Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Can only the wealthy become professional?


[1]

Originating from English roots, tennis comes from higher-class roots originating in country clubs, but tennis doesn't have to be played by only those from the middle-upper or upper levels of society. However, what makes tennis so rich is its tradition, history, it's class; the game itself and it's etiquette. The point and key is to have class and etiquette when playing and to be with class as a person, no matter what socio-economic level you may come from.
As an individual sport that needs expensive courts and gear, tennis is often considered a rich-man's sport, and this is also cited as the reason for its lack of growth in places like Asia and Africa. This brings up the question of, do the professionals only become pros because they have the money to afford the training, memberships, tournaments, etc.? For the players on the pro circuit, research shows that they do need to be of higher class and be more wealthy because they need to have the funds to pay for the training, tournaments, agents, and travel expenses required to do so. Based on the stats I found:
  1. The lead coach, 5 2/HR sessions a week  $75-$150/HR,
  2. Additional specialty coach/with unique shot making skill, three 2/HR sessions $75-$100/HR,
  3. Hitting coach, three 2/HR sessions $35/HR,
  4. Trainer, three 2/HR sessions $60-$100/HR,
  5. Nutritionist once a week for meal plans and evaluation, 2HRS/$60-$100/HR,
Yes, you will need a good chunk of change to train to become a pro player. Although, there are always success stories of those who rise up from having nothing, but in reality, this would be next to impossible to achieve without digging into your wallet a bit.
On the other end, this doesn't mean that because you are wealthy and play tennis, that you are automatically to appear on the pro cicuit. You have to work ust as hard as every other professional, no matter what race, gender, socioeconic status, etc.  With saying this, I realize that I want to spend my research now on the race, gender, and socioeconomic background of tennis as a "rich, white person's sport" because that will tie in all of my research as a whole.
I chose the website that I did because it looks very credible. This is because it gave a lot of info about this topic, so I know that the author's purpose was to inform the audience correctly about it and that was conveyed well by the tone. Also, this is credible because the author gives additional info such as publishing info and dates. Most importantly, there are other articles given on where I can go if I want to do more research. This is useful for me because I was able to answer my question about, "Can only the wealthy become professional?", but it also helped to broaden my knowledge of ideas I didn't think about before.

Website can be found at: http://www.tennisconsult.com/produce-professional-tennis-players/

No comments:

Post a Comment