Keys to Success

One key to my success is having good staff assisting me. Josh Sebesta has helped me tremendously with running the tennis shop while I'm traveling or on court with a lesson. He's helped me with data entry for the Gran Prix Circuit and he's trust worthy and reliable..! I am very blessed to have Josh and others like Vanessa Akins, Brittany Dahl, Jake and Justin Phipps, and my stepson Connor. And of course, we mustn't forget my assistant manager, Peepers .(she's sitting on ice chest to Josh's left)

I've been cooking a briskett all night. I put it on at 11 PM and it should be ready around 11 AM...! I worked on my website alot, too. I still have lots more changes to make but it's coming along nicely.

This morning Monica and I are meeting with Pastor Barclay to discuss officially joining First Baptist Church of West Columbia. I'm looking forward to that.

I teach in League City this afternoon and won't be home until between 9 and 10 PM... I keep that Thursday schedule for a few more weeks then I go into a summer schedule mode that is a little more forgiving...! Yea...!

Well it's about time to take Connor to School... I'd better close here... Bye for now...

Coach Sam

Hobbes and Dennis

Hobbes is one of our cats. Dennis is Connor's pet lizard. Hobbes occasionally likes to sleep on top of Dennis' cage which I'm sure is not to Dennis' liking. You can see Dennis hiding behind his log directly under the sun lamp, peering up at Hobbes. Oh well, that's the life of Dennis and Hobbes...!

Today I'm working in the office for a little while, then Monica and I are going to go hit some tennis balls. I will be at the tennis shop most of the day today making calls and sending email out for upcoming programs. I have lessons this afternoon from 3 to 8:30 PM...

That's about it... I'm looking forward to this weekend, just teaching a little on Saturday and Sunday and generally taking it easy! Oh yeah... I may smoke a briskett on the back yard smoker tonight... That reminds me, I need to brine it right now....

If I Bar B Que all night then I'll probably spend a lot of time updating my web pages...

That's about it for now... See you next time. -Coach Sam

Easter Dinner

Since I worked the Coke Open Easter weekend we ate out at Pappasitos in Sugarland Sunday afternoon. Here's a nice photo of Elijah and I at the restaurant. For more Easter photos check out Elijah's and Connor's blogs...

Some Things I Know to be True....

10:30 PM is not my normal blog time... I'm off of my normal routine. I'm feeling a little philosophical tonight... Here are some of Coach Sam's random thoughts.... Things that I know without a shadow of a doubt are true...

• I'm working too much... -This I know to be true. I've actually worked nearly 30 days in a row without a complete day off... Even my Sundays have been fairly full and busy the past 4 weeks....

• The new 'fusion' soft drink Coke Blak is bad... Really bad... -This I know to be true. It's so bad I don't want to pour it down the pipes of my sink. I think I'm going to pour it out on the ground, mix it with some gasoline and set it on fire.... That's how much I don't like it. And let me tell you, I rarely want to see something consumed in flames but I'll make an exception for Coke Blak.
  

• Speaking of Gasoline.... The gas prices are getting way out of hand... This I know to be true... We've decided to just become a one car family for awhile. And we're really cutting back on unnecessary driving...

• I'm too nice a guy to get results from High Performance Tennis Players. All the really good coaches I've evr known have been tyrants... This I know to be true... Well, I'm going to shock some of my students in the next few weeks. I'm going to get really angry in a lesson the next time a ball collection is taking too long or no one is giving a good effort in a drill. I'm going to throw a tantrum. I'm going to abandon my positive coaching style and I may even kick everyone out of practice and tell them not to come back unless they are ready to work....! Yeah, that will be fun. I think I'll video that, too....

• I'm really tired right now and shouldn't be blogging so late... This I know to be true... I'd better close here... See you tomorrow morning....

Coach Sam Signing off.... 10:40 PM....

Wishing for....

Oh how I wish for a quieter, simpler time. I remember back 20 years ago when I was an assistant pro how I struggled to have enough to fill my day. Now my day never ends...! I long for those times when I had extra time to blog. I could blog stories, funny things that happened, commentary on current events...

Right at this moment I barely have time to report what projects are on my plate for the day that I probably won't be able to complete any way...

Sigh... But I am making a little bit of headway... I have two good part time high school students getting me caught up on data entry a couple times a week. And my Head Tennis Pro starts work this weekend teaching my Saturday weekend class while I'm attending a tournament in Pearland with my junior students...! Yes, little by little I'm getting there...

Today I have office work right up until I have to go to League City for my Thursday afternoon classes. I'm also going to work in the yard for about an hour or so after Monica and the baby wake up...!

I've got lessons until 8 PM tonight... And I finish my Thursday program on May 11... Then I won't be teaching late in League City again until after the summer. That suits me just fine and dandy!

Well... That's about it for now... I gotta get to work here.... Bye for now.

Coach Sam

Wednesday, April 19

Remember this photo...? Well, those Christmas lights are still up in the tree! But I plan to take them down this Sunday no matter what. And next year I plan to have them down even sooner... ( At least by February or March!)

We're just about halfway through April... That's crazy! The summer is almost upon us... It's getting hot out there... The mosquitoes are starting to bite... Yep, summer's around the corner!

Early this morning I'm driving to Pearland to meet with David Gloger, the tennis pro who's running the Gran Prix this weekend. Then I've got one other quick stop to make before I head back to Columbia Lakes.

My afternoon is pretty full with lessons from 4 to 8:30 PM. I need to string at least one racquet today before my lessons, too.

That's about it... Today is just a work day. More tomorrow...

Coach Sam

Getting More Sleep...!

I am going to make it a priority to spend more time at home and rest more starting today...! Last night I was up until nearly midnight working on the Golfcrest Gran Prix tournament schedule. No matter what happens I've got to start getting to bed by 10 PM...!

Lack of sleep is definitely wearing me down...! Looking at my schedule from here on out it looks feasible that I should have more down time. Let's see if I can hold myself to that..!

After running a big tournament like the Houston Coca Cola Open this past weekend it takes a few days to get back to a normal routine...! Today I should be getting caught up on a lot of things. The next few weeks my main priority will be to market my summer programs...!

My weekends are booked until the end of May... This weekend I'm traveling with students to the Golfcrest tournament in Pearland. Next weekend I have some kind of conference with the USTA. The following weekend is a tournament in Corpus Christi that Monica and I are playing in... and the weekend after that I'm hosting a junior tournament at my club. My first free weekend is May 20...! And I'll need to teach that morning at the club....! After that there's only one more weekend before the summer is here....

Wow...! Time is marching on! I wonder what it would be like to have a Monday thru Friday 9-5 PM job...?

Starting the New Week...!

Well, The Houston Coca Cola Open pretty much consumed me the entire weekend. I worked tournament desks for 12-13 hours every day AND commuted back and forth between West Columbia and Houston every day for three days. There were a few 'issues' that came up Friday and Saturday which really tried my patience, but yesterday went very well.

Monica and Connor came to pick me up from the tournament yesterday evening and we enjoyed a nice dinner before driving home. When I got home I was in bed before 9:30 PM and slept pretty much through the night until 6:30 this morning.

I feel pretty good now with all that sleep under my belt. And I'm ready for a productive day. First off, I need to get the club and string some racquets right away. Then I have a camp from 10 to 2 PM. Then I'll need to work on the Golfcrest tournament this afternoon, and then I have lessons this evening from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM... Actually, because of the camp, today will be pretty jam packed and busy. But the rest of the week won't be so difficult.

The next few days I'll be marketing my summer programs very heavily.

Well, there's much I could write about but I'll save it for later. I want to update some other blogs and my websites before I head out this morning. So, until next time... Bye for now.

Coach Sam

No blog for the next few days...

This morning I'm heading out to start the Houston Coca Cola Open. I'm helping direct the Adult portion of the largest amateur tournament in the country. There are over 1000 entries playing at 15 different sites around town...!

The tournament runs for 3 full days starting today! I won't have time to get back online again until Monday... If I do have some spare time, I won't be blogging... I'm sleeping!

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Coach Sam's Day... An Update...

5:10 AM... I was moving right along doing just fine working on the Golfcrest Gran Prix but now I have to wait for the USTA Tournament Data Website to come back online... They are doing maintenance on it right now... I can't research my seeding until it comes back online... And who knows when that will be...!

Sigh....

You Don't Want Any Part of My Day...!

Here's my schedule today and the next few days... The next 96 hours are devoted to tennis....!

I'm working on the Golfcrest Gran Prix right now and need to get finished by 6 AM. That's probably not going to happen, which will put a little stress on my schedule the rest of the day... But we'll see. It will all work out some how...

I take the boys to school at 7 AM and then need to head to Katy to meet Harriet Hulbert to go over the Houston Coke Open details. Then I head to Golfcrest Country Club in Pearland to go over the Golfcrest tournament with David Gloger. Then I get to teach lessons from 2 to 8 PM in League City. After that I get to drive home and collapse before I start Friday's Houston Coca Cola Open. Then I'm running the tournament in Houston all day and night for the next 3 days. I won't even get to come home Friday night...!

Monday I have a camp scheduled at Columbia Lakes but I'll probably take the morning off...! We'll see how I feel... Perhaps I'll have my new Head Pro teach it...!

Any way, I'm going to have to close here and dive back into working on the Golfcrest tournament! That's it. Bye for now... Coach Sam.

Me and the Boy...!

This photo was taken last month when the family traveled to Corpus to attend a college tennis tournament. Elijah was trying on one of my hats...!

Today... I've been up since 3:30 AM blogging and updating my webpages.I am traveling to brazosport high school at 8 AM this morning to do some marketing for my upcoming summer programs and to watch many of my students compete in their school's district tennis tournament.

I have a light day for lessons and am not on the court until 5 PM this afternoon. This evening I'll be working on the Golfcrest Country Club Junior Gran Prix tournament draws.

That's it for today. My day is pretty much all work...!

Today...!

I'm just trying to get caught up...! I have reports to write, data to enter for my tournaments, and marketing to do... And help with the Baby so Monica can get some work done too.... Other than that, there's not much else to do...!

Coach Sam

Tournament Today...

Today my club is hosting a tournament for Columbia Christian School. I'll have a busy day today.

Yesterday was not as restful as I would have liked for my Sunday. But I can take it easy in another 14 days so at least I can look forward to that...!

I have to run... Hopefully I'll have time to post more this evening...! I've got to post some photos in Elijah's and Connor's Blogs before I get to work on other things...

Coach Sam

Sunday...!

I haven't posted in a few days... It's been incredibly busy. But today I'm going to kick back and make it a family day as best I can before I dive into the week tomorrow... Here's a quick recap of the past few days.

• The past two days I've been busy with high school tournaments that were hosted at my club. Monday there is one more.... My tennis shop sales have been great... I definitely need to have more tournaments and large events if I'm going to have a retail store....
• Yesterday after my morning lessons I spent the afternoon working in the tennis shop with Connor. It's really starting to look good...
• Monica and I had dinner at Baytown Seafood. It was awesome. Then we did a little 9:30 PM shopping spree at the local Walmart... (Woohoo....!)
• Elijah had an awesome week... He's pulling himself up a lot now and extremely mobile. He's not walking yet, but will very soon. He's starting to look more and more like a toddler than a little baby...!
• My summer program flyers are done and I've been marketing like crazy. The registration deadline is May 15. I'm hoping to have the biggest and best summer of my career...!

Later today I have a family drill at 2 PM... I've invited many people to the drill. I'm hoping for a big turnout...! I plan to grill burgers afterwards and kick back at home on the back patio with the Davidsons...

That's my report... Now I've got to run to the grocery store to pick up stuff for lunch and dinner... Bye for now... Thanks for reading my journal...!

Coach Sam

Sleeping Kitties

Hobbes and Gabriel are snoozing after a night of carousing... Hobbes has especially been bad about getting the entire house up in the middle of the night wanting to be let out... That's getting a little annoying, but other than that they are great cats and we love them...!

Today I have lots of office work to do.... I have data entry for tournaments, and website updating to do and email correspondence to send...

And Monica is real sick this morning. I may have to take her to the doctor today. I was going to look after Elijah a lot today anyway, so Monica could catch up on her office work. Her being sick is going to set her back even further but that can't be helped. I just hope she feels better soon.

I've got lessons all afternoon and then tomorrow and Friday my club is hosting a tournament so I'll be busy the rest of the week.

That's about it... I'm going to try to update all my blogs this morning before Elijah gets up and that could be any second...

Bye for now... Coach Sam

River Oaks Group Trip...!

Last night I organized a group from my club to attend the River Oaks International Clay Court Professional Tennis Tournament's opening night. Local area juniors and club members were treated to some awesome tennis. We didn't get back home until very late though so I'm dragging a bit this morning. Look for more photos and commentary later...

Momma's Shoulders: The Best Seat in the House...!

You may have seen this photo on my website: http://chadwelltennis.com
It's one of my favorite photos of my sweet wife Monica and my baby boy, Elijah. Elijah is about eight months old in that photo. Monica's age is not to be published in this public forum in order to protect the innocent.... (me)

Today I have lessons until about 1 PM then Monica and I are headed to Houston to work on our Arncliffe property. We're still trying to sell the house in Houston...

Tomorrow I just have one lesson in the afternoon so hopefully it will be a relaxing day...

That's it, I should have lots of time to blog over the weekend... By for now.... Coach Sam