About John Carpenter
In 2003, John, realized that something was wrong with the delivery of the teaching methods advocated by USA tennis hierarchies and the coaches they were promoting as "experts": they were too complicated or simply not getting good results. After discovering a few missing elements of the teaching process, he found he had bridged the gap to getting great on-court results.
After proving he could get results with beginners that most coaches could only dream about, he was hired by the great coach Andy Davis, as assistant head pro at the famous St. Louis 15 clay court facility Triple A Tennis Club where they worked with St. Louis' top juniors. Andy became Junior Tennis Director at John Newcombe's Academy in Texas and John became Head Pro of the famous Dwight Davis 19 court facility in St. Louis. World renowned tennis teacher Oscar Wegner or Argentina decided to work closely with John from 2004 to 2016 in Oscar's crusade to simplify tennis instruction. This gave John access to coaches around the world at the highest levels.
15 years of research culminated in the upcoming 2022 book “The History of USATennis Instruction: How the Eyes Couldn’t See What the Mind Didn’t Know.” You may read the first rough draft excerpts for free on this site. The Laguna Beach High School Athletic Director, taking a lesson from John, then hired him to rebuild their girls tennis program which was having trouble attracting players. John, as is his custom, brought in top coaches who showed how easy tennis is to play well when using the new modern techniques and suddenly tennis participation exploded.
In Dec 2007, John, based on grassroots feedback from coaches and parents was still convinced the USPTA, the PTR, and USTA were hurting the game through refusal to adopt proven on court optimal simplistic proper tennis biomechanics for beginners. John and some highly respected coaches decided it was time to start a new grassroots tennis coaching organization dedicated to simplification of tennis instruction based on the teachings of world renowned tennis teacher Oscar Wegner, who some called the “father of modern tennis instruction.” John. working closely with Oscar, founded and became the first Certification Director for MTMCA (Modern Tennis Methodology Coaches Association) which since Dec of 2007 has given him an opportunity to learn and work with coaches around the world, many who had coached pro players. His extensive work with Wegner over 12 years afforded him the chance to work on court with top ranked world class juniors and players and learn from great coaches such as Russell Grogan, Danny Van der Rieten of Belgium, Jorge Barerra of New York, Mark Carruthers of Austria and Dave Smith, author of the excellent books "Coaching Mastery" and "Tennis Mastery." His extensive interviews of great coaches such as David Bailey of Australia and the developmental coaches of Michael Chang and Pete Sampras gave him unique insights into how to further develop players. With Oscar Wegner acting as consultant, John coached a four year old using regulation balls who at four years old became the youngest child ever admitted to a top USA Academy.
In 2017, convinced that the USTA was now moving in the right direction, John moved 3000 miles to start the Advanced Tennis Foundation Academy (ATFA) near Atlanta with Chuck Tomlin, a high performance cutting edge coach who John admired for his many tennis innovations such as “Smart Targets.” The ATFA is based on the teaching model developed by Dave Smith and layers a combination of proven teaching methods based on the principle, "never teach a position you will have to correct." Though he has held a lot of certifications and is considered the sports first tennis instruction historian, he is currently USPTA Elite Pro and PTR Pro Level 1 certified. He guarantees results or you don't pay.
Read 3 chapters free of my upcoming book to find why ATFA offers world class coaching at great rates.
See 5 yr old Jack below who was bashing orange balls anywhere but in the court until I offered to show how simple tennis is. Grandma filmed my first minute below.
Aleksandra is now 5' 11" and not even 15 and a half years yet. John first worked with her in 2015 on a visit where she enjoyed learning that power is nothing without control and tactical implementation of good strategy. Alex at far right will play tennis in college this fall.
My 4 year old Noah and 8 year old Leah have been taking lessons from John for a couple weeks. The improvement has been incredible. I could not even anticipate my daughter looking like a pro in such a short time, much less achieving a 144 ball rally in her third lesson. Watching my 4 year old son look like a little pro makes me feel both children are getting world class coaching at bargain rates. ” Yury Gampel, Calabasas, California.
I tried out for girls tennis at Morrow HS when I realized I needed privates to even have a chance to make the team. My high school coach was astounded by the instant improvement after a few lessons with Coach C. Little did I ever imagine I would soon be playing singles as a freshman who had picked up a racket six weeks earlier. I watch my teammates with far more experience than I have struggle and I wonder why more coaches don’t teach this way because I see the best players, whether pro or high school, all play the way I am being taught. Nancy Chin, Morrow HS, GA
A few minutes with John and the old reliable swing was back! After explaining to me where power comes from and some basic mechanics of the pro swing I was again hitting topspin forehand winners. When I would slip back into bad habits, he could easily see what I was doing wrong. If I still couldn't feel it, he had an easy drill that forced me to feel the swing correctly. Even though I considered my serve and volley game to be working, John showed me the pro version of the volley and after a few drills I was hitting sharp volleys with pace where before I would have to rely on placement and creativity - now I can have both. John's strengths are that he is an excellent swing technician for the modern pro style, and he can easily see where it is breaking down and correct it either through instruction, visualization or drills. Thanks John! Russ Immel, Alabama