Tag Archives: tennis

Rodrigo Almeida, North Texas Assistant Women’s Tennis Coach Talks Tennis and Online Fitness

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Rick is joined by his friend, Rodrigo Almeida this week on “Tech of Sports.”

Rodrigo is an assistant tennis coach and the Tennis Health Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas.

One of the top young coaches in the nation who is widely respected for player development, Almeida helped lead the Campbell men’s team to the 2018 Big South Conference championship. He spent a season at UTEP with the women’s team and helped develop freshman Kristen Prelle into an all-conference No. 1 player in the Miners lineup and one of the league’s top players overall.

Almeida talks about tennis fitness, college tennis and answers Rick’s questions about the online fitness industry as quarantine is still a thing in many parts of the country.

Almeida was a standout player for Western New Mexico from 2010-14. On two occasions he was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He climbed as high as 26th in the ITA’s NCAA DII rankings, and was also the top-rated player in the central region as a senior.

Upon the conclusion of his playing career, Almeida served as a student assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at WNMU. Both teams advanced to the RMAC Championships. Additionally the men’s team secured a ranking of 27th.

Almeida served as an instructor and group chaperone for 15 nationally-ranked American juniors who toured and played in cities like Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona and Paris. He then went on to serve as a tennis professional for Cliff Drysdale Tennis, instructing individuals with skill levels ranging from beginners to semi-professionals. Following his time Cliff Drysdale Tennis, Almeida accepted the position at Campbell.

Make sure you follow Rodrigo’s tennis page on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/almeida_tennis/

Manny Diaz, University of Georgia Head Men’s Tennis Coach

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Rick is joined by the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at the University of Georgia, Manny DIaz, this week on ‘Tech of Sports.’

With the cancellation of NCAA spring sports, Coach DIaz has some time on his hands, as do his players. Find out what Coach has told his players in the time of COVID-19 and how he’s handling things. He reflects on former UGA All-American, Jog\hn Isner’s career and more!

Diaz, this season, surpassed the legendary Dan Magill as the winningest men’s tennis coach in SEC history. The penultimate victory – number 707 – surely would have made Magill proud. It came on a Sunday in a big upset of No. 3 Ohio State on UGA’s Henry Field Stadium courts.

Diaz has been the Head Coach of the Bulldogs for 32 years. His careernumbers speak for themselves — 28 Southeastern Conference Championships in 32 seasons at the helm of the Georgia men’s tennis program.

He  has led Georgia to six national championships – four NCAA titles (1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008) and two ITA National Indoor titles (2006 and 2007). He is one of only three active coaches with multiple NCAA titles.

A great conversation with Coach Diaz, who is one of the nicest and most respected faces in tennis at any level.

Danielle Lao, Professional Tennis Player on Sports and Tennis Taking a Break

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A second “Tech of Sports” this week and Rick is joined by friend and co-author of The Invaluable Experience and WTA player, Danielle Lao.

Danielle, like Rick has been grounded with the COVID-19 situation and we find out what she is doing to stay in shape for a return to tennis.

They talk hobbies, what will Danielle do when tennis returns and as Danielle stays close to college tennis, what the abrupt ending to the NCAA college season would’ve meant to her.

Rick and Danielle chat for about 15 minutes. Enjoy this episode.

 

Carlos Silva, CEO of World Team Tennis (WTT)

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Rick talks tennis with the CEO of World Team Tennis, Carlos Silva this week. Recorded at the Racquet Sports Expo in Orlando.

Silva is planning big things for the summer, World Team Tennis season.

Silva took over the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2019.

Prior to joining WTT, Silva served for four years as League President of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and CEO of World Series of Fighting (WSOF). He was the architect of the turnaround at PFL with the creation of the first MMA League Format and subsequent rebrand following the sale of WSOF to a new ownership group led by Donn Davis.

“Tennis has been a cornerstone throughout my life and I look forward to working hand-in-hand with the tremendously talented men and woman at WTT to achieve our common goal of linear and digital growth and promoting WTT‘s fantastic format in 2019 and beyond,“ said Silva.

Silva launched and served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of NBCU‘s Universal Sports Network, and Senior Vice President (SVP) with AOL Time Warner. While at AOL he was responsible for developing AOL Sports, News, and Money into top premier digital destinations. Silva also remains as a Board Advisor for PARK LANE, the premier sports investment bank in Los Angeles, where he previously served as Partner.

His production expertise includes hundreds of live major sporting events, including a wide variety of Olympic and International Events. He holds a BS from Boston College and a MS from George Washington University. Carlos also has a passion for tennis and played for Boston College before playing on the pro tennis satellite tour.

Have a listen to Rick and Carlos.

Danielle Lao, Professional Tennis Player and Writer

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Rick is joined on this special Thanksgiving week episode of ‘Tech of Sports’ by his co-author of The Invaluable Experience, and WTA tennis pro, Danielle Lao.

Danielle, a former USC All-American is wrapping up the 2019 tear on the WTA Tour and is now in the off-season until she heads to Australia to start out 2020.

Rick and Danielle talk her tennis and her favorite gadgets and tech. She candidly answers some rapid-fire questions and talks about her love of podcasts and blogging. Danielle gives great insight what it;s like to be a top-200 player on the WTA Tour.

Good luck to Danielle and enjoy this episode.

Danielle gives and honest recap of her 2019 in here blog here.

As an Author:

Danielle Lao, a two-time All American tennis player at USC explains why playing college tennis was a time in her life she will never forget and why playing college sports is an “Invaluable Experience.” .

As a Player:

Danielle has played at all four Grad Slam tournaments, has has success on the ITF Pro Circuit and currently has a WTA ranking of No.196.

 

Joshua Jacobs, CEO, Founder of TGA Premier Sports

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Rick is joined by one of the most innovative minds in sports, Joshua Jacobs.

Jacobs is the CEO and founder of TGA Premier Sports.

TGA Premier Sports is the leading introductory “delivery system” for kids’ in-school and community-based golf programs. They just added their eighth youth sports golf franchise in the New York/New Jersey market and the 53rd nationwide.

Founded in 2003 and driven by an innovative curriculum that combines golf skills development with STEAM education modules and life lessons, TGA has had over 750,000 youth go through its golf programs and is on-pace to enroll its ONE-MILLIONTH student in youth sports programs by 2020. In schools and communities all across the country, TGA is driving growth in golf participation in powerful and sustainable ways.

Jacobs has made tremendous inroads, founding TGA Premier Junior Golf in 2003. Joshua was named by Golf Magazine and Sports Illustrated in 2010 as one of the Top 40 most influential people in golf under 40 and in 2013 was recognized as one of golf’s “Innovators” by Golf Inc. Joshua created the first scalable business model for school based golf programs in 2003 in the Los Angeles area and franchised the youth development and business concept in 2006. In 2010, he created the TGA Sports Foundation, dedicated to Developing Youth through Athletics. In 2011, Joshua orchestrated TGA’s horizontal move into the tennis industry by franchising TGA’s school based business model and facilitating a National Partnership with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in the same year.

In addition to TGA, Joshua co-founded a social golf network called GLinks and has been serving his community since 9th grade coaching youth sports programs in Los Angeles and Atlanta. He currently serves on the PGA Golf 2.0’s National Building Blocks Committee, TGA Sports Foundation’s Board of Directors, the Southern California PGA’s Foundation Advisory Committee and the Southern California PGA’s Growth of the Game Committee.

Joshua Graduated from Emory University with a degree in Economics and Business and a minor in History. His passion for golf began at three years old and tennis at six. From those early years, Joshua’s love and respect for sports continues to drive him to break down barriers and open doors for all students ages 3-13 to have the opportunity to learn golf and tennis.

Jacobs is never short on opinions, especially when it comes to tennis. He discusses some of them with Rick!