I received this comment to my recent posting on the Wayne Bryan letter. Hopefully the letter will continue to generate a healthy discussion throughout the tennis community and the input will help to shape the course of American tennis. I do agree with the author that there are many talented coaches grooming many talented players all across the country. The USTA needs to partner and promote the best coaches instead of taking their players and branding them as USTA. If you read the Tennis Magazines you would think that every good American player was created by their USTA coaches. The USTA needs to partner with the great coaches out there and make them want to seek out the USTA’s help for their best and brightest stars. That means giving the coach credit, not just the USTA.
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Brian Parrott
My name is Brian Sidney Parrott, father of Travis Parrott, and coach here in Oregon for the last 40 years….
Patrick McEnroe, while assumably good intentioned, has close to no idea how this puzzle of using the legion of good coaches throughout the USA needs to be refined to efficiently develop players. Wayne Bryan, and a Greg Patton…both ‘nurturing’ personalities, need to be in leadership.
We (USTA)..>I have been a member only 46 years…have got it wrong ALOT…ask Jimmy Connors, ask John McEnroe….ask me.
I but my money on an ‘apostle’ of the game like Wayne Bryan…who knows the game from the five and under to Wimbledon. Sorry Patrick…step down and let people that have actually coached at all levels to assemble and develop the talent that is thwarted by the ‘control freak’ syndrome that is the USTA….for years.
Travis Parrott
It is time for an open airing of these issues…and I would call for an open debate on this and other subjects…(the foreign players that eat up the $$ for US kids development is another issue that has NOT be addressed as part of the ‘situation’…
Ken Solomon (Tennis Channel)….please invite, for the good of the game in the USA…a friendly debate…
Patrick McEnroe and anyone he wants to bring…vs Wayne Bryan, me and Jimmy Connors.
Let’s get it on…for the good of the kids and the future.
Brian Sidney Parrott
Portland, Oregon
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Travis Parrott (born August 16, 1980 in Portland, Oregon)[1] is an American professional ATP tennis doubles player. He is primarily a doubles specialist. He was ranked as high as #25 in the world (2009). Travis is the son of Brian Parrott, a pro tennis organizer who helped bring a pair of Davis Cupevents to Portland in the 1980s.[2].
Adirondack Tennis 
Good on you for using your voice to step UP for junior players!!! We attend 30+ junior tournaments each year..We talk and LISTEN to tennis parents practically every day. I can assure you that Wayne Bryan’s comments are similar to those we hear from 99% of the people in the trenches. I certainly don’t have any answers but there is clearly a PR problem, at the very least. Shine that light!
Dear HIgh-Tech Tennis…
Appreciate your encouragement to ‘shine a light’ on a number of issues relating to junior tennis…
The Importance of Doubles
My friend, UCLA great Roy Barth, Chair of the Davis Cup Committee and former #2 doubles team w/Steve Tidball (El Tid..:))…told me in NY this past September, that ONLY 40% OF THE JUNIOR TOURNAMENT HAVE DOUBLES! That is NOT smart.
a) We are developing kids really CAN’T VOLLEY! We are NOT developing singles players that can volley. That is why I am excited about Jack Sock…:) Isner’s ability to volley is part of why he has progressed in my opinion.
b) Doubles is FUN for kids and takes the ‘edge’ off a loss in the singles….and Mixed Doubles would REALLY be good to put into junior tennis! BJKing made the comment to me when I brought it up this summer: “It’s our best event…and we (tennis) does the worse job promoting it”
c) Doubles teaches important life skills that singles can’t; Teamwork, Tolorance, Encouragement to name a few important ones.
d) Over 30…to the 90’s…it will be a doubles game that the majority of players will play.
“Housing” is healthier
Reinstitute housing at junior tournaments!
Less pressure on the kids…it costs a fortune to fly the whole family, hotels. Learn to write a thank you note, make your bed and talk to people in different parts of the country…PLUS it promotes the game on the local level when these amazing kids come into town… “Mom I think that Travis Parrott was pretty cool…I think I WILL try out for the tennis team”
American College VISA Limit
Every college program gets THE SAME visa limit…and the rest are American players.
For the past 40 years, we have spent many, many millions developing the rest of the world’s talent with our best college coaches. If a kid in not in the top 20 in the nation, they are not in as much demand…since 136 nations are spending millions to get their Top 10 trained and travel…and then THEY come and take the scholarships that should be being used to develop American talent. We do NOT develop late bloomers (aka basketball converts/blue chip athletes that decide to switch to tennis).
Patrick McEnroe’s comment some years ago: “We just have to get are American kids better” to compete with the 136 other nations talent that comes to the USA is proof to me that he does not get it.
David Benjiman, ITA Executive and sweet man, told me it was ‘fear of lawsuits’ that kept him/ITA from put a visa limit in place to allow more American kids to play college tennis. WHAT COLLEGE PRESIDENT IN THE USA WOULD ALLOW A LAWSUIT to proceed that is helping American kids, whose American tax-paying parents are funding the development of the world’s junior tennis players!?
Time for some spine in the USTA, the ITA and correct this situation for the betterment of the American game.
Billie Jean Joan of Arc, John the Baptist McEnroe….can you hear me….we need leadership…and I am happy to consult….as I have thought about these subjects as I walk the Enchanted Forrest of the Pacific Northwest….:)
Respectfully…but very much in support of Wayne Bryan…
Brian Sidney Parrott
Portland, Oregon
2-18-12
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