About Karen Ronney

Karen is an award-winning national coach and author, USPTA and PTR tennis professional, a National USTA RCW and QuickStart trainer, a high school tennis coach, a motivational speaker, public school educator and a parent. A former women’s pro tour player and NCAA All-Conference pick, she combined her playing and coaching skills to help others learn the game of tennis. She was recognized as the 2009 National Youth Sports Double-Goal Coach of the Year by the Positive Coaching Alliance, and she received U.S. Professional Tennis Association’s 2009 Community Service Award for the San Diego Division.

<艄ū>Karen honed her journalism skills as a 12-year sportswriter for prestigious publications including the Los Angeles<艄ū>Times, ChicagoTribune, San DiegoUnion-Tribune and the Los AngelesDaily News. She added her coaching and parenting expertise to write Proud Parents’ Guide to Raising Athletic, Balanced and Coordinated Kids: A Lifetime of Coordination in Just 10 Minutes A Day, which has won 29 publishing awards.

Author Karen Ronney ia a parent, professional athlete, tennis pro, motivational speaker, sportswriter, and an award-winning coach and author. Factor in being an educator, artist and musician. These unique life experiences gave her insight to write an award-winning and easy to use parenting book called Proud Parents' Guide to Raising Athletic, Balance, and Coordinated Kids: A Lifetime of Benefit in Just 10 Minutes A Day.

Sports and Journalism

Sports served as an entry into the exciting world of journalism for Karen,

who received much media attention as an accomplished NCAA All-Conference scholarship tennis player and a world touring tennis pro.

She used her two Bachelor of Arts degrees (journalism and public relations) to become a seasoned staff writer for prestigious publications such as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily News and the San Diego Union.

Athletics gave Karen the work ethic and desire to succeed, and 25 years as a professional journalist provided the training necessary to create and develop her sports parenting guide. Factor in 15 years of public speaking and 25 years of professional coaching, and that adds up to an author who has all of the skills needed to succeed on a national and international scale.

Parenting and Athletics Are Perfect Partners

Karen shifted gears in 1992 from daily newspaper reporting to magazine writing when she became a parent. She traded daily deadlines for monthly features as an at-home Mom and free lance magazine journalist. She won the 2004 Gold Medal for a Sports Profile from Parenting Publications of America for an L.A. Parent cover story on American soccer star Cobi Jones. She currently writes for L.A. Parent and many other publications, including San Diego Parent, San Diego Family, Zoo Nooz, Volleyball Magazine, Volleyball Monthly and City Sports Magazine.

A mother of three, Karen created this book after using the sports parenting program to raise her kids ages currently 14, 12 and 8 to be strong and successful athletes. She also expanded the use of the games to develop athletic potential in hundreds of others through coaching kids in over a dozen sports. Karen’s goal is to inspire and empower other parents to give their children that essential early athletic boost for success in both sports and life.

Conducting Sports Seminars

Sharing her coaching knowledge and expertise comes naturally to Karen, who is a master coaching instructor since 1991. Since 1991, she has led hundreds of small and large group seminars as a representative of the LA 84 Foundation. She is a dynamic educator and public speaker on the mental, philosophical, psychological and emotional aspects of working with children. Other prestigious affiliations include being a National Special Olympic Coach, where she works with special-needs athletes. She also works closely with the Positive Coaching Alliance and the United States Tennis Association.

Commitment to Coaching

Karen has over 25 years experience working with coaches and athletes in a variety of sports including tennis, soccer, volleyball, track, golf, basketball, baseball, softball and football. As a licensed United States Professional Tennis Association instructor, she is also the director of the Mission Trails Tennis Academy for kids ages 5 to 15. Her equipment and clothing sponsors have included Head, Wilson, and MatchMate Racquets, New Balance shoes and Kew Gardens sportswear.

A Love of Languages

Growing up in a bilingual home where English and Italian were spoken gave Karen an appreciation for multi-cultural communication. She studied Spanish in high school, German and French in college. Her children currently attend a San Diego French immersion school where they are fluent in French and English, and they dabble in Spanish.

Athleticism Helps Develop Skills in Other Areas of Life

Karen’s talents extend beyond sports into the world of education, music and art. She has a San Diego Unified School District substitute teaching credential, and she brings art to elementary-aged students. Other art affiliations include being an assistant to instructor Joe Nyiri at the San Diego Zoo. Honors in art include having her pastel works on exhibition at the San Diego Children’s Zoo in 2004. She also has four murals currently on display at the Zoo.

Karen’s musical accomplishments include playing the piano, guitar and violin, the latter of which she plays in the San Diego Suzuki Strings Orchestra. She also teaches beginning violin classes, and enjoys playing string instruments with her children, who excel at the violin and cello.

Karen Ronney currently lives in San Diego with her husband, Doug, a computer specialist and former college tennis standout, and their trio of budding young athletes.