THE TIN MAN AND TENNIS ON MAUI

A swim and lunch between lessons on Maui, HI 1986

One of my favorite teaching experiences was the time I taught on Maui in 1986.  There is something magical about Maui.  I was based at The Royal Lahaina Hotel, an older, well established property that had a superb tennis facility, including 7 hard courts and a centre court.  The main hotel building was situated down near the beach, with the tennis courts set back towards the main road.  As the “new boy” at the resort I worked hard with the few students that took lessons in the beginning and within a short time as that number grew, I was comfortable with the number of lessons that came my way and began to explore the island more.

After morning sessions I would join another pro from the resort and go snorkeling around the rocks and boats moored in the picturesque bays.  In the evenings we would do the rounds of the hotel nightclubs.  I watched as the other tennis pros would engage in conversation with the young single women and produce their business cards stating that they were the Tennis Pro at a nearby resort.  This inevitably had a positive effect on the young ladies!

This time spent at The Royal Lahaina during my early days as a tennis professional was invaluable. It gave me a chance to gain experience and to hone my skills on a wide variety of students.  I got to observe more experienced professionals working with players and watched how they analyzed each player and the drills they used to work on solutions. 

One day the word went out that Dick Sargent and his wife were arriving into the resort and that they usually liked to play some tennis during their previous stays.  Dick had been Peter Ueberroth’s right hand man during the organization and running of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics .

After a few days of tennis at the resort Dick called two friends back in LA to join him on Maui for tennis.  I was given the job of coaching the new guests during their stay.  Jack Haley Junior was a Director and Producer from Hollywood and his father, also named Jack Haley, had played the part of the Tin Man in the iconic movie “The Wizard of Oz”. I was told the lesson had to be tailored so that it didn’t involve too much movement as both the Haley’s were part time players at best.

I decided to work with them on developing feel for contact. After a short warm-up to establish their level I began by feeding balls to them and instructing them to either hit the ball late or early.   Once a player has felt the two extreme contact points of late and early, everything in-between is easier. They have an enhanced awareness of how to direct the ball down the line and crosscourt. It was still tough getting the results I was looking for but I put that down to their inexperience.

I felt the lesson went well but the next day I was called to the office of the Head Pro, Sandy Hastings, and asked what I had worked on with the Haley’s?  Sandy had joined the Haley’s for dinner the night before and had asked them how the lesson with Paul had gone.  It seems they were delighted and had nothing but praise for the lesson.  There was however one thing that had confused them at the time… I had kept asking them to hit the ball lighter.  Lighter, lighter I kept repeating.  It suddenly dawned on me that while I had been asking them to hit the ball LATER, my Kiwi accent had sounded to them like I was asking them to hit LIGHTER!

I was the butt of many jokes around the hotel for the remainder of my stay on Maui but I took it in good spirits and still fondly remember my lesson with the son of the Tin Man and my time on Maui.