Rafael V.

About Me

I was born in California but I spent my school years in Laredo Texas. I enjoyed playing all sports but during my senior year I discovered tennis and started hitting balls around with no knowledge of the game. I enrolled at UT at Austin and I took beginner tennis as an elective. I loved it! The following semester I took Advanced Tennis and I had a rude awakening. My instructor was the coach of the powerful Longhorns who were ranked 9th in the nation. One day he brought to the courts a walk on (a player trying to make the squad) and he made the 2 best players play a set against him. The first student only won 1 game from him. I came next and I only won 2 games! It was embarrassing because I thought I was much better than that.

I graduated and started playing many tournaments. I kept losing. But I never gave up. I kept studying the game very carefully and I kept moving up the tennis ladder. The game was becoming frustrating because I was having problems beating college players even though I was training hard and taking lessons. It was not until I was in my 30's that I started to really observe the top players and study their technique. My game suddenly went from advance to professional! My training preparation and belief combined to make me a very difficult player to beat. I beat several ATP players who had been on tour a year before.

The walk-on who had beaten me in college would probably lose to me by the same score or worse.

Ok that's a little bit about me as a player. Let's talk about my teaching. I got my United States Professional Tennis Registry certification about 30 years ago. I was worked as teaching pro for NE Community Education for about 15 years teaching mostly adults. I also taught for The San Antonio Tennis Academy for 2 years working with advanced juniors. I also spent 3 summers as tennis advisor/instructor for the Texas A&M tennis camps. I currently work as one of the main instructors for The Club Tennis Center in Sugarland.

Teaching Style

I am a strong believer in structuring my tennis teaching around movement and hitting that follow the laws of motion. I am an expert at teaching tennis fundamentals and movement. I feel very strongly that mental roughness is directly related to how well you hit as well as how well you move on the court. This is assuming, of course, that you are in good physical condition.

Teaching Locations = Travel Radius = Preferred Court