Can early exposure and self-accountability shape a young athlete’s future? We were thrilled to speak with Mark Dillon! Mark Dillon is in the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and was the President of USTA NC.

We are replaying a few of our most popular episodes and this was one of them!

Mark played college tennis at NC State where he won two ACC singles championships, an ACC doubles championship, and NCAA All-American honors in 1981. His brother played at NC State University and his wife played tennis at the University of Georgia. All his children played tennis at a high level and two of his children played at Division 1 schools. In 2019, his family won the Family of the Year Award from North Carolina.

Other Episodes with Tips for Playing in College

You may be interested in other episodes where we talk to guests about what it was like to play tennis in college. They can be found here:

Transcript of Our Conversation with Mark Dillon and his Tennis Tips for Parents

Speaker 2: 0:07
Hi, this is Carolyn and I’m here with Aaron, and we are thrilled to have Mark Dillon here with us. Mark Dillon is in the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame. He is the president of USTA North Carolina. He played collegiate tennis at North Carolina State, where he won two ACC singles championships, an ACC doubles championship and an NCAA All-American honors in 1981. Also, two of his children played at Division I schools. His son won the state for a singles championship, just like he did. His brother played at NC State University. His wife played tennis at Georgia. In 2019, his family won Family of the Year from North Carolina. So we should listen to what he has to say. So, mark, can you first tell us a little bit about your tennis background?

Speaker 3: 0:54
Sure, I started playing tennis when I was 10 years old. My brother was 13. I had a younger sister as well, and we were members of the local tennis club in Charlotte Tennis and Swim Club, and my mother wanted us to play tennis in the worst way. We were both swimmers at the time, my older brother and I and she didn’t want to force us to play, though. So she said listen. She said, if you guys will take this one tennis clinic, you will not have to give me a birthday present or a Mother’s Day present. And of course we jumped all over that, and so we took it and fell in love with tennis.

Speaker 3: 1:32
After that dropped swimming, and that little piece of child psychology paid for two college educations because we both ended up getting scholarships to North Carolina State to play tennis. So that’s how I got started. My brother actually married a female tennis player who was the first scholarship recipient at UNC, chapel Hill in female sports all sports. And I married a girl that I had met in junior tennis in North Carolina that played for the University of Georgia later on. So Adele and I have been married for 31 years now, and I’ve had a crush on her ever since that first day I saw her at age 16 at that junior tennis tournament.

Speaker 2: 2:14
That’s really great.

Speaker 1: 2:16
So it sounds like you were bribed into playing tennis, but it seems to have worked out well for you. Can you give us advice? I know you and your brother played, you said, but you also have children that play. Can you give us advice? I know you and your brother played, you said, but you also have children that play. Can you give us advice for parents of children who play tennis?

Speaker 3: 2:30
First, I want to give you full disclosure. You know a lot of what I’ve learned about being a good tennis parent to my sons. Number one I learned from my own parents, who were great tennis parents. But Adele and I also learned a lot from the mistakes that we made with our kids, because you know your kids. Each of them responds differently to advice. You know some of them like tough love, others you just don’t talk about the match after they lose and you just go get ice cream and don’t talk about it. So, adele and I, we’re not the greatest parents, but we’ve learned a lot along the way and that’s why I’m here to share this advice with you.

Speaker 3: 3:07
For the parents out there, I think it’s important to introduce your kids to the sport of tennis at a young age. You know tennis is let’s face it, it’s a hard sport to learn. Okay so and you pick up sports and things like that much easier at an early age. Tennis is one of the hardest sports to learn and all you can do is just lay the sport in front of them, because if they learn how to play tennis, they’re automatically going to be good at all the other racket and paddle sports like squash, racquetball, pickleball, badminton, paddle tennis, spec tennis, padel I don’t know if you’ve heard of those, but you need to Google it. They’re a lot of fun, so they’ll automatically be good. Second, when they start to compete in tennis tournaments when you take them to the tournaments, maybe try watching their matches from a full court away. Then next time you go, watch the matches from two courts away, then watch from three courts away, and then the next time just don’t even go. Let them learn how to handle that adversity themselves. On the tennis courts and, as you guys know, in junior tennis or league tennis or any competitive tennis matches we face adversity in just about every match. You know whether it’s a bad line call or an injury timeout. There’s something that interrupts our train of thought on the court.

Speaker 3: 4:37
Third, have the kids sign up for their own tournaments. You know, keep their own schedule, take care of their own equipment. I bought my kids a used racket stringing machine when they were younger and that way when they play in a tournament they can’t really complain about a bad string job in their racket. Plus, they learn a valuable lesson how to string their rackets, how to take care of their own equipment. So I think that’s a valuable thing that you can do. A used stringing machine might cost $400 to $500, and it’ll pay for itself. Especially if you’re a good junior player, you’re breaking a lot of strings. It will pay for itself in probably six months. So let them learn how to string their their own rackets, take care of their own equipment you know, grip their rackets and be responsible for that.

Speaker 3: 5:25
I’ll never forget. My youngest son was playing in the finals of a aal tournament in Charlotte and his coach called me because he had just broken a string and it was the last racket that he had in his bag and I was in my driveway at the time. I was not watching the match and I had his other racket in my hand at the time and I told the coach it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I told the coach nope, I can’t make it, I’m sorry. So he had to play the rest of the match with a borrowed racket and you know how strange that is to play with a different racket than you’re accustomed to and he lost the match. But it was a great lesson and he was never unprepared again. He’s never heard that story, so he might kill me after hearing this.

Speaker 3: 6:15
And then, finally, just for you parents out there, just relax. You know, if your kid wants to be a great tennis player, they are going to be a great tennis player and there’s nothing you can do about it. You will not have to push them on the court. You will have to pull them off. And if they don’t want to be a great player, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. At least you’ve introduced them to the sport which we all love. I tell parents they need to relax because kids compete but parents compare. It’s unfortunate, but for a lot of parents that’s the way it is.

Speaker 2: 6:56
Erin, would you have done what Mark did, which is to make your child play with a different racket?

Speaker 1: 7:04
I absolutely would, but that’s just my personality.

Speaker 2: 7:06
Oh, I can see myself leaving right away to go bring that racket to my child. So I need to do a better. I mean, his kids play in college, so I need to be better about that. I have young kids and that’s really changed my mind on how I should act. So, Mark, can you give a few pieces of advice for junior tennis players?

Speaker 3: 7:23
Yes, I’d be happy to, and hopefully you know there’s a kid riding with their parents right now to a junior tournament and maybe they’ll listen to this, because I know your podcast is for adults, but maybe some kids will listen to this too as well. Kids don’t make every time you set foot on the tennis court one that your parents have to pay for. Go, find somebody else that wants to be as good as you want to be and go out and practice with them and drill with them and feed them balls, encourage them, promote them, go to tournaments with them and pull for them when you’re there. My brother had a practice partner when he was a kid and they would play six hours a day and his partner would walk out there and say you know what? We’re going to get 10% better today, or we’re going to get our volleys 5% better today. Find somebody to work with so that your parents don’t have to pay for every time you step on the court.

Speaker 3: 8:20
Second, have fun. You know singles and tennis can be a lonely sport, a lonely experience. When you’re done with your match, don’t put your earbuds in and just go to the car and go back to the hotel. Stay there, make friends, be social. Watch them. Watch what they do right, watch what they do wrong. Learn from that, but make friends. Some of the best friends that I have today are people that I met back in junior tennis, you know long ago. So it’s a great way to meet people and you know you will have a lot of friends after that. Third, guys, call the lines fairly, please. You know your opponent has hit thousands of tennis balls to be able to hit that line. Don’t take that away from them. You wouldn’t want it taken away from you, so don’t take it away from them. You know you may not remember all of your wins and losses later in life, but you will remember the people that did not call the lines fairly against you. I can guarantee you that.

Speaker 2: 9:26
That’s fantastic.

Speaker 3: 9:28
And now I’ve got a question for you guys. All right, I’m going to give you a little quiz here. So, Carolyn, what is the only shot in tennis where you can win the point without your opponent even touching the ball?

Speaker 2: 9:45
Aaron just told me it’s the serve. So I agree with Aaron it’s the serve.

Speaker 3: 9:50
Correct. So that’s the only shot you know where you can win the point outright without your opponent hitting the ball. Now, aaron, absent having a ball machine, what’s the only stroke in tennis you can really practice by yourself? It’s still the serve Correct, very good, very good. Go out and practice your serve. Make your first serve Correct, very good, very good. Um, go out and practice your serve. Make your first serve a weapon, not a point starter, okay, and make your second serve dependable. It’s the only shot you can practice by yourself. So really, you got to change the name of your podcast to first serve instead of second serve, maybe. But um, you know, you know, just do that.

Speaker 1: 10:35
I know we’re talking about that was advice for junior tennis, but this all applies to adult rec tennis too, because we definitely don’t ace people and we don’t really work on our serve either. Carolyn, we need to do that more often.

Speaker 2: 10:48
Yes, I totally agree to that. That’s really, I mean important Something that we could all do and that’s easy, and anyone can go out on a court with a you know a bunch of balls and practice that by ourselves. We don’t even need someone out there with us. That’s such a good point.

Speaker 3: 11:02
And when you do go out to practice, don’t just step up to the line and just you know whack. Serve after serve after serve. Step up to the line, bounce the ball, pretend like you’re in a real match situation, pretend like you’re down 6-5 in the third set and it’s 15-40 and you have to get that first serve in.

Speaker 2: 11:21
So when I met Mark and I learned about his tennis background, I immediately asked him what you should do with bad line calls. So, mark, can you share with our listeners what you told me to do?

Speaker 3: 11:34
Sure, you know, first, we all know that everybody makes mistakes. So sometimes you’re going to get bad line calls, but it’s just a mistake, we all do it. But if you play somebody that might have a reputation or repeatedly does it, I think a lot of people make the mistake of saying are you sure? You know, and I just hate hearing are you sure? But you know, just politely ask them, you know, just say let them know that you understand that it’s their call. You might want to say you know, I know it’s your call, but you may have made a mistake.

Speaker 2: 12:11
Can you also tell us your most memorable moment on the court?

Speaker 3: 12:14
You know I’ve got a lot of those. Most of them are my losses but I do have one win. That was a lot of fun. I told you that my brother and I played together at North Carolina State and when I was a freshman he was a senior and on the final day of the tournament I won my singles match. And then, not 20 minutes later, my brother won his to clinch the ACC championship for our team. And I will never forget my mother and father up on top of the hill and she had tears coming down her cheeks. You know she was in just tears of joy and I’ll never forget that day.

Speaker 2: 12:53
We can’t thank Mark enough for being on the cheeks. You know she was in just tears of joy and I’ll never forget that day. We can’t thank Mark enough for being on the podcast. He has definitely made us want to practice our serves. If you’d like to see a picture of Mark, please go to our website, which is SecondServePodcastcom. We hope the resources section of our website will be helpful for adult players. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.