Coach Spotlight and The Benefits of ROG Ball

Tennis became a passion early in Lukas Burger’s life and has continued to this day. He started playing at age 12 and grew up competing in USTA NorCal tennis alongside his brother and now coaches in many of the same places he grew up playing at.

 

While the transition from player to coach can be challenging for some, it was both a natural and gradual progression for Burger, who got his first coaching opportunity at the age of 15 working with kids eight and under with Red ball tennis at a local club. Ever since then, he has been coaching in Davis, CA.

 

Burger spent 25 years as the head pro at Stonegate Country Club, and he recently went out on his own and is now head of his own tennis academy.

 

Keeping tennis alive during the pandemic, Burger ran a program out of his home’s backyard court. With just one court, Burger was able to keep 75 families playing tennis safely and keep some normalcy for his kids over the last year.

 

These days, Burger has moved his programs from his home court to UC Davis at the Marya Welch Tennis Center, sharing the 16-court facility with the university’s top D1 men’s and women’s teams and club teams. And while sharing the facility takes some planning, Burger believes it adds so much value for his students.

 

“We all like being around each other and helping all of the different programs that play out of the tennis center get better together as a whole,” Burger noted. “It’s really valuable for my kids to see all of the opportunities available in tennis and see the next levels of tennis.”

 

Burger focuses his coaching across several areas of junior tennis, including coaching several teams in USTA Junior Team Tennis (JTT) in different age divisions, helping kids with Junior Circuit clinics, and offering lessons and clinics for young kids to high school students up to 18. He is also expanding his program and is now head of developing the tennis programs for the City of Dixon, successfully running the first program over the summer this year.

 

First, as a player and then a coach, Burger has truly established himself as a leader in tennis in the local community. In fact, he has been such a fixture in the Davis community that he is now teaching students who's parents he taught in high school.

 

“I have seen so many kids grow up and watch them play,” Burger said. “It has been a joy. As a coach, I love helping kids learn the game, and now it has come full circle and I get the opportunity to teach the next generation of many of the kids I got to work with in the past.”

 

So, what makes his 26-year career so successful?

 

First and foremost, Burger’s ultimate goal with every kid he works with is to instill the tennis bug and help them fall in love with the sport.

 

And it’s this passion for the game combined with his approach of ensuring kids learn to play the right way, rather than solely focusing on winning, that has worked for him.

 

That is why Burger believes in the USTA progression level development approach, as it helps players learn the fundamentals using appropriately-sized tennis courts and equipment.

 

The process starts with Red ball, then Orange ball, followed by Green ball, with each color ball introducing players to the next level of tennis, progressing to a standard Yellow Ball for 12 & under events within Junior Tournaments and JTT.

 

Burger believes that for kids to have the best success, they should not move up levels until they have the basics down.

 

“So many kids have grip issues, and when they move on and don’t learn the right stroke, it makes it tough to build on your competition level,” he said. “I like to figure out what is the next step to make sure it’s right and give kids a chance to hit the ball the right way before moving on. So, when you go through the progression properly, you won’t have to take a step backward or undo anything.”

 

And he uses that same philosophy with his kids now too.

 

His daughter Adison, now eight years old, played her first tournament when she was six with her grandfather as her partner in a Family ROG Doubles Tournament. She continued to explore her tennis journey in several other Red ball circuits before moving on to Orange all as the pandemic hit. And though she earned enough youth progression points to become eligible for the Green ball level competition sooner, it was at the urging of her dad and coach that she played Orange ball circuits for a full year before moving on to Green.

 

It was after she played in the Little Mo Western Regional U8 Green ball circuit and she won the whole thing that they decided she was ready to move up a level and is now competing consistently in Green ball circuits, as well as JTT and Orange ball doubles. Again, she could move up to Yellow ball circuits and could hold her own, but Burger decided to wait until they make sure she is in the right place.

 

For Adi, she enjoys both her Orange ball doubles and Green ball opportunities. “I like that I get to compete with friends and I get to play on a full court with Orange ball doubles,” she said. She also enjoys how tennis allows her to spend time with her family and says it’s both fun and helpful to have her dad be a coach, as he helps her learn from her mistakes.

 

Burger added that “Playing in the circuits was great because each time we came away from one, we had some new skills to work on, including adding in new strokes, keeping score for all three matches, or teaching her how to advocate for herself on the court. For me, any issue on an Orange ball court becomes exponentially bigger on a Green ball court, so conquering those challenges is key.”

 

Burger’s son Cameron, now six years old, is also following in the family’s tennis footsteps. He started at the beginning playing Red ball and then playing JTT 10U Orange ball when he was five, and now he is also playing in Orange ball circuits.

 

After starting at the beginning of the progression levels, Cameron said he was happy to move up from Red ball to Orange because he spent a long time with Red ball. Now that he has moved up, he said he enjoys playing Orange ball circuits because “I like meeting other kids and seeing different places.” But most importantly, what Cameron loves most about tennis is playing with his dad and sister.

 

As a long-running coach, Burger has a good pulse on when it’s time for his kids to move up a progression level, but he also offers advice on some other signs to look for.

 

“I move them up when they are running out of space on the court and they hit big enough balls with no stroke issues,” he said. “For me, it’s all about the stroke. If they can’t keep their same swing or change motion well, we keep working until they’re ready.”

 

Burger further explained the balls also make a difference. “Every ball is different. The Orange ball makes the points long for example and helps develop fundamental skills, so moving to a Yellow ball too early is a bad idea because the points will be too short. I would rather force them to be creative, play longer points and rallies, and develop the fight.”

 

And as much as Burger enjoys coaching, he is also stepping into a new role – tennis dad.

 

“Teaching my kids tennis and sharing in something I love and that has been a huge part of my life has been amazing,” he added. “It’s fun to see them develop. It’s amazing to me that my six-year-old can play, keep score, manage both sides of the court, and problem-solve by himself.”

 

But that doesn’t mean he is out there dissecting every point in every match they play.

 

“I love to going to my kids’ matches, revisiting a lot of places I grew up playing at, and sitting there and enjoy watching them play,” Burger said. “I am a coach during the week, so it’s the best to just get to be dad.”

 

And not only is tennis an active part of their family life, but it has become a full family affair with his brother, a teaching pro himself, and his dad, who played professional basketball, helping him coach some of his clinics and programs. His wife also gets into the sport and enjoys watching the kids with him at their circuits - all be it nervously Burger joked.

 

“It’s great to share tennis with my family,” Burger said. “I loved having my parents attend my matches and even competing in some family tournaments with my dad and playing with my brother. Now I’m looking forward to having those same experiences with my own kids.”

 

Overall, whether it is with his kids, family, or his other students, Burger loves having an impact on people’s lives through tennis.

 

“I love helping everyone grow and having an impact on people’s lives in not just tennis but helping them develop skills as a person,” Burger concluded. “I have been fortunate to have been a huge part of so many kids' lives and that is what keeps me going.”