Christopher P.

Hi, my name is Christopher. Tennis has been in my life for about as long as I can remember. I began at age four, played competitively all throughout high school and had lots of success later on in college. I was a 4-year MVP at #1 singles and doubles, First-Team All-Conference each year, and was a part of the All-Decade Team. I taught tennis as a summer job for much of that time as well, teaching private lessons and running adult and children's clinics at my local swim club. Since graduating in 2008 I lived in China for a year, teaching considerably high-level junior players and touring the region's ITF circuit. Most recently, before moving back to the Midwest (I'm originally from Cincinnati), I lived in Los Angeles where I taught tennis full-time, teaching and serving as an active hitting partner for both teenagers and adults.

My technical understanding of the game is my greatest strength as an instructor. I'm good at watching a person's stroke and explaining to them what's happening and then what needs to happen to produce a cleaner ball. I structure my lessons by hitting a lot of ground strokes, volleys, serves, via point-play or just rallies, offering constructive feedback as the needs arise. (I am sensitive, too, to the fact that there is too little feedback and there is too much feedback. It is very delicate, actually. You might liken tennis to some Zen koan saying master can show you the door but you must go through it. Self-belief is critical. One of my favorite moments while teaching is when I am explaining something to the student and suddenly something happens and they "felt" it; they look at me very satisfied and say, "Oh, that's what you were talking about!")