Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Baker.
Alex, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After graduating from college, I started working at a couple of tennis clubs around the Dallas area. I then started working as a high school tennis coach and then was recruited to be the assistant tennis coach at Dallas Baptist University. While at DBU, I was constantly receiving emails from players that did not have the skill level to play there but could have played at a different university. During this time, I discovered it was easier to tell a player how to hit a forehand than how to set up their mind. I worked for the team physically hard and because of that, they became tougher mentally. After I graduated with my Masters from DBU, I started Next Gen Tennis with the purpose of helping as many students as I can. I wanted to teach them mentally, physically, and guide them to the college best suited to them.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been smooth at all! Parents and coaches think I want to teach their kids tennis or steal them from their current coach. I do teach lessons but I will not steal a player from a coach. What we work on at Next Gen Tennis compliments and helps make the coach’s job easier. We work on the areas that coaches do not normally train so the coach can just focus on teaching tennis.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Next Gen Tennis story. Tell us more about it.
So, at Next Gen Tennis, we specialize in mental toughness (Sports Psychology), cardio/footwork fitness training, and college recruiting guide. All three of the packages take about a month’s time to complete and have a huge impact on the lives of players. We focus on the entire player, not just the tennis part. We help give them skills, drills, and clarity to help them in ALL areas of life. We focus on the player as a whole. That is what separates us from other coaches, fitness instructors, and psychologists.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has very much played a part of my life and in business. It has been both good and bad at times. Good luck was getting a good office very cheap, having good connections to start this business, knowing coaches and material. But there have also been bad luck by coaches not promoting sports psychology, parents not understanding what we do/ seeing the value, and people just not communicating.
Contact Info:
- Address: 700 Central Expy Suite 400, Allen, TX 75013
- Website: www.nextgentennis.net
- Phone: 214-274-7387
- Instagram: @nextgen_tennis
- Facebook: Next Gen Tennis
Image Credit:
Dan Huntley
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