Talk:Michael Wayman

Best Tennis Coach All Time

I was honored to be a student of Michael Wayman, in High School, from 1990-1994.

Michael was not only the best coach, but mentor, genius and tough.

It’s unfortunate that today’s political correctness does not allow for “tough love” coaching, the old school way Mr. Wayman, taught, which changed unfortunately, but smart on Wayman’s part.

I was the winner at John Gardner’s Tennis Ranch in 1990, was on the National Hong Kong Tennis Team along with National Junior Davis Club team; I’ve had probably 8 coaches during my career in the Juniors and as Michael told me one night, “you have the raw talent to play professionally, Frank, but you need to get mentally tougher”. And he was right.

I say this because, in the 90’s and prior, one could not just simply sign up for lessons with Michael. You had to “Try Out”. This was daunting, even to me, who had thought I had proven myself already, with my tenure in Hong Kong.

The first day of Try-Outs, my family was supposed to go to an Oakland A’s game, but we couldn’t go, since I was so sick to my stomach from all the sprinting aside from the 4 hours of playing tennis.

Michael was the type of coach, that innately understood psychology, physiology, and mentoring. It just came naturally to him; after all he did finish his full ride, double major at USC, in 3 years.

So, when Michael asked the group of 10 students, “what type of bird is that, we all knew what that meant lol”. It meant 100 sprints if we couldn’t answer the question. There were nights when Michael would have us do sprints until every student no matter age, would finish running two courts of lines, under 60 seconds. I recall many nights when parents would be yelling from their cars to get the night done, cause so-and-so had 3 hours of homework! I loved it, and it taught me so many things.

Michael, never spelled out the “why” of why he made us do 100 sprints for not knowing the name of a bird, or having us do 1,000 gut crunches because 1 of 10 of us inclusive of myself, had a poor attitude.

I believe to this day, he did this purposely, so that we could figure things out for ourselves. Why? We are all different, so our interpretation could and would be different.

But one thing was always clear. If Michael was willing to stay an hour later than the 6pm our coaching ended, which parents may not have liked, what these parents inclusive of mine sans my father, failed to realize, was that he chose us because he saw talent in us, he understood that if he didn’t train us like the Navy Seals, (Sorry Seals Team), we would not be able to last two match days during Tournaments (and I thought I was in great shape, breaking my middle school record for the mile at in HK, playing tennis from 3-7, 3 nights a business week, 8 hours every Saturday while on my middle school’s track team).

Michael made tennis look so easy. Playing against him during one on one coaching for an hour, was way tougher than the 4 hour group training. He would run you all over the court, while expending so little energy. He taught me how to use angles, find weaknesses in opponents, and masterfully got into our minds deliberately. Why? Cause he knew that the Real world out there, would be much tougher than what we were going through during his trainings.

Michael taught me all these things I have realized 27 years later:

1. Always look people in the eye. This shows respect and that you are listening. 2. Do everything with pride and integrity. Regardless of how menial things are. 3. Do your research. Something I have just learned to do after owning my own business for 2 years. 4. Don’t let anyone intimidate you (this was something I struggled with, and why I’m such a big advocate for middle, high school and college pre-requisites for the teaching of mental awareness). 5. Enjoy life. Be present. Michael was the toughest, most direct humble man I have ever known. He was a climber and phenomenal photographer on the side (still to this day have no idea how he took his pics, cause from my recollection, he NEVER took ONE week off for vacation, during my 4 years of tutelage. 6. Don’t have time expectations of others. They can often lead to pre-mediated resentments. But take pride in everything you do. You can only control what you can. 7. Live life with a high standard. This does not mean monetarily, but find something you are passionate about or somewhat passionate about, study it, continue studying, but do your best daily. 8. Get over things quickly. If you had a bad day of tennis with Michael, he would never hold it against you the next visit, but he would positively reframe what happened in the past to move forward and STEP THE F@&K up! 9. Be graceful in your losses. Shake hands with every opponent even if cheated. Always take the high road and you will be the winner, always. But learn from your mistakes. Michael would come over to my house to review recorded video my dad had taking during my matches, and cover strategies that worked, why they worked, what he would have also added/taken out and teach me new strategies. 10. Respect your opponent, but he pleasantly ruthless. 11. Stay in the present. Prepare for the future. This is different for everyone, but something I had to learn the hard way, suffering from severe generalized anxiety for over 15 years (the Mardy Fish Story on Netflix was me). I lived in the past and future until I learned to live in the moment at age 37.

I could go on and on. But I think Michael was arguably one of the top 10 tennis coaches worldwide, especially in D1 tennis. He made a good player great. And great player, exceptional, and an exceptional player such as Michael Jessup, professional.

The funny thing. To this day I know it was Michael’s genius, but I still don’t know how he was able to break you down, then build you back up. But one thing I do know. I can deal with any manager, stand up for myself, be direct and do it with firmness, all while showing humility and kindness.

I wrote this today, while I’m helping a talented young British artist, named Jack Berry, who has autism, because his mum made me realize how much Michael had impacted my life when I told her to try several art teachers, then find one that Jack gets along with and one who’s not afraid to show tough love. I said, “you could pay Jackson Pollock 100k for 5 1 hour trainings, and get more out of the teacher Jack has, but you will only know if you try several.

I witnessed many players leave Michael’s group of players. Too many to count that could not keep up with the pace and tough love. I somewhat feel badly for them, because as my best friend and successful Venture Capitalist always says, “you get one or two chances in life to pounce on an opportunity, three if you are lucky. Most people are too conservative or too weak and take the safe or comfortable life”.

I pounced on the opportunity the day Michael asked me to join his team, which he spent many weekends coming to our tournaments to watch us play.

I now vet every one/business I choose to do business with. Have no regrets, since I live my life with zero expectations of others. And I take calculated risks, because I have been taught these things from Michael Wayman.

What an honor it was to be coached by the best of the best. And I say this because I’ve gone to almost every summer training camp and even the Southern California played during regional trainings with the top players, said they wished they had Michael as their coach.

Here’s to a legend, master, mentor, and sensei, Mr. Michael Wayman! He deserves to be put into the tennis hall of fame, because I trust 90% of his students would wholeheartedly agree with the aforementioned.

Cheers Michael. I still have no clue what that yellow tiny bird was….

Frank Castle III 71.162.180.26 (talk) 12:29, 11 April 2022 (UTC)