Payers & Players Podcast

Payers & Players Podcast

This podcast's mission is to discuss junior tennis with a focus on the journey and process of player development. We discuss trends in junior development and promote tennis events at all levels, including college, Futures, Challengers, ATP/WTA, and local events. We would like to invite our audience to share our experience raising competitive junior tennis players in the USA. We will discuss the highs and lows of being a Payer as we support our Players.

Episodes

May 9, 2025 42 mins

James McKie - UTR Sports Director of Player Relations, and former associate HC at Tennessee (2017-24).

James talks about his journey from College tennis player to coach to his current role at UTR.

UTR is helping juniors and college tennis players improve their development with alternate and innovate tennis events.

UTR's Summer Slam:

https://www.utrsports.net/pages/pro-tennis#summer-slam

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Tennis Parent, Mark Bowers, share his wisdom and advice on parenting two D1 college tennis players - Ashton (University of Texas) and Tyler (University of Illinois).


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February 14, 2025 65 mins

Roman Prokes, the premier racket technician in the world (not an exaggeration!), shares his wisdom on racket specifications for junior players. We talk with Roman about the optimal racket and string set up for a variety of junior players. Roman also shares stories of stringing for the US Davis Cup team, working with Andre Agassi to find the right racket for Novak Djokovic to beat Nadal at Roland Garros (it worked!), and much more!

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November 27, 2024 62 mins

Lindsay shares stories about her junior tennis career, being a tennis parent to the #1 ranked US junior player, and what advice she has for tennis parents and players.

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November 20, 2024 59 mins

Robert & Scott discuss the new ITF rule to allow off-court coaching. In addition, they discuss their experiences of playing ITFs in the US vs Foreign, debate whether WCs should be used for USTA tournaments, and share their experiences of hosting players during professional tournaments.

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Kazuki ("Kaz") Matsuno joined Michigan State men's tennis as an assistant coach in 2023, and serves as the Spartans recruiting coordinator. Kaz grew up in Chicago and played for Michigan State from 2020 - 2023.

On the podcast, we discuss what Michigan State looks for in recruits, how they have been able to create a professional environment and what to expect from the Spartans in 2025.


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November 2, 2024 55 mins

Raheel Manji - founder and CEO or Mission Elite - joins us to discuss how Mission Elite is impacting tennis development. Raheel played college tennis at Indiana, played professionally, and coached at Oklahoma. He saw a need to bring the college model to professional and junior tennis.

Learn more about Mission Elite:

Website


Podcast


Book: 17 Principles of a Mission Elite


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August 5, 2024 67 mins

The Changeover guys - Jody and Justin - join the podcast!

Jody Maginley and Justin Roberts, former D1 college players and currently playing the pro circuit, launched the Changeover Podcast in 2023. The Changeover is a behind the scenes look at professional tennis at the Futures and Challenger level.

We discuss how they launched their pro careers, what it's like being a doubles specialist, how to deal with setbacks, and some st...

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We follow up our previous conversation with Marcelo and talk about

- how can tennis stay relevant with the rise of pickleball and padel

- what does it take to make a Blue Chip player

- wide-ranging discussion on all things tennis recruiting


Marcelo is the Director of Windy Hill Junior Tennis Academy. Prior to that, Marcelo was the head coach at Pepperdine and associate coach at Texas Tech.

IG: @coahferreiratennis

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Marcelo Ferreira is the Director of Windy Hill's Tennis Academy. Prior to moving to Atlanta, Marcelo was the Head Coach at Pepperdine and the associate head coach at Texas Tech. Marcelo played college tennis at Georgia College.

Marcelo shares his story of building one of the top tennis academies in the nation in only a few years.

Follow Marcelo on Instagram @coachferreiratennis


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We discuss the recent NCAA Settlement and its potential impacts on College Tennis with John Parsons, host of the No-Ad No Problem podcast & blog. We also touch on the changes taking effect next season and some quick thoughts on the recent NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla.


You can find John...

Twitter (X): @jtweetstennis

Instagram: @noadnoproblem

Podcast: No-Ad No Problem




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NCAA 2024 Women's Tennis Team National Championship Press Conference Mashup

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NCAA 2024 Men's Tennis Team National Championship Press Conference Mashup

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May 17, 2024 64 mins

Wayne Bryan, father of the legendary doubles team - the Bryan Brothers, shares his insights on raising high achieving athletes, students and artists.

Wayne articulates his thoughts on how to generate passion for tennis, and the importance of attending college and pro tennis matches.

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James Shaughnessy (aka Sawinski) is the leading expert in 3D tennis analysis. Sawinski talks about how 3D analysis is used to identify problems in stroke mechanics and how it can be used to improve technique.

Instagram:

@repo_code

CONTACT:

jim@scio3dsports.com

BIO:

Owner of SciO 3D Sports- SCiO manufactures the ARIEL Computerized Exercise System or ACES. Additionally, SCiO uses 3D motion analysis that measures invisible technique...

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In April we journeyed down to Colombia to experience ITF tournaments, red clay and South America. We share our thoughts on the trip and what we took away from the experience.

We will follow up with several videos - so please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@payersplayerspodcast7340

ITF Calendar:

https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament-calendar/world-tennis-tour-juniors-calendar/?categories=All&startdat...

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March 22, 2024 59 mins

Joao shares his tennis journey from being a top ranked junior in Chile to playing college tennis at UT San Antonio and in Chile. He has experience coaching tennis in Chile, Switzerland and the US, and is currently working at Tucker Tennis Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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March 20, 2024 44 mins

Episode 96 - Tomas Descarrega

Born and raised in Rosario, Argentina, Tomas he was ranked #1 in Argentina in the 12U, 14U, and 16U. He played college tennis at LSU and West Florida. Tomas is currently a teaching pro at Tucker Tennis Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Ross is the 1st year head coach of the Men's and Women's tennis teams at UC Santa Cruz, the only D3 program in the UC system. Ross has an unbelievable and unique tennis journey.

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March 4, 2024 52 mins
Cooper Woestendick (Olathe, KS) is currently ranked #13 ITF, and recently competed in the Junior Australian Open where he made the QFs in singles and won the Doubles title with his partner Max Exsted (Savage, MN). Cooper shares his junior tennis journey from training with his dad in Kansas City to his current residence at the USTA National Campus in Florida. Cooper is currently a junior in High School and has committed to play col...
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