Ep. 1: There’s More Than One Pathway

Welcome to the very first episode of The Serving the Future Show, recorded at the Barnes Tennis Center, home of Youth Tennis San Diego.

Hosts Ryan Redondo and Steve Adamson kick off the podcast by sharing their remarkably different journeys through junior tennis, Ryan as a top-ranked junior with international experience, and Steve as a late starter who played multiple sports before discovering tennis. Despite their contrasting paths, both ultimately competed at San Diego State University and dedicated their careers to developing the next generation of players.

In this introductory episode, they explore:

✅ Why there is no single "right" pathway to success in tennis
✅ How tennis builds grit, resilience, discipline, and life skills
✅ The evolving journey from junior tennis to college and professional tennis
✅ The role parents, coaches, and opportunities play in player development
✅ Why San Diego has become one of the premier tennis communities in the world
✅ How Youth Tennis San Diego and the Barnes Tennis Center are creating opportunities for players of all backgrounds

The hosts also preview future episodes featuring professional players, college coaches, recruiters, parents, industry leaders, and innovators from the worlds of tennis, pickleball, and padel.

Whether you're a player, parent, coach, or fan of racquet sports, The Serving the Future Show is your inside look at the people, pathways, and principles that shape success on and off the court.

Follow along and join the conversation as we explore what it truly takes to develop champions and great people.

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Hosted by Ryan Redondo and Steve Adamson and recorded at the Barnes Tennis Center, home of Youth Tennis San Diego.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. Your support helps us reach more players, parents, coaches, and fans across the racquet sports community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to the Serving the Future Show. We are at Youth Tennis San Diego's headquarters, the Barnes Tennis Center, in the Inspire 360 Digital Learning Lab. I am your co-host, Ryan Redondo. I'm Steve Adamson. And we also have Jackson Ginn, our technician, digital man, behind the screen. And we want to welcome you to the show, our first show of this podcast. Steve, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, we can talk about uh many things, but I think how we came together, I think is a really interesting story. And that I think kind of links to the kind of the goal of the podcast and to just talk about junior development and how you know we can uh do the best for these junior players coming up. And really to talk about an interesting story is just you and I, we we both played at San Diego State, me a little bit before you. Um, but it's very interesting to me to just talk about such different paths to get there. Yeah, right. I was uh started tennis late, like 12 years old, played pretty much every sport besides curling. And you know, you were uh I was in diapers at San Diego State. That's right. And and you were like a top junior in the world. You had a junior pathway, just unbelievable success. To call me an average junior would be probably a benefit to me. So um, you know, you came up, your dad was a coach, your dad coached at San Diego State prior. Uh, your dad had an academy. Um, again, kind of going through that pathway of just, you know, the top of the top. And for me, it was definitely a different pathway. My dad was a professor, didn't really know about tennis. I was just into sports. And it's just interesting of how these two pathways, like there, there are multiple pathways. It's hard to say whether one is right or not. But I just want to give it over to you to talk about a little bit more of a pathway that I was very unfamiliar with.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, yeah. Well, we had the same coach, John Nelson, too, who's uh a legend in his own right. But yeah, I mean, the I think the whole idea behind this is, you know, I came up, I was literally on diap in diapers was my while my dad was the head coach at San Diego State. I got to travel with the U.S. national team and play all these international events and um amazing opportunities, yet we both played on the same college courts and had the same path. And we are now here at with Youth Tennis San Diego developing juniors and opportunities in the sport. And I think that um it's an amazing opportunity, and that's what I think we really want to talk about is all of the past. There's no one right way. You know, there's a mindset that is that's clear in order to get to where you want to get to, but I think that's what we're gonna explore with ourselves, um, our experiences, and then down the road with others too.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah, I'm I'm so I'm I'm so curious and intrigued by just how these other players, the whether super successful on the court, um, you know, the the people that have made it on the tour, or just people that have been very successful after tennis, right? Whether they're doctors or lawyers or teachers, and just how that tennis experience has really shaped their lives. And that kind of comes back to what we're trying to do, right? Here at Barnes. We're we're trying to really shape these people and be a great influence on them, not just on the court, but off the court as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

And giving them a way to really, you know, experience different avenues, just different uh things and exit just deal with different uh, you know, different things that come up in in life in general, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Yeah. Why don't you tell us? I mean, what do you do? You're I think, you know, let's start with you. What do you do at the Barnes Tennis Center? What do you do with your academy? You're hands-on. So I'd love to learn or tell the audience a little bit more about that.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, I've you'll see me with the hat out there because the the sun is always shining when I'm out there. So yeah, I'm um director of tennis here in charge of you know, all the programs and and uh it's home to the academy as well, where we've had, you know, been lucky to have a lot of uh great players. But again, it's it's trying to give these kids an opportunity to really develop, just not just on the court, but but off the court as well. And I truly believe that tennis is just that sport that is it's one of a kind, it just teaches you the grit, you know, the the you know, you have to have such discipline. It's not one of those things in other sports where you just go out there and heck, you know, I I can run like a 10, 500 meter, right? And I just woke up being able to do that. It's it's a sport where you have to put in a lot of work and you have to deal with a lot of adversity, yeah, right. And I think that is just a fitting way to prepare for life because as we know, you know, there's always something that'll come up, whether you have kids or you have whatever, there's something that'll be thrown your way and you have to be able to deal with it. And to me, tennis is the best sport for that to help prepare you for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, I can't wait to learn about that. I mean, this the the academy, Steve Adamson Tennis Academy, to be exact, has produced national champions, um, the Savita brothers, Zach just getting to the round of 16 of the French Open, Trevor is number one in the country, um, Alyssa on. You can name all of these different individuals that are going to Division I schools, MIT, Ivy League. So it's gonna be really fun learning about you know how you develop people and then bringing in guests that might do things completely opposite of you, but are then landing at the same spot. And I think that's the pathway that we're talking about. And we're gonna talk about how you can get from the junior level to the college level and then the college level to the pro level. And I think, you know, well, I know my purpose as CEO of U Tennis San Diego is to provide those opportunities for our kids, not just in the academy, but through Barnes and San Diego and our American kids.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

And, you know, we're providing and ensuring that kids can play on their home courts because that's what we know leads to success. You know, ultimately, if you want to say the professional level, if you look at what Italy has done, they're producing champions and Grand Slam champions, but they have so many tournaments. And when you know you can play in your backyard, you get and you have those opportunities. Um, that's my goal is to ensure that we have that for our players. And we've done a really good job with that to date. And the the goal is to continue that. Um for the show, I think we're gonna be able to expand on that too, because we not only have tennis here, but we have pickleball and paddle. And so down the road, I think we're gonna see you know some amazing stars in those racket sports too. Talk about their pathway and and talk about how did you know, a number one player in the world in pickleball, who probably started in tennis, you know, how did that pathway go and learn the mindsets and learn you know what you talked about with grit and whatnot. So that's um, you know, I think we have a lot to talk about and it's gonna be a it's gonna be a fun start.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

I think so too. I'm really curious to just delve into the the parent junior, you know, relationship as well. And I think that that, you know, being a tennis parent myself and and just like you can talk about it, but it's all about you know, just different people and and learning like what works and just really getting some of the perspectives of the the players that have done it and different like you talk about different pathways, right? You talk about the spider is a completely different pathway. Boy, did that work, right? So, and then you've got a traditional pathway, somebody like Alyssa going to brick and mortar school all four years, winning two national championships. Um, that's not supposed to happen, right? You're supposed to be homeschooled and all that kind of stuff. So I'm I'm really uh curious as to like how much the desire of these kids comes into it, right? Like you can be put in, like you can have all the coaching, you can have all the tools, but if you don't really want it deep down, it comes back to haunt you, you know, in the third set five all. You got to dig pretty deep. And uh if anybody's watching the French Open these past coup talk about digging deep, yeah. I mean, that's just quite remarkable. Like so yeah, I I'm just really curious. I think that we're gonna find out some great stuff and and I'm ready to learn.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, yeah. I think um further to the development pathway, um I think you know, as we build the sandbox, it's gonna be professionals coming on this show. And we'd love to hear from certain individuals and how they that pathway, industry leaders, brands, um, everything in our ecosystem in the sport because it all connects together. Yes, we all need to work together. And I look forward to highlighting, you know, just the racket sport world, the tennis world, you know, youth tennis San Diego is a nonprofit, what we're doing in the city and bringing tennis to kids that would never get this opportunity, right? And then also bringing them here to the San Diego Open so they can see these professionals. It's amazing what we're doing as a team. Um, and I think that's a part of the show too, is just highlighting what's going on and the good that people are doing.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yeah, that's that's the key. Again, it's uh I presenting these opportunities, right? Without the opportunities, nothing happens. So just that these kids that were able to go out there and and watch the San Diego Open and these pros come to their courts, like what a great feeling, right? To you watch them on TV and there they are right on the court that you're playing on. Like talk about inspiration.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

So, and like you said, going back to your other point, is like you we need even for the pro level, the pathway, you know, from the junior to the college to the pro and how much is changing in college right now. I mean, we could have podcast after podcast just on the the college landscape and how tough it is for these kids to play division one college tennis now.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Talking about John Nelson, our coach, I I still poke him. I'm still paying off student loans, and I was a two-time all-American. That's right. Imagine winning national championship, being a two-time all-American and NIL money now. Yeah. I was born in the wrong era.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

That's crazy. And the the the lineups of these guys that are playing seven and eight now are ridiculous at these schools.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Well, to that point, we have University of San Diego that had an amazing year. Yeah. Men and women. San Diego State, we have UCSD, Point Loma Nazarene. Um, we have San Diego City College in the junior college level. Really, San Diego is a hotbed. And I think we want to expose how great tennis is here.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yes, that's gonna be, I think, the goal is to just really we've got so many things to talk about. So many people are doing some great things.

unknown 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I mean, they're just they had a great run and yeah, great team.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

And yeah, we can, I mean, I guess I don't we should be biased. San Diego is the best place to play tennis in the world, and I think we're gonna highlight that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Um the goal is to talk about San Diego, and then we can go all throughout the the globe. But that San Diego is the key, that's what we know best here, and and we have a lot to talk about. Just lots of players doing really great things.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

It would be interesting to do uh like a data study on professionals. I mean, we know Brandon Nakushima, yeah, Zach now. Yeah, who else in the professional level?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Keegan just won a challenger. Egan Smith. Yeah, I mean, these guys are just coming out Segs. He's on the Segerman. Yeah, on the Patrick. I mean, they're just doing, and look at the SoCal Pro Series goes and you know, these things that they uh give opportunities, right? So we just it's great to see.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

But then if you look at that, and then look at the college level, Ollie. I mean, he's a four-time All-American from USD, qualified for Wimbledon last year, developed here at USD and go to the junior level. How many nationally ranked players come out of San Diego? Yeah, and I think that's a highlight to not just what we're doing, but all of the clubs, all the coaches that are in San Diego that are developing the sport. Then you look at the grassroots level to you know, San Diego at Balboa Tennis Club, they had the Tennis Fest, the biggest free tennis clinic in America. Yep. San Diego is the best. It is. I'm just gonna say it.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I mean, we have the best of everything, right? This is the place. So I mean, we are gonna continue to expect great things to come out of here.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah. So well, so for episode two, we'd love to hear from the audience as we build this sandbox. As I said, who do you guys want to hear from? What are the gaps, right? There's some gaps that we want to learn about, you know, the parenting to the coach, to the desire of the player. Want to hear what are some themes that the audience would love to hear. And as we start to build our lineup and episodes are are released, we'd love to hear from you. So in our social media platforms, um, what's your what's the academy or your Instagram?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

It's uh Steve Adamson Tennis Academy. Yeah, we have about three followers, I think. And three. Two of them, maybe my mother-in-law, maybe my son. Oh, yeah, there you go. That's right. I think my son reluctantly is following me. No, but yeah, Steve Adamson Tennis Academy, and you have yours as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, I have a personal one, Ryan Redondo underscore CEO in motion. I have five. Oh, nice. I have five kids or four kids and a stepson, so there they are. Um, and then obviously Barnes Tennis Center, and then um Youth Tennis San Diego. Those are all our social media handles where you'll be able to find the Serving the Future show plus our Serving the Future Instagram, which we will that thing's gonna have an unbelievable amount of followers so soon. Absolutely. Um, so I think that's a great intro to what we're absolutely wanting to do and our intentions of this show.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, I think it'll be fun. And and uh again, we're looking for you in the comments to to let us know exactly uh what you want to hear, and and we'll provide it. We're we should be able to get some really good guests on here. So it's exciting. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah, pros, college recruiters, yeah, other coaches, uh everybody's invited. Um, so we'd love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

So I'm just excited to uh talk back and forth with you and get back and see uh all the different uh different ways and things that we can do to help Tennessee St.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Awesome. All right, we will see you for episode two.