two years at Oakland Community College and then two years of Club Tennis at Michigan State University. I became certified via USPTR (United Staes Professional Tennis Registry) in 2009 and have been teaching at MVP Athletic Club in Holland since. It is at MVP that I met Coach Pete Schwallier and many West Ottawa players, girls and boys. I love the passion that Pete has instilled in the WO program and I am thrilled to be a part of the WO tradition.
I also like to have fun. So in the words of the great Yoggi Berra, "It ain't over until it's over."
Here we go!
"Tennis has not only given me much, it has taught me much. It is no accident that tennis uses the language of life; service, advantage, break, fault, love. The lessons of tennis are the lessons of maturity. In tennis you prepare and you prepare and one day your preparation seems futile; nothing is working and the other guy has got your number cold. So you improvise. In tennis you learn what I do instantly affects what you do and vice versa. Tennis makes you perceptive, proactive and reactive all at the same time. Tennis teaches you the subtlety of human interaction, the curse and blessing of cause and effect." ... I couldn't agree more Andre.
After a junior career I played for two years at Oakland Community College and then two years of Club Tennis at Michigan State University. I became certified via USPTR (United Staes Professional Tennis Registry) in 2009 and have been teaching at MVP Athletic Club in Holland since. It is at MVP that I met Coach Pete Schwallier and many West Ottawa players, girls and boys. I love the passion that Pete has instilled in the WO program and I am thrilled to be a part of the WO tradition.
I also like to have fun. So in the words of the great Yoggi Berra, "It ain't over until it's over."
Here we go!
