My family are tennis coaches, and they always brought me to the tennis club. I basically had no other option than to start playing tennis.
I had a lot of trouble with my coaches. Your coaches are father figures - you look to what they say. Well, the reality of it is, they are just shmucks.
I could sum it up in one thing: A guy has to be what he is. He's got to coach and have a philosophy based on his own personality. You see too many coaches trying to imitate other coaches, trying to be someone else. It's all right to emulate the qualities of good coaches but I don't think you should imitate. You've got to be yourself.
When I was in the ring at the Olympics, it was my father's words that I was hearing, not the coaches'. 'I never listened to what the coaches said. I would call my father and he would give me advice from prison.
In the U.S., coaches could be the father next door. They had no formal training. They're like old hockey players. They don't go to school and study.
I went to many coaching clinics, talked to other coaches, read articles, books, etc. Anything I could do that would help me prepare to be the best coach possible. Fortunately, the coaches I had as a player were good men and were excellent role models in setting priorities and relating to the team members and coaching staff.
We coaches have to learn how to deal with that: How do I get to each one best - with a talk, with video analysis? And what sort of tone? We need our own coaches for that. The sports psychologist coaches me too.
People always get confused. They talk about coaches. The reality is, these coaches and managers that everybody thinks are in so much control, they work for us. They're our employees.
To point the finger at one guy, at each other or at the coaches, won't do any good. It's not supposed to be the coach. It's our team. The coaches can do a phenomenal job preparing you, but it has to come from within.
I just appreciate my team, appreciate my coaches, appreciate everybody involved, from my coaches, my teammates, the training staff... people in the kitchen at the facility, people who clean the building.
True basketball coaches are great teachers and you do not humiliate, you do not physically go after, you do not push or shove, you do not berate, if you are a true coach. If you humiliate or curse them, that won't do it. Coaches like that are not coaches.
Bayern fulfilled every wish, no matter what Guardiola wanted: the players, the coaches, and even the doctors. He caused much disturbance off the field. But he is one of the best coaches on the planet.
When we started training with WWE, coaches were impressed and asked if we had had boxing training. I said no, it was all soccer. As a defender, I had to learn to stay on my feet, track backwards, and I feel all the movement I do in the ring was helped by my soccer background.
Coaches understand that pressure is part of the rush of coaching. The challenge of trying to outplay your opponent is part of the fun, the adrenaline, the preparation, seeing your team evolve. It's why coaches become coaches.
I put myself around good people, including my assistant coaches. A lot of head coaches are intimidated by their assistant coaches, they'd rather get people that are far less talented than them because it's not threatening.
It was tennis that got me started in business. When I was 16 and about to embark on my A-levels, I set up a tennis academy and became one of the youngest qualified tennis coaches in the country. It did well; by the time I was 19 I was able to buy my first house.