Living the tennis dream: South Africa’s loss is United State’s gain

MIKE Strydom has added some good ol’ South African flavour to tennis in the United States of America.

Tell us a bit about your tennis since you left the South Coast:

After serving as the head coach at Port Shepstone High School in KwaZulu-Natal in 1999 and 2000, I left the South Coast in 2001 to be a teaching pro at Frenchwoods festival of the arts.

This was followed by a short stint as a private coach in NY city to a junior tournament player.

In 2002 I coached city tennis in Glasgow, Scotland before working as a club pro in Sheffield, UK.

After moving to the US in 2003 to get married, I had nothing to do with tennis until 2007, preferring instead to play racquetball, rugby and cricket (which is surprisingly big in Iowa).

Responding to an advertisement in the paper, I was interviewed and got the job as assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

It was only a part time job, so I continued to work as a crisis-management specialist at a local psychiatric hospital.

In August of 2013, the current head coach accepted a position at another college and, after a brief recruitment process by the school, I was hired in August 2013 as the official men’s and women’s head coach.

Wartburg College is a Division III school competing under the national umbrella governing all college sports in the US, the NCAA.

Wartburg competes in the Iowa Conference against nationally ranked teams and has consistently placed in the top three for the last four years.

This year, my first year as head coach, my men’s team beat Luther College for the first time since 1984, capping a 12-9 season.

How did you get into coaching and what is it exactly that you enjoy about it?

I got into tennis as a natural result of having played for many years competitively and wanting to stick with the game once injuries started to prevail – bad knees from too many years of keeping wicket and playing squash.

Inspired by another former coach of Sheppie High who was a successful coach in America (Rob Nankervis), I decided to try coaching full-time and I am now very fortunate in that I get to do the thing I love every day!

The thing I love most about coaching is being involved in the team atmosphere. The men and women that play for me usually have very little in common in terms of lifestyle and background, but do all have a passion for tennis.

However, eclectic as they are, it is rewarding watching these young people as they form bonds that are forged through competition, travel and camaraderie.

How different are things where you are now to how they are/were on the coast?

I miss South Africa very much, especially the South Coast. South Africans have an approach to sport unlike any other country I have ever lived in.

South Africans work hard, play hard and love to win. However, they are able to place sport in perspective and realise that sports is just a game and that there are far more important things to be concerned about.

This is an approach I have tried to bring to tennis at Wartburg College.

While winning is important, how the players compete in terms of mentality, composition and ethics is infinitely more so.

At Wartburg College, the athletes have the opportunity to experience a myriad of things that most never get to.

Our music and academics departments boast some of the best instructors in the world and we are consistently recognised as one of the top athletic programs in the entire country by the NCAA.

I encourage my athletes to experience these things and use their time wisely while here.

One of the biggest differences between the South Coast and Iowa is, of course, the weather.

I never appreciated the temperate climate of Sheppie before living here and having to spend six months of every year waiting for the snow to melt can be extremely tough.

Being able to play year round tennis and sports is a gift that all South Africans should embrace fully.

Do you still play much yourself?

I play some small tournaments occasionally but most of my tennis comes from playing with and against my own athletes on a daily basis.

My top players all compete on a national level and they give me more than I can handle on most days.

I am rated as a 4.5 player by the NTRP of the United States which qualifies me to play in most open tournaments.

Tennis is thriving in the United States at a club and social level and there are many gifted players.

For 2013, I was ranked as the fourth best doubles player and eighth best mixed doubles player in Iowa but humbly admit this as more of a testament to my partners’ abilities as opposed to my own.

What was/is your favourite shot?

After breaking my left arm in high school playing rugby, I developed a one-handed backhand that I like to think is ‘Federer-esque’ but is likely not something many coaches would teach to any aspiring youngsters.

Seems to work pretty well. To keep points short and maximise my fitness efficiency, I still like to serve and volley (a lost art it seems).

My serve is my main weapon. When that doesn’t work, I know I am in for a long day.

Is United States tennis (particularly men’s) in terminal decline or are things turning around?

The results of last year’s junior Wimbledon, featuring two United States boys, Stefan Kozlov and Noah Rubin, in the final prove that the country still has a lot to offer on the world stage.

A combination of some truly talented players (Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) and some reluctance to move to the all-court style of play has meant that US tennis has languished for the better part of a decade.

However, renewed commitment, and an influx in funding by the USTA plus and the development of academies like the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York is providing the spark tennis needs to thrive again from a US perspective.

For many years Americans followed the styles of Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick in that they had a two major weapons, usually a big serve and monster forehand that they could use to overpower lesser athletes. However, the modern game has neutralised the effectiveness of this through the sheer physicality of the game.

Players like Nadal and Djokovic can not only reach everything but also do something with the ball once they get there.

As the courts were made slower towards the end of the 90s to increase viewership and playability, European players developed a more all-court game that relies on speed, fitness and consistency.

The Americans will soon catch up to this model and be the world tennis power they once were.

What’s it like living in the States? Did you ever think you would still be there?

It took me a long time to get used to living in the US with its less temperate climates and penchant for allowing politics to rule their lives but I have learned to love it.

The Midwest is an excellent place to live in that people will stop and talk to you regardless of the weather and time.

I have never found myself short of help from people when requesting it and there is a real ‘neighborly’ vibe that pervades, especially in Iowa.

I have two wonderful boys (aged 6 and 2) and now recently a daughter, and an amazing fiancée who is the ‘mother’ to the teams.

The community I live in – Waverly, Iowa – is an excellent community with good people, deep faith and strong moral fibre.

I consider myself very lucky to have landed up here although I do still occasionally yearn for the fellowship of a good South African braai and day of rugby.

How different are Americans?

Navigating your way through the US is a task in ‘political gamesmanship’ as one seeks to avoid offending anyone or anything.

Topics that are taboo in the US include, gun-rights, right-to-life, LGBT rights, the president, immigration, foreign-conflicts and, for Iowans especially, the color of your tractor and just about anything else that could be considered controversial.

As a ‘big-mouth’ South African, I have learned that the better part of valour is often silence.

I find this method frustrating in that nothing seems to ever get solved. The US is defined by its deep partisanship that I only see becoming deeper unless they can find a way to talk about issues free from the confines of big money.

How do they respond to you as a South African? Or are you well and truly integrated?

I wouldn’t say that I am truly integrated but I have definitely changed since coming here. I get playfully teased by my South African friends for sounding too ‘American’ while my US friends are constantly teasing me about my ‘South African’ accent.

I have had to learn new ways of saying and doing things to be understood but I definitely still think of myself as truly South African.

I watch the rugby on the weekends and try to braai as much possible.

I live for the sun, being outside and being active. Iowans, at their hearts, are a warm and accepting people who have treated me very much like family since I arrived.

Your family has grown…

I have two boys, Noah and Tennant (Tenny). Holly gave birth to a little girl Evelyn last September.

I am a very lucky dad. Both my boys are healthy, smart and active and I am astounded every day by the new things they learn.

Noah has grown up with the teams and is blessed to have traveled with them all around the country.

He has begun his tennis lessons recently although is coached by members of the team as he seems to listen to them way more than he listens to me. He is showing signs of real promise.

Noah’s real talent lies in chess and he is becoming quite a player.

He seems to enjoy the strategy and thoughtfulness of chess which I hope transcends to his tennis game as well.

Tenny is still exploring all the wonders of being able to move his body on command.

He is a fan of anything with a ball and watched just about every World Cup soccer match he could from the comfort of my lap.

Holly and I are engaged to be married sometime this year. While not really a fan of sports and competition, she is the perfect complement to my competitive nature and keeps me well grounded. I am extremely blessed.

Anything else to share?

Working as a professional tennis coach, full-time, has always been a dream of mine and I consider myself very lucky to get to work with some of the top athletes in the country while working alongside some of the best coaches in the world.

In order to be a good coach, you have to work hard, have ethics beyond reproach, be goal oriented, have excellent communication skills and a will to always push the boundaries of what you and your athletes are capable of.

I am extremely fortunate in that these skills and philosophies were ground in to me as a child being raised on the South Coast where there is a rich heritage of tennis.

Former ATP players Wesley Moodie and Chris Haggard both have strong connections to the South Coast, as does Roger Anderson, hitting partner of Chanelle Scheepers.

Excellent coaches like Julia Christiansen and Ken Farquharson, along with a fairly strong club system all along the coast, including my own Umtentweni Tennis Club, have kept the game going in the area.

I see that Jean Marx is still making it around the courts at Umtentweni. She was my first coach and the reason that I am so good at serving is because she taught me to throw the toss high and reach for it every time. Furthermore, I have parents who encouraged me to always do my best and also gave me the gift of one of the best educations one could ask for at Sheppie High.

My coaches and teachers were some of the best in their fields and I still find myself repeating their lessons to my own children and athletes.

Parting shot…

I’d love Federer to win one more Slam and then he can retire. It’s more a fervent hope than anything realistic of course. I got to attend the US Open last year, with lower tier access to the Armstrong and Ashe stadiums for both the quarters and semis. I was like a kid at Christmas time!

Now, if I can just find a way to get to the US Masters, Kentucky Derby, a Super bowl and a World Series, I can consider the American portion of my sporting bucket-list complete, and then find a way to get to the really important events: Olympics, Rugby World Cup final, Soccer World Cup, Springboks vs All Blacks in Auckland, a cricket Test at Lords with SA playing, the Open at St Andrews and a Formula 1 race in Monaco.