Episode #38 Season 24: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

In this episode of the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, we sit down with Justin Yeo, a world-class tennis professional based in Puerto Rico, for an engaging conversation about the concept of functional tennis and how mind mapping can enhance athletic performance. Justin, who’s also a big fan of pickleball, brings a unique perspective to the table—connecting the dots between various sports, brain development, and body coordination.

This episode is perfect for anyone interested in improving their game through a deeper understanding of how the brain and body work together during sports training. Whether you're a seasoned coach or a player just getting started, there’s something for everyone in this insightful conversation.

About Justin Yeo

Justin Yeo is a highly accomplished tennis professional based in Puerto Rico, with years of experience in both coaching and playing. His passion for tennis and pickleball has led him to develop a unique approach to training, focusing on functional movement and mental mapping techniques to elevate athletes' performance. Justin's dedication to understanding the mind-body connection in sports makes him a valuable resource for players and coaches alike. His innovative insights offer a fresh perspective on how to approach training, technique, and competition.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode

• What is Functional Tennis?: Justin explains the umbrella concept of functional tennis, covering techniques that go beyond just basic skills and how they integrate with overall athletic performance.
• Mind Mapping for Tennis Players: Discover how the power of mind mapping can help players understand their strengths and weaknesses, and improve their mental approach to the game.
• Brain-Body Coordination: Learn how sports like tennis and pickleball influence cognitive and physical development, enhancing coordination and decision-making on the court.
• Insights for Coaches: Justin shares tips on assessing players' abilities, identifying potential, and tailoring training approaches for both beginners and advanced athletes.
• Tennis and Other Sports: Hear how participation in different sports and activities can shape an athlete’s development, especially for younger players.

Insights You Will Gain

• How Functional Tennis Enhances Performance: Gain a deep understanding of functional movement techniques that can help improve efficiency, power, and agility on the court.
• Using Mind Mapping for Mental Clarity: Learn how creating mental maps can help players streamline their decision-making, boost focus, and optimize training routines.
• Effective Training Strategies: Learn practical tips for training that are applicable to both tennis and other racket sports like pickleball.
• Improving Player Coordination: Discover how improving coordination and cognitive processing can lead to better on-court reactions and strategic thinking.

Whether you’re a coach looking to refine your teaching methods, or a player interested in taking your game to the next level, this episode will leave you with actionable insights and inspiration.

Share Your Story!

We’d love to hear how these insights have impacted your tennis journey! Have you tried functional tennis training or used mind mapping in your game? Share your story on the dedicated page My Tennis Story. Your feedback and experiences help us create more meaningful content for the tennis community!

Listen Now and dive into the world of functional tennis and mind mapping to gain a new perspective on how to approach training and performance.

YouTube LIVE Replay: https://www.youtube.com/live/plsM6WCjOoo

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net

https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾

Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com

https://regeovinate.com/ 💪🏼🏋️

This podcast is powered by GoTennis! Atlanta: Membership has its privileges 🤜🏼🎾🤛🏼

🏠 https://letsgotennis.com/

🫶 https://letsgotennis.com/join/

https://shop.letsgotennis.com/ 👟👜

💰 https://letsgotennis.com/deals/

https://letsgotennis.com/podcast/ 🎙️🎧

https://www.facebook.com/gotennisatlanta

https://www.instagram.com/gotennisatlanta/

https://www.youtube.com/@gotennispodcast

Do you want to read about some good things going on in the world of tennis?

https://letsgotennis.com/stories/ 🔥🪑

Check out our GoTennis! Atlanta Facebook page for deals, updates, events, podcasts, news, stories, coach profiles, club information, and more https://bit.ly/gt_facebook_page

Also, you can support this show (and save some $) by shopping at 🤑https://letsgotennis.com/deals/🤑

Or, donate directly HERE

Want to get into crypto? This is easy: https://www.coinbase.com/join/boyce_3s?src=ios-link

Want donate with Bitcoin? Here's the address: 3EqTU1gQBLoieMeFLC1BQgCUajPpPMCgwB

Considering your own podcast? We (obviously) recommend Captivate: This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

[Music]

Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

Every episode is titled "It Starts with Tennis" and goes from there.

We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business professionals,

technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.

We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

[Music]

Hey, hey, this is Sean with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

powered by GoTennis. While you're here, please hit that follow button.

And after you listen, please share with your friends and teammates.

Also, let us know if you have questions or topics you would like us to discuss,

and we will add them to our schedule.

With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

[Music]

This is 10 minutes of tennis with Justin Yo, world-renowned tennis pro in Puerto Rico,

who is just off the pickleball court.

Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to say that.

[Music]

Hey, sometimes we're going to test out the other things.

You know, next week you might say you're checking out the platform.

I don't even know a platform.

Is it platform tennis? I don't know.

Then you'll be playing paddle.

You got to check these things out, Justin.

Got to check them out.

Yes, ruined my reputation, right?

[Laughter]

I said you came off the pickleball court.

I didn't say what you were doing there.

You might have just stopped into the court to have a lunch.

Maybe just having lunch on the pickleball court.

Anyone listening, I can't believe he brought up the pickle.

[Laughter]

It's 10 minutes of tennis.

It is 10 minutes of tennis.

Very true.

He followed us right now.

He did not just say this.

I didn't mean what.

I said the P word.

I did.

Well, I didn't even say paddle or platform.

I did say--

You just did a pickle.

Now you put us in a pickle.

Yeah, okay.

Now we got to go there.

Now we got three minutes.

We're losing time.

We've only got 10 minutes.

Exactly.

So we will talk about functional tennis today on our 10 minutes of tennis.

And Justin, catch me up on functional tennis is kind of an umbrella concept that has other things

inside it underneath it.

One of the more interesting concepts inside of functional tennis,

you mentioned is mind mapping.

Do you want to start there?

Or do you want to give me a functional tennis overview and then dive down?

Yeah, well, so mind mapping.

I'll just correct that.

You know, people think of mind mapping as a spreadsheet and all this drawn up clouds

that everybody knows is a mind mapping in the tech world these days.

When we talk about mind mapping in tennis, your brain--

and actually, let me take that away--

it's not just tennis.

It's all sports.

When a child at a young age does a lot of different sports,

the brain itself is already starting to map what nerve systems,

what exercise, what functionality, what kinetic chains,

like all those different things are happening within the brain.

And if they've done a lot of different sports and different activities,

and when I say activities,

it could be just climbing the tennis fence.

You know, like when I was a kid that knew that,

you know, we had little bad news on our shoes as a member.

And if you weren't a member, you're supposed to get out.

But they've locked the gate.

So we would climb the fence to try a different court surface,

but climbing the fence was strengthening your hair,

strengthening your toes.

And I'd ask people here to try to climb the fence,

and they can't climb the fence.

You can't stick their toe in.

They can't pull themselves up and over a fence.

So anyway, activities is what I'm talking about.

And the earlier the activities,

the more they have those function things in their brain.

And I call that mind mapping, meaning they have things they have already.

And then when you can find those teaching tennis,

it makes tennis so much easier because you don't have your client

or whoever you're working with doesn't have to think.

They already know that function.

You know, so like a baseballer,

they already understand weight transfer.

They already understand linear motion of the lower body

and angular motion of the upper body.

Right? So if you correlate that,

they actually understand it.

If you talk about a home run,

they have to go low to high.

So they start to learn all these functions already.

Baseball is another great one for the serve because

it's released a ball toss and then throw like it's on a center field.

You know, so baseball a lot.

If people haven't done baseball,

it could be a ballerina dancer.

She's got great footwork.

You just got to teach her how to use it

if you're correctly independently,

not at the same time.

You know, so there's sort of the things.

I mean, I could talk about this all day long

because as far as I can stand,

I base it on my coaching.

When someone comes to a lesson,

I haven't seen them before.

They're like, I really want you to help me.

I really want you to fix me.

And I have to get their past like,

find out what they've done before in their sports.

And then you correlate it.

So that's it.

We had someone mentioned that the other night,

who was a high performance coach.

And he talked about kids switching coaches

and how it could potentially even take

four to six months just to get to know somebody as a coach.

And I think that might have been what he is referring to

is really understanding how their brain works,

how it relates to my brain as a coach,

to be able to understand each other.

What I'm saying.

How does that functionally get into what you already know?

Is that kind of where you're going with this?

Yeah, well, so even profiling a player, right?

I have right now a two, five, three, I lay.

And she's like, so, you know,

can you show me the grip?

Can you show me all this stuff?

Well, I just want you to hit the ball.

And she's like, what?

I'm like, yeah, I'm going to feed you.

And in the first five to ten minutes,

I'm going to pick up all the things

that you have straights already

and we're going to build off those versus trying to,

you know, step by step, step by step, you know.

And then look for just, you know,

a lot of things is looking for a fundamental.

Do they have an athletic base?

Do they know what a ready stance is?

Do they actually, it's amazing.

Some people actually see the ball well

and some people don't.

You know, and when they don't,

you have to get that perception right first

because if you don't work on that,

it's, you know, you're late back swing,

late contact late.

Everything's stiff.

They want to put everything in the court.

And it's all late.

So, uh, yeah, I don't know.

I've got a lot of people here in Puerto Rico

that come to me from clinics and come for lessons.

And when they come to lessons,

they're like, I've heard you're the best

and then I'm like, well, no,

because all I focus on

is the functionality of what you can do.

And we build that to look at you,

how to play versus just hitting a tennis ball.

Um, and, and the last few people I've seen

that come to me and they hit the ball and I go,

I said, let's cause.

Hit.

You tell me what you watch TV.

Does the tennis player look slim, stiff,

slow and late?

Just tell me, do they look like that?

They're like, no, I'm like,

so let's just focus on the opposites.

Lose, early and fast.

Please, let's just try that.

And all of a sudden,

ball, they start to change.

So again, that's function function stuff.

Well, like what you said about getting to know the player

or just have them hit the ball in the beginning,

we do the same thing when we first meet a kid.

And I tell him, I said, all right,

hit the ball over the net and they look at me.

And what do you mean?

I'm like, anyway, you want what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Because sometimes I'm also going to learn the last thing they learned

from their previous coach if they had one.

But also they're going to, they're going to relate it from

whatever sport they came from or whatever thing they did at home play

and catch with dad or mom or whatever they were doing.

And they're going to relate and say, okay,

how am I going to use the stick to get the ball over the net?

And I'm going to see just a little bit of a glimpse

of how their brain works.

And then I can say, okay, great.

Let's add a follow through.

Let's add a backswing.

We can do those things piece by piece.

And I guess in that case, we're just building the function.

Yeah, we're building the function.

And as far as mind mapping goes,

you can see whether a child has good swing, but they don't weigh transfer.

Right? So you would work on their base and you'd work on their legs

and try to build that with the function that

there already happens with good swing.

Right? And so that all of a sudden changes their racquet path

and the length of their racquet path because they're now transferring their body weight.

You know?

So yeah, there's functional tennis and mind mapping.

Again, there's two different things to end kids and adults.

But really at the end of the day, you want to see what they already have

that they understand that they already know and then you build off that

instead of trying to build everything.

And so in that case, it is a piece by piece concept.

So if you're going to give some advice at the end of our 10 minutes of tennis,

you're just saying, okay, here's minute 10.

And we're going to say, all right, coaches,

here's what we want you to look for, pay attention to, and players when you show up.

You got one thing for the coaches and one thing for the players to say,

coaches look for this, players expect that.

I mean, coaches, you know, you know, you know, all your elements of tennis,

but just know your fundamentals like, you know, I already stands,

do they have good base, you know, or just get them to hit some balls

and make sure you don't hit the ball right to them, make them move and see if they've got the functions

of moving to the ball.

I don't think a lot of people pick up on perception enough.

A perception is everything, you know, if your eyes don't pick up things, you don't get the message to your feet

and if feet don't get a chance to move.

So I'm constantly telling them to watch the racket and I use the example of drop the vigil

or time, because what does he do on the baseline?

He's like this, you know, forcing his eyes to see the messages so everything else works.

So that's what I would say is focus more on perception and the coaches.

What's the second question?

Players.

Players.

Players, um, I understand you again, understand what you do that.

I understand your strengths and build off you.

You know, we'll try and have everything.

I see a lot of people saying I'm weak here, I'm weak here, I'm weak here,

but where are your strengths as well?

Because your strengths can get better and better and better, and your weakness can get, you know,

so again, my strength here is like, yeah, my weakness will come up a little bit, you know,

and then you just keep going this way.

You can't be best at everything.

It's impossible.

So understand all the pieces of my own game and be able to walk into my coach and say,

all right, functionally, I'm going to use that word a lot, because now we're going to,

we're putting pieces together a little bit.

We're going to say, all right, here's how my brain works.

Here's what it wants to do.

Here's what I can do.

Here's what I can't do.

Let's put it all together.

Yep.

And for the next 30 seconds, it could us to my kiss at Roseville Couch Club.

Great to hear from you, mate.

And let's hear from all people, please, we'd love to just talk tennis.

Here we go.

Justin Yeung, 10 minutes of tennis.

We'll see you next week.

Thanks so much.

Well, there you have it.

We want to thank Rejovenate.com for use to the studio and be sure to hit that follow button.

For more tennis-related content, you can go to Atlanta tennispodcast.com.

And while you're there, check out our calendar of tennis events, the best deals on

technophyber products, tennis apparel, and more.

If you're a coach, director of any racket sports, or just someone who wants to

utilize our online shop, contact us about setting up your own shop collection

to offer your branded merchandise to the Atlanta tennis world.

And with that, we're out.

See you next time.

[Music]