High Performance = Your actions, not the amount of funding you receive or the tournaments your players compete in.

 This is off the back of a conversation I had with a coach, in which we discussed what does performance mean? In order to achieve performance, you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems/actions. I am paraphrasing James Clear, who has written an awesome book on the power of habits called Atomic Habits – I can highly recommend it.

In my experience in the world of junior tennis, the words ‘performance tennis environment’ are usually associated with receiving funding from the national governing body; input from national coaches; players being selected for camps and trips; and players competing at international events. And undoubtedly, these situations do exist – think about the current set-up in the UK of the National Academies and Regional Player Development Centres.

But the question is, is this the only way you can have a high-perfor...