Coffee with Coaches

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Rod Ray, Wofford Tennis

Coach Vidal on Coffee with Coaches Guest Rod Ray: In this episode of Coffee with Coaches, you will be inspired by guest and author Rod Ray to expand your comfort zone. What I love about our conversation is Rod’s optimism, authenticity, and commitment to being a man for others. Like all of us, Rod continues to face down 40 love situations every day, but he has learned how to turn things around with a smile on his face and a heart to serve. To learn more about Rod Ray, check out his Amazon bestselling book “Hard Comes First” here. –René Vidal Here are a few of Rod’s insights on building resilience and living in the precious present: On Resilience “Resilience is not something you have, or you don’t have. Resilience is a skill that you can acquire.” “If you want to build resilience, then look for hard things. You need to do things outside of your comfort zone all the time.” “Most of the things in life that mean the most to us are things that were challenging.” “I can’t promise that your life’s going to get easier (but if you read my book), you’ll see that your life can get richer.” “Most of my best players have had to go through adversity to become good players.” “I believe in a very powerful, strong, and loving God. I don’t think God creates bad, but I think he can use bad for good.” On Leadership “I’m gonna give you everything I got, and I don’t really want anything in return.” “For our team, it’s not a Rod Ray team; it’s a player team.” “My dad was a great leader and became president of a small college when he was 75 years old. My father didn’t know much about running a college, but he was nice to people and knew how to make hard decisions for an unselfish purpose.” (Listen to Rod speak about his father at Podcast time stamp 6:24) On Legacy “If I’m a stronger person, then I can be a stronger person for other people.” “Let’s do life with an open hand rather than a closed fist.” “I would like my legacy to be that I loved well and believed in others when they didn’t believe in themselves.”

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Billy Pate, Princeton Tennis

In this episode of Coffee with Coaches, Princeton head men’s tennis coach Billy Pate shares how he prepares athletes not just for tennis success but also for life beyond sports. Coach Pate’s Profile (Read Full Bio) Billy’s Top Coaching Quotes On Legacy “I want to be thought of as somebody who put their student-athletes first.” On Recruiting “We want highly ambitious players to be the best version of themselves, not just as tennis players, but as human beings and students.” On High Performance “Your goals need to match your habits.” On Team Culture “Our winning culture is about energy, being unselfish, being disciplined, and being a good teammate.” On Leadership “We want to guard against entitlement.” On Sportsmanship “I never throw my racket because that would be disrespectful to kids who can’t afford rackets.” (Quoting Rafael Nadal, 22x grand slam champion) Coach Pate’s Philosophy in Action Vidal Leadership Application

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David Roditi on Building a Winning Team Culture

In this episode, 2024 TCU NCAA National Championship Coach David Roditi shares his insightful journey from being a professional tennis player to becoming one of the best collegiate tennis coaches in the country. During this engaging conversation, David opens up about his experiences, thoughts on creating a dynamic culture, and how thinking differently produces different results on and off the court. Some key highlights and takeaways: Are you ready?…Let’s go! FOLLOW DAVID RODITI: instagram

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Talking Culture with Mark Booras, Tulane Men’s Tennis Head Coach

Mark Booras File: Vidal: What is culture? Booras: Team culture is the environment you want the guys to be in; the environment you want at practice, during matches, team meals, and the way people talk to each other and relationships. Culture affects lots of different things about outcome: how you play and push one another, the emotional side of the game and how much you invest Vidal: Did you have a mentor? Booras: Jeff Brown at LSU, a fantastic coach, even better guy. In Jeff, I saw the head of a program that was reachable. I watched how Jeff carried himself and the relationships he built with the players. “Life is about relationships.” Mark Booras, Head Coach at Tulane Men’s Tennis Dick Gould at Stanford was another great example; the guy was all about relationships…I was literally nobody, but he would give me the time of day and make me feel like a million dollars. Vidal: What steps would you recommend to shape an amazing culture? Booras: Great question. 1 – Set the vision. The guys on team need to see the leader doing right. They need to see me not only living it; they need to see me believing it…that this guy means business. If you’re failing at the top, not following your own rules, the guys are going to see that. The idea of leadership and consistency is huge…preach discipline and show these guys what discipline means. 2 – Embody selflessness. You want a culture where people are investing in each other. Yes, as a player, you want to be the best and play number one on the team, but you also want to building with your teammates an environment of love and care for one another and family. 3 – Be a relational leader. From my first recruiting call, I say, “We want you to be part of the Tulane family. This is the best thing that you’re going to have for the rest of your life.” The relational part of culture is the overarching principle that you want to really focus on as a leader. Vidal: What advice do you have for next-generation leaders? Booras: With information at their fingertips, one of the things that is slightly challenged is the communication opportunity. How are you communicating? When we go to team dinners, I make the guys put away their phones. We’ve got to learn to talk to one another. As a coach (and leader), you have to know how to reach each person because everybody has a different personality.