When I was in 7th grade, my classmate was caught smoking cigarettes by her father.  He did not yell or scream; he did not tell her she was ruining her life; he did not lecture her on the dangers of smoking.  Instead he sat her down in the living room and had her smoke a cigarette in front of him… one after another… and then another.  She basically had to smoke until she threw up.  As she related this story to me the next day (embarrassed and a bit green), I was horrified.  What kind of father would do this to his child?   However, the result was… she never smoked again ( at least not through middle and high school).  Dad was a genius.  He imprinted upon her the taste of smoking until you puke.

On a similar note:

As a culminating event to our year long study and education of healthy nutrition for the elite athlete, today began the Belly Brain Experiment at CP.  There have been some very interesting observations in both behavior, attitude and performance.

Please read on.

As you know, a goal of CP is to develop the best possible version of each individual.  And because the things we ingest through the senses transforms us, CP takes great care in providing daily nutrition (intellectually, spiritually, physically) that serves the thinking, compassionate athlete.

Today, we offered something very different – a free reign of ‘food’ choices that are the antithesis of healthy.  (I use the term ‘food’ loosely here.)  Donuts, gummy bears, soda, starburst, Capri Sun, chocolate milk, Chips ahoy, (quite honestly there were things I did not recognize… but some of the students did!) served as post workout choices.  This is compared to the usual CP post workout foods: bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, nuts, fruit, boiled eggs, smoothies, tacos. Lunch today was fried chicken strips and Kraft mac&cheese, compared to regular CP lunches of fresh meats and vegetables.

Some of the students dug in, some grazed, some refused. Healthy choices were also available all day.

The changes in behavior were astonishing – giddy, giggling, angry, foul-mouthed, sleepy, lethargic, vomited, could not add 3+4 (literally), begged for ‘real food’ (which was available all day), complained of not feeling well.  Academy practice was a disaster for these kids, too.

So what is the lesson?  Hopefully this will serve as a visceral experience that will imprint on them that the choices they make impact personal performance, attitude, and happiness.  Garbage in, garbage out… awesome in , awesome out.

Why are we doing this?  To EMPOWER your children.  Hopefully, they will begin to understand the POWER they have over who they are and how they behave, by these simple choices.

Below is a great article on gut health.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/5-steps-to-kill-hidden-ba_b_739213.html

~Carol

Led by Dio Miranda, and with the support of coaches, parents, and teachers alike, next week the students of ATA CP will embark on the “Belly/Brain Experiment”.  This will be a five-day lesson exploring the effect of different types of foods on the mental, physical and emotional state of the athlete’s body.

We will begin Tuesday with the more unfavorable meal choices – donuts, fried chicken, soda, various candies – move into Wednesday as a normal meal day at CP; on Thursday we will provide a plethora of healthier options – fresh fruit and vegetables, juices, roast chicken and beef and mixed nuts (basically, a normal day at CP). Friday, Dio will spend an hour discussing the benefits and detriments of sugars, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and how the students felt – physically, mentally and emotionally – Monday through Friday.

This experiment is by no means mandatory; no one will be forced to consume anything they do not wish to consume. The goal is to encourage our student athletes to be mindful and aware of how certain types of foods shape their attitude and behavior both in academics and on the court.

We will announce the “Belly Brain Experiment” to the students this Friday.

from Coach Newman

I recently posted to my Facebook page that one of the best parts of my job is participating in the community building events that surround the Austin Tennis Academy.  A week ago Sunday it was participating in Esmeralda’s run.  Tonight is was being the Master of Ceremonies for three ATA Seniors signing their national  letters of intent to play college tennis.  Allie Carlisle: UT Tyler, Austin Priess: Abilene Christian University and Austin Mayo, Northern Colorado University all went through their ceremony this evening.

These events are rituals.  We have a formula, we follow the formula, it is comfortable and it is familiar.  The event starts with me welcoming everyone.  We alternate having these signings on Mon/Wed or Tue/Thur so that both Junior Development and Junior Academy players get to be a part of these inspiring moments.  All ATA Academy players and coaches are present.  Coaches talk about the grads, grads give speeches and then they sign their papers.  Some of the things that make this ceremony a ritual…Each player has a cake a balloons.  The cake always has the logo of their chosen school and the balloons are the colors of the school.  Each player signs their NLI and they sign an ATA pledge.  Players and parents sign the documents with the same pen that every player who has signed papers in the past 10 years has used to sign THEIR papers.  Each player gives a speech.  Many of those speeches are full of emotion, many tears are shed.  Everyone takes pictures and eats cake after each player’s ceremony is complete.

These are certainly special moments for the grads and their families who have spent years, if not a decade in pursuit of the goal of playing college tennis.  However, they are special for everyone else too.  For the younger high school students, they can begin to see themselves up there, giving a speech at their ceremony.  For our JD and JA students, they can begin to picture themselves playing as long as these grads and playing college tennis like these kids are going to do.  It can be inspiring for the younger ones.

It gives us all a chance to celebrate the passion, work, enthusiasm, joy and gratefulness that these young people have set a goal, worked long and hard to achieve it, and are now on their way to setting a new set of goals.  As I said, it is a ritual.

As we were walking out this evening, Coach Doug Davis commented:  “I can’t imagine another tennis program doing these signing ceremonies better”  “We are doing something very special with these events”.  I agree with Coach Davis.  If you made it this evening, thanks for coming.  If you did not, engage your ATA player tonight on what they learned at the signing!  And, we hope to see you at next year’s signings.

| Financial Forces | Belly Brain | Art Attack | Big Decisions

Amazing qualities of the people that make up the ATA community are apparent, not only through the breadth of knowledge, but also through the generosity of giving and sharing.  This semester CP students are gaining valuable information from guest instructors, John Spencer, Dio Miranda, Linda Racino, and Susan Steffes.

Financial Forces

ATA patron, John Spencer, offers his expertise and passion by teaching an upper level course on Finance and Economics.  Students are learning 1) practical tools to manage personal finances and 2) basic concepts of corporate financing and accounting principles.  Covering topics as differentiating between wants and needs, ways to acquire and finance each; appreciation and depreciation; assets and liabilities; risk, interest, and present value; annuities, bonds, leverage buyouts and venture capital, and IPO’s.

Lookout world… ATA CP is producing business leaders with knowledge AND compassion.

Belly Brain

Striving to get the most out of the student-athlete by teaching them the best practices to feed the body, Dio Miranda, CHEK certified trainer and nutritionist, shares his expertise and passion by teaching self-awareness through the belly-brain connection.  Students’ food choices affect performance in all aspects of daily life:  1) the body through athletic fortitude and stamina; 2) the mind through electrical stimulation and hydration; and 3) the spirit through attitude and compassion.  Using the results of a self-test questionnaire, students now know their metabolic type, along with instructions of how to best support it with suggested foods and quantities for eeach meal.

Art Attack

As a reinforcement, students hand painted plates designating the percentages of their metabolic type.  Linda Racino, from Art Attack in the Galleria, brought her studio to ATA CP so that students could create their own plates.

Big Decisions

CP parent, instructor, and physical therapist, Susan Steffes, is teaching BIG DECISIONS; a 5 week educational unit covering reproductive anatomy, healthy relationships, se* and its consequences, why abstinence is the best choice for teenagers, prevention of se*ually transmitted infections and pregnancy, and setting and communicating healthy boundaries.  Students in this class are participating in lively activities and discussions to reinforce topics every child (and adult) should be able to discuss respectfully and knowledgably. You may visit the Big Decisions website to learn more about the curriculum.

It takes a village.  ~Carol

PLEASE NOTE: If you are interested in sharing your expertise and working with the students of ATA CP, please contact me.  We are looking for people who are excited about what they know and do and would like to pass that on to the next generation.

“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you’ve gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.”      ~Chuang-tzu

The five-paragraphy essay is a formula.  It does not lend itself to creative thinking.  It asks the writer to contrive thoughts on a given topic into an artificial container.  It has no real purpose after 8th grade.  So what is the purpose of writing?  I recently asked a few students “For whom are you writing that paper?”.  They answer… “Mr or Mrs ___________.”

Well THAT is the problem.  Don’t write it for HIM or for HER… write it for an interested reader!   Write like you know more than the person reading your essay.  Find out something interesting that no one else knows about your topic; become the expert.  Then tell it with excitement!  Your audience is not Mr ______; it is the world.

So… write like you mean it!  ~Carol

Austin Tennis Academy and ATA College Prep are constantly striving to grasp the power of technology to better serve its students. Through interaction via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and the ATA website, or analyzing intricate technique with the latest in video sharing technology, ATA works to be at the forefront of using these tools to offer the best possible product to its community.

Today’s middle school World Geography class was another wonderful example of this ongoing effort.  Jesse Wikso, while in Florida at Spring Nationals, Skyped into class to give a presentation on research he’d completed for our unit on Asia.

He was able to access the assignment online through TeacherEase, our student information and classroom management tool, complete the assignment, and present it to the teacher and the class without ever falling behind due to tournament travel.

Great job, Jesse!

from Travis, student contributor

The past few weeks, the Geometry class and the Advanced Algebra class (both taught by Bryan Rutherford) have been constructing Tennis Ball Cannons. They will be powered by a small force of combustion, building up an enough pressure to send the tennis ball soaring.  The devices are made of numerous different parts including large PVC pipes, couplings, screws and spare grill ignition components. They are secured  to rotating stands; a ball gets rammed down the barrel; and BOOM! Little Wilson is on his way. The class who’s cannon shoots the farthest wins!

Stay tuned for the results…

Wow!  Parent-Teacher Night… this community never ceases to amaze me!

If you were a fly on the wall: 1)  you would have witnessed a community of devoted and caring parents sitting side by side, packed like sardines, on the picnic tables in the rec room;  2) you would have heard the passion in our instructors’ voices as they presented course objectives from the simple to the complex; 3) you would have heard WHY we are so passionate about providing our students with healthy and enriching food for their minds, bodies, and spirits and HOW we creatively implement the programs that accomplish it; 4) you would have heard the rooster crow at sundown (literally); 5) you would have viewed the infamous white board walls covered with inspirational, mind-blowing information in Philosophy, Geography and English classes; 6) you would have experienced a piece of the innovation that happens daily behind the red doors at College Prep.

Thank you to everyone for making it a special evening.

~Carol

Today…

Two middle school students sit down in the Library in front of the white board and, by memory, hand draw a map of the world.  Four others are outside wrangling the horses and learning how to manage not only large animals that are bigger and stronger, but how their own energies affect them, conquering fear and feeling compassion.  A gap year student is teaching 6th grade math and designing projects to complete the year since they have completed the required curriculum 8 weeks ahead of schedule.  Latin class is at Starbucks.  A community member is requesting our upper level students to contemplate the meaning of money, responsibility, and what they will establish as their purpose moving forward in life… and then concretize this by defining and writing their plan.  A few others are down at the court working on fine tuning backhands.  In the sunshine room, students are studying independently and preparing for the World History class in which each student must research and co-teach a unit.  A little while later,  the geometry class approached me with a proposal to build a tennis ball launcher – comparing the cost, safety, and efficiency of a combustable vs compression model.  And at lunch, CP students stuffed 300 plastic eggs for the JD Easter Egg Hunt, took an SAT vocabulary quiz, ate Shepherd’s Pie, and a few went to mentor lunches to discuss current projects.  Then off to Chemistry, Calculus, French and Spanish…

…  just a typical day.

“Race to Nowhere” is an education documentary that challenges current thinking about how to best prepare our students for success.  It encourages us to rethink not only WHAT it is we are preparing our children for but HOW we go about doing it… and more importantly… WHY we do it.

I first viewed Race to Nowhere in an auditorium filled with parents and public school teachers and administrators at Austin High School.   I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the house.  And there were several angry educators.  This film endeavors to raise awareness and change public opinion about the educational institution much like “Supersize Me” strived to change the perception of the dangers of our fast food nation.  It temporarily satisfies the hunger, but the damage done over the long term is often irreparable.

It is an interesting study well worth the 85 minutes.  If you are interested in attending a viewing of this film, please contact me.  ~Carol

I have heard Coach Doug call a player’s tennis bag a ‘life line’.  It should contain everything you may need on the island of the competitive tennis court.

My son, Josh, is meticulous about his tennis bag and its contents.   It is organized like a ship captain’s data log.  Everything has a space and everything is in its place.  Now, mind you, while he has always been pretty good about this task, at times, it might have looked like this: 1) some brown thing that resembles the remnants of a banana peel, and a 7 month old protein bar crammed together in the side pocket with 5 dirty socks.  ( Do I need to describe this smell? )  2) the first aid kit that I purchased and carefully packed for him so that he would have bandaids in case of a blister eruption during that all important 3rd set… is opened and scattered in every orifice of the bag, along with random pieces of paper and a dried up Subway sandwich.  3) No strings.  This may not sound like a big deal… but let me tell you, if you are traveling out of town and you need to string a racquet, the stringing charge is twice the normal ATA $ amount because it is always a rush, you don’t need to be paying extra for THEIR string.

Over the years of varied experiences, his bag has become full of interesting and useful items for tournament play.  So from Josh’s bag check to yours, I suggest you keep these recommended items close at hand:

1) Racquets.  How many?  A good rule of thumb for the # of racquets you keep in your bag could be determined by the duration of the tournament being played… ALWAYS AT LEAST TWO.  Three day tournament – 3 racquets, 5 day tournament, 5 racquets.

2) string, grips, balls for warm-up

3) sun screen, hat, visor, sun glasses

4) extra shirts, socks, jacket, pants, shoes, shoelaces

5) snacks, bars, fruit, nuts, water jug, Emergen-C or other electrolyte powder/tablet

6) first aid kit, (Epi-pen if allergic)

7) script notebook, match cards, tournament draw with directions to sites

8) a good book to read

Over the years, you will develop your own unique items to keep in your bag… remember to be prepared and keep a strong life line.  You just never know, someday, the Tennis Channel might want to do a Bag Check on YOU to see what’s inside your bag!

I wonder what they will find?

~Carol

from Morgan, student contributor

Chinese New Year is here! This year is the year of the snake. The first day of Chinese New Year is February 10th, so the New Year is well underway.  The Chinese New Year celebration lasts over a span of two weeks. In preparation for the New Year it is a custom that Chinese people thoroughly clean their house sweeping away all of the bad luck from the previous year. After the first few days of the New Year they don’t clean their house to prevent the good luck that the New Year will bring to go away. Eight is the lucky number of because the word eight in Chinese rhymes with the word fortune and wealth. Red is the lucky color of the New Year; Chinese people typically paint their doors and windowpanes red for good luck. Some people also decorate their home with plastic firecrackers to ward off bad luck. Paper cut outs are also hung during this time. Red is also worn through the New Year and when worn with gold it shows full participation during the New Year. Children receive red packets filled with lucky money. Tangerines and oranges are also handed to children for good luck. Chinese people use the greeting 恭喜发财 (gōng xǐ fā cái) – meaning “you wish someone to be very rich” – but the phrase is generally used as a Happy New Year. Chinese New Year is the most important part of the New Year because it is a time to connect and share with your relatives and friends.  During Chinese New Year the Tray of Togetherness is used, it is a tray with eight compartments filled with food for good luck for people to eat from. Fish is also cooked because the word for fish rhymes with surplus or excess. Dumplings are made and some Chinese families hide a coin in the dumplings and whoever gets it is said to have good luck during the coming year. The Chinese Class of ATA College Prep went to 王老师’s house to cook for the New Year, we made dumplings, salmon, rice cake, and a noodle dish, it was all very delicious. Here are some photos of us celebrating the Chinese New Year. 恭喜发财!!!

Each week, CP students are challenged and tested with 10 new SAT worthy vocabulary words.  The ongoing contest is who can use them most eloquently in daily conversation… this week, Coach Newman wins.

I was in San Antonio watching the Boys and Girls 16s National Open the past three days.  There was a clear difference between ATA players and the other players I watched.  The milieu of ATA College Prep is one of teamwork and focus.  I have been impressed with the progress the players I watched have made, and by the progress all of you have made this year.  While sometimes rambunctious at lunch, during workouts and class you jettison bad attitudes and you each bring a unique, piquant taste to the ATA CP experience.  Improper terms and other negative self talk are anathema to you, and the diaphanous difference in skill and level make practice matches especially challenging and rewarding.  You all get along well; there is rarely a schism and you have a tacit understanding that treating each other well is the name of the game.  Fortunately, none of you are bibulous, so tournament trips go smoothly for the most part.  And, while we have room to grow, there is not room for a googol of ATA’ers.  You are one of a select few who get the opportunity to particpate in ATA College Prep. 

CP students practice square breathing at the beginning of each school day.  They practice Alpha on the courts before the beginning of practice.  They practice ‘the golden’ in between points.  What do these things have in common? They are all methods of becoming aware, eliminating distraction, and tapping into the alpha brain wave.

This article A Neural Basis for Benefits of Meditation describes a Brown University study that proposes a neurophysiological framework to explain the clinical benefits of what we already know and practice here at ATA CP.

Think it!  Be it!  ~Carol

If you have not had the pleasure to contemplate Sir Ken Robinson’s views on education… take a few moments to watch this TED Talk.