Pat Macken
Episode 193
10 OCT 2022
He is a Canadian tennis professional who has been in the industry for 43 years. He served as Director of Tennis at the prestigious Arbutus Club in Vancouver for 34 of those years. He has a Tennis Canada Coach 3 and Club Pro 2 certification and has trained all levels of players from red ball through provincial teams. As a competitor he has won nine National Senior titles and with his brother Tony was part of the top open doubles team in British Columbia for ten years. He has been selected to represent Canada and B.C. in numerous events. He also writes a column on sports and faith for The B.C. Catholic, which is the Archdiocesan newspaper in his area.
Notable guest quotes:
“I’ve been a cradle Catholic. We attended Catholic schools most of our lives… and I enjoyed my experiences at the schools… grade one through grade twelve I was in Catholic schools.”
“(My dad) and my mum, there was, they wouldn’t have accepted us acting badly on the court at all.”
“I always found it as exciting to win a sportsmanship award as even winning the tournament.”
“For me there’s five pillars of coaching. There’s the technical, the tactical, the physical, the mental, and then there’s the character development, and often coaches overlook that aspect.”
“We have to do our best to try to send a message within our sport that helps create behavior in young people that will help society.”
“We have to be respecting our opponents… we have to be working together to grow the game and to help each other become better people.”
“I coach a high school team, it’s my old high school, actually, Vancouver College, which is a Catholic elementary and high school.”
“As I knelt down in front of them, the Holy Spirit just hit me and said, ‘Just ask them to say the Hail Mary with you’.”
“I’d always make a point of praying before we would start the overall, the matches.”
“I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the rosary… I try to say it throughout the day, even during when I’m coaching and doing other activities, I try to say it all the time.”
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