This fall 2016 I’ll be embarking on a new journey in life. As a 20-year veteran of the publishing industry and a global entrepreneur, I’m going local in creating a new business and focus in my life. As a publishing professional, I’ve founded three successful companies in the field, the latest being a print and digital media company. I’ve been there for two decades and I still love it, but it’s now going to be shared with a career in tennis.
I’m a bit backwards in these pursuits, I guess. At the age of 42, this is when most publishing professionals begin their careers. Most tennis pros begin their careers in their 20s. So I’m a young veteran of publishing and an old rookie as a tennis teaching professional. But what both have in common is that they are passions of mine, so better late than never.
Publishing has taught me an important life lesson about business and passion. One cannot thrive without the other, but to keep both they must remain separated. See, business is vital to allowing others’ passions to grow. As a publisher, I spent my younger years helping to launch the careers of many authors who later redefined speculative fiction. It was a tedious, often stressful and dirty job, but a necessary one. In the middle, I lost passion, lost interest in the industry, was beat down and became jaded. I didn’t separate the business from my love of literature. Couldn’t step back away from it all to realize that everything I had been through helped to create everything I once loved and adored.
So with tennis, I come into creating a new company, Staley Tennis Academy, as a veteran entrepreneur who has been down the road of balancing love and business. As a professional tennis coach, I’ve spent more than 500 hours on the courts teaching others how to become a better player, a better competitor at the sport. Also, I’ve spent more than 500 hours in on-court workshops, breaking down videos, getting educated by master and elite professionals, testing to become a professional…all of this because I love to play the sport and it’s now my time to give back.
To leave something behind. To share the love.
Staley Tennis Academy will officially launch this fall. Thank you for your support and I hope to see you out on the courts!
Shane Staley is the founder of Staley Tennis and a USPTA-certified trainer, Accredited Professional Coach and instructor.
Leave a Reply