Todd Ley: Former World No.1 12U On Tennis Prodigies, Parents and Parasites

PLS NOTE: There is some swearing in this episode and it is not one that is suitable for children. What’s it like to be the no.1 12U player in the World? To be the youngest player ever to be signed by the IMG management company. To win a full scholarship to one of the most famous tennis academies in the World. Reckon the future for that player and his family was bright? Fame and riches around the corner? Today’s guest, Todd Ley who hails from Adelaide in Australia, was in exactly that position. And has written all about that part of the journey and what happened next in a searingly honest book called Smashed . As you’ll hear today, what happened next was not fame and fortune. What came next was darkness and at times despair. A chapter which Todd is now moving on from as he rides the rollercoaster of life working in the world of coaching - and I hope setting down what happened in the book will help him do just that. It has certainly helped me think about the journey we are on as a tennis family and why we are on it. It has helped me gain perspective of what is important and for that I thank Todd. Today’s episode may not be easy listening at times, you might not agree with everything Todd says, but do take a listen because Todd’s story and messages will I think help our family and our tennis journeys and I hope it will maybe help yours too. Visit Todd Ley’s website to find about more about the book and BUY A COPY OF SMASHED NOW Thanks to FeedSpot for naming My Tennis Journey as a Top 5 UK tennis podcast - much appreciated! You can see the list here: https://podcast.feedspot.com/uk_tennis_podcasts/ MUSIC CREDITS Earth by MusicbyAden https://soundcloud.com/musicbyaden Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0