Sunday Sit-down with Mizzou tennis coach Robin Goodman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones caught up with Mizzou tennis coach Robin Goodman in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-Down.

You can watch the full interview in the video player above.

You can also find a full transcript of the interview below.

Nathalie Jones: "Welcome back, everyone. It is Sunday Sit-down time. We are joined by Mizzou's new tennis coach, Robin. Robin, thanks for joining us. Are you settling into Columbia nicely?"

Robin Goodman: "Yeah, it's going great. Yeah, thanks for having me."

Jones: "Yeah, just tell me about coming to Columbia. What's the past few months, I guess, been like here? I mean, we got to meet you just a little while back, but what have you been doing since then?"

Goodman:"Yeah, well, the the first step was to really get the staff, and so a lot of phone calls and trying to get that set up, and then yeah, building a team. We're trying to recruit, and so we managed to get the staff on board, and then we had three of us and on the road recruiting and trying to find some players to come join us."

Jones: "Yeah, I mean we're going to dive into the team in just a minute here, but just from you, what stood out about Mizzou that was a program that you wanted to come here and make this difference in?"

Goodman: "Yeah, I just I don't see a reason why this program can't compete at the very top level. You know, there's a lot of great things going going for the for the school. It's beautiful place to be. Literally went on a run yesterday just on the trail right outside the tennis courts. It's like it's really enjoyable place to be and live. And I think a lot of the student athletes will really enjoy the experience here."

Jones: "We we hear the term obviously turning around a program a lot. What does it take to do that?"

Goodman: "Yeah, it's a lot. It's a challenge. It takes I think winning in all areas on the court, off the court, getting the standards of the program right, getting the community involved so that the girls can feel supported and confident on the court. But building confidence in the student athletes from the beginning is going to be a key focus of ours, but also getting the talent through the door with the right people and personalities that can help push the program forward."

Jones: "Tell me about the girls that you've been able to get in for this coming year. What do you like about who you've been able to bring in?"

Goodman:"Yeah, we've got a great incoming class. We've we've had a lot of Zoom calls and and chats over the phone. We've got to know them pretty pretty well as people, but also their parents. We had our assistant coach. Both you know Manny and Bronte have been able to get out and visit some of our student athletes in their hometowns, visit their parents, watch their practice, meet their coaches, and I think it starts with the relationships. It starts with that trust, and then you know, then once we get on the court, we'll be able to kind of push forward at you know a quicker rate."

Jones: "When do you get to to get together with them and start being a team, right?"

Goodman:"Well, we have a lot of freshmen. I mean, you know, we're we're going to be young, and so you know, when everyone gets back, we're going to take two days and and do a little team retreat and and do some team bonding activities away from the tennis court first. Do some lifelining things. Get to know one each other, one another on a deeper level. Yeah, and then hopefully that's going to allow the girls to kind of really fight for one another. Tennis is a really unique sport, right? It's individual, so you know these these girls have been playing for themselves their whole lives, and there's not a whole lot of experience on how their performance affects somebody else on the team. It's not like basketball, where you know you used to playing all your life, where what you do impacts the other person directly. They're not used to that, and so in tennis we have to find a way. In college tennis, we are playing as a team, and so that's something that we're going to be promoting the whole time: is togetherness and how how you act and how you are on the court is going to directly impact a teammate, which you know is going to impact our overall goal. So if we can all do that and buy into that and push forward, then it could be really exciting."

Jones: "That speaks a lot to the culture that you're looking to build when these girls hit the court. What do you want people to see about Mizzou tennis, the way they play and the way they they play with each other."

Goodman: "Yeah, the biggest thing for me is competing. Like, you know, we're we're all in this industry because we love competing, and so the way in which we go about that and the way in which we're going to fight for each point and get ready and and do put 100% out on the court, then whatever the outcome, we we have to be okay with that, you know. I think as long as we're doing that, it's also it's also going to help with their relationship building as well because they're going to know that I have to give 100% because my teammate is, and if you know, and if if they're not, they're going to stick out, and so it's kind of that positivity should vibe, you know, amongst the group."

Jones: "Is, as an athlete and as a coach, is it kind of something different, a little fun to maybe enter a season where you do kind of have a chip on your shoulder? You can prove something to people."

Goodman: "Yeah, I think I think that's a really exciting part of the job because, and in the recruiting process, when we're talking with, you know, we're talking with PSAs, recruits, you have to sell the program and the best salespeople, the best people in this sort of industry, are the ones that actually believe in the product they're selling, and we do. And I, and the the two, my associate head coach and our assistant coach, are going to play a big role in the program too. And both of them are here to do something special. You know, they're not here just because they took a job, and neither am I. We're all here to do something that this program hasn't done before, and so that energy and that excitement of the reason why we're here is going to rub off on a lot of these recruits when we have these calls and with their families, because it's like we're going to attract the same sort of recruits that want to come here. Do something special as well. It's not just going to be like, oh, we're at this level, we're not striving for anything, and come and play tennis. It's going to be no. If you if you want to do something special, you want to be a part of this program. It's not going to be easy, but you know we're all in, and I think that's hopefully going to rub off the right way and get us the right sort of talent and people that we need in the program."

Jones: "In the recruiting space and in this college landscape, what makes Mizzou such a good destination for for athletes to come and join this institution?"

Goodman: "Yeah, tons of things. Obviously, the conference the conference is like a big sell, you know, because again, we get to play in the top top level of the conference. Everyone, my experience, everyone around here loves being here, from all the student athletes and everything is Mizzou, you know. It's it's a real community that people want to rally around. Like the amount of people in this area that have reached out and said, "Hey, would love to get a coffee and chat about Mizzou. People care here, and that's like that's pretty special, especially with a sport like tennis. When you come and watch, you're sat. I mean, six feet, 10 feet from the courts, you can have a real impact in the match. Yeah, you can have a real impact in the outcome of tennis matches here. But not only this facility in here is, it's loud in here too. And so, if we can get some fans coming to matches and really, kind of grow that, it can create a really awesome atmosphere that you can have a major impact in in the program."

Jones: "I want to know about your background a little bit too. I know obviously you were playing tennis in college as well. I mean, just tell me a little bit about your background and where you came from."

Goodman: "Yeah, it's only recently when I've actually thought about this. Of like, I've kind of always found myself in these areas where we've had to like push to achieve something, you know, when the expectations aren't really. So I went to school at Drake, you know, in Des Moines, which is not too far from here. We were there four years, and we we ended up being you know top 16 in the country as a team, and that was kind of something that wasn't really expected from a school like that. And then, you know, the same at when I took the head coaching job at Pacific, I think we were we maybe had two players on the team at that time when I took the job, and and people kind of talking about it's impossible to be good in that location with that program or whatever it is, and we're able to to turn that program around. So a lot of the places that I've been have actually been kind of kind of turnaround jobs, or kind of like doing something with less, and so I think that's something that inspires me about coming here. We we were 0-15 in the league last year, and that that kind of excites me to see if we can what we can do here in the future years."

Jones: "What prepared you just in your life to to kind of tackle those challenges like that, and be someone who is the right person to come in and tackle those challenges?"

Goodman: "That's a great question. I've never honestly thought thought about it. My my parents, when I was about 12 years old, I was breaking strings in my racket, and it was costing a lot of money to get our rackets restrung. So my mum bought a stringing machine and started stringing my tennis rackets for my tournaments and things. And then a year goes by, and then my dad ended up quitting his job and helping my mum string tennis rackets for me in the local community. And then fast forward, you know, 25 years, they ended up being one of the best racket stringers in the world and strung at Wimbledon and you know, Australian Open and French Open, and my dad did some events in Japan, and they had some little tennis shops that they grew, and they recently just sold it and retired. But yeah, even that was like started from mum stringing like two of my rackets a week to then like them making a business out of it and being the best in the industry, and so obviously, I feel a lot of people get most of their world from their parents, and so I feel like I'm. I have some, hopefully, have some of the similar traits and work ethics that they do. But yeah, a lot of credit to them for for what they did for me in my tennis and empowering me to come to the U.S. and and go on this journey, and it's yeah, owe a lot to them."

Jones: "Yeah, to move to the U.S. and do what you're doing. What was that journey like for you? What was I'm sure there were some tough moments and some great moments to it, right?"

Goodman: "Yeah, it's hard. You're 18, and you you know you, and this is thing a lot of people don't really often realize. We we have a few internationals on the team, and you know they're they're leaving their families for the first time. They're coming to Mizzou on this journey. They want to be pro players. A lot of them eventually, and so you know their families and parents, you know, sending their kid you know 4000 miles away from wherever they're from to this program. And we've got to take care of them as a team, as coaches, as a community. We have to make their experience here special, so that they're speaking positively when they go back home, and and it affects other players and other recruits. But more than that, their their experiences in college here are going to shape their lives in the future. Like they're going to be here for. And they're going to have memories and things that they'll have forever, and so it's on us to make sure those memories are positive ones."

Jones: "Well, Robin, we're looking forward to watching you this season. Appreciate you hanging out with us."

Goodman:"Yeah, thanks so much for having me. It was great."

Jones:"For the rest of you guys, we'll be right back after the break."