Talking about College tennis with Marc Booras
Booras’ leadership has produced an active streak of five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, one ITA National Team Indoor Championship appearance, an ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship singles champion, four ITA All-Americans in singles and 19 all-conference selections, including 13 in singles and six different doubles tandems. He has over 150 career wins and coached Dominik Koepfer to number 1 in college tennis.
On the national level, Booras currently serves as Associate Vice Chair of the ITA Division I Operating Committee. Most recently, he was selected as coach of the United States Tennis Association’s 2021 Summer Collegiate National Team.
Playlist
It is always interesting to hear how successful coaches started their coaching career. Mark explains how he got into coaching and remembers many coaches that influenced him. He also talks about coaching as a means of teaching his players all the things that he wishes some had been able to explain to him with as a player.
Mark explains the advantages of college tennis in the United States, starting with the unique ability to earn a college scholarship through playing tennis. College tennis allows many players to continue to develop without the huge expenses that players have on the pro tour. You are able to continue playing a very demanding schedule, you get to travel for free and you have access to free coaching all while completing a degree.
Mark explains why college tennis is the perfect pathway to the pro tour. He touches on all the advantages college players have vs those jumping straight into the tour. Among them: cost, coaching and match experience. He also touches on the success college players are having on the pro tour.
The challenge of playing enough matches to develop as a player.
Tournament matches are an important equation to develop as a player. Players need to make sure they are playing enough matches throughout the year or they will get stuck. This sounds easier than it is. If you are constantly losing early in the tournament you are only adding 1 or 2 matches a week to your yearly match total and many times that is just not enough.
This section also discusses the different division in college tennis. Very helpful to understand your options.
Mark explains the scholarship system and the normal size of different teams. He explains why on the men’s side most players will have to pay something to go to school even if they are highly ranked on their team. Each Division 1 team can only provide 4.5 scholarships for their whole team, so 4.5 scholarships have to be divided among 10 to 12 players.
During this part of the interview you will learn about the competitive format used in college tennis. Did you know, “lets” are played out? Did you know they play “no ad”? How about the doubles scoring: one set no ad?
Mark talks about the importance of choosing the school based on academics and not solely based on tennis. College should prepare you for life even if you are lucky enough to make a lot of money playing tennis. There is also an interesting discussion about the chances of eventually playing in the line up if you do not play in the line up your first year, something very important that everyone should consider.
In this section of the interview, Mark talks about the importance of choosing the right school. Players need to do their own research before deciding where to go to school. An important question to ponder is whether it is better to go to a stronger team and fight for a spot in the line up, or go to a weaker team and play at the top of the line up.
Mark talks about his philosophy of developing the entire person and the reason he was attracted to Tulane. He talks about the success inherent in doing everything possible to succeed. After 15 years coaching at Tulane it is clear that players develop at Tulane. Players need to understand that decision have consequences. This development mindset is something that players will carry for the rest of their lives regardless of what they end up doing.
In this section Mark talks about the importance of focusing on the process, on the task at hand. In order to develop you have to be clear what your responsibility is and focus on the things you can control. In addition, Mark’s goal is to develop the individual, by helping them develop socially (building relationships), academically (gaining knowledge and understanding) and athletically (improving their fitness and tennis skills)
Mark speaks about the challenges of turning teams into families. In an individual sport like tennis it is difficult for players to look at the big picture outside themselves. After all, college tennis is a team competition. The ultimate goal is to help the team win. Individual success has to become secondary.
Mark talks about the importance of competition to develop players. Tennis is a competitive game and players have to be comfortable under pressure. He wants his players to be competing all the time. Here is how he approaches his practices to continually expose players to competition. He emphasizes the importance of approaching practices the same way one approaches competition. Hi Motto: What happens in practice, happens in competition.
Mark talks about his approach to mental training. Mark has a background in sports psychology and that shows throughout his coaching philosophy. Mark understands that every player has different challenges and that many times the coaching has to be individualized. He likes to help players discover and analyze their believes and help them change when necessary.
Mark tells the story on how Dominik Koepfer got to Tulane based on a tip from Edgar Giffenig. Mark took a chance on Dominik and recruited him based on potential and not results since Dominik did not follow a common developmental pathway. Dominik was a competitive skier growing up and did not spend as many hours on the court as all of his peers.
Mark talks about his experience with Dominik Koepfer, who developed from a number 6 player during his freshman year to the best player in the nation during his senior year. Mark explains how Dominik took responsibility for his development and worked harder than anyone day in and day out, slowly gaining confidence and believing in himself.
In this section of the interview Marc focuses on Tulane. You will understand exactly what Tulane has to offer. You will learn where it is located and discover that it is a highly ranked academic institution. When attending Tulane you will have the amazing opportunity to develop athletically, socially and academically.
