#4 Possibilities With Patrick Mlauzi Tennis Player From Zimbaawe

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode today. We are still around the topic possibilities and my guest is Patrick Malousi. He's from Zimbabwe, if I say that right. Zimbabwe. Yeah. He's on the line right now. Patrick, how are you?

I'm doing great, Mike. Thanks for the getting me on the show.

Well, I'm excited to have you. You know, we go back. See, what happened was I, we're in Charlotte, North Carolina, and by living in Charlotte, I wanted to try tennis so everybody knows who you are. So I went and got some lessons and here we are. I mean, it's great. Now I got lessons from the best and now I want to hear, yeah, I want to hear you share your story because it's a great story. It's all about possibilities. We're going to talk a little bit. I know how you work with kids and parents and just play. Yeah. Share. Share a little bit about who you are. Tell us your story.

Yeah. Well, thank you, Mike. Thanks for having me on this show. And, you know, just, I remember when you first showed up in our first tennis clinic, you know, I could tell there was something different about you. I didn't know you had played in NHL at the time, but the way you move, the way you're aggressive and, and I'm glad that, you know, you and I have been able to extend this friendship. I think it's about seven, eight years now. Yeah. But getting to my story, I grew up in Zimbabwe. I grew up in a relatively poor family, if you will. I was raised by my grandparents and I did not know that they were my grandparents until I was about 14 years old because my mom was a single mom and she was very young and she couldn't afford to raise me. So I grew up with two half brothers and a sister and then another adopted brother. And we grew up in a small house, two bedrooms, basically, the kids were sharing just one big room. And I remember I went to a, a school back in, in Zimbabwe. And, you know, I started doing well in school. And my father, but I call my grandfather my father because that's how he raised me. He essentially worked for a Jewish family. And then the Jewish family recognized that I was doing well in school. They wanted to give me a better opportunity so they. I was able to enroll in this an all boys breeding school called Milton Boys High. And when I actually got to that school, one of the things that I had to do was take up athletics. And I do other choose. I like basketball, but with my height, you know, I really couldn't really get. I wasn't that tall for basketball. So I gave up basketball and I tried tennis and I loved tennis and luckily I in the tennis team at the time there was an expatriate from Australia by the name of Doug Buchanan. And he started working with me when I tried out for the tennis team. He saw my enthusiasm and you know, within a relatively short space of time, I talk about two and a half years, I became pretty good to the point where I had started around 11 and by the time I was like 13, I was pretty good for my age. As one of the. I quickly became one of the top juniors in the country. And at the time it was very surprising because Zimbabwe at the time had never had anybody black excel in tennis to the point where they could beat well established, you know, juniors at the time were all pretty much white. I was the only one in the team. But I played a couple tournaments in my hometown and I actually beat quite a few players and woke up one morning and there was this massive headline about this unknown African junior who's beating all these white kids. It doesn't sound good that way, but you know, in reality that's what it was because at the time Zimbabwe had strong segregation rules, right? That was blacks lived in one part of town, white people live in another part of town. And it was relatively difficult to cross pollinate between the two environments. But I started doing well in those junior tournaments where these white kids predominantly played. I remember when most of the African kids would play these tournaments and they'll be out in the first round, he was ready to get to the second round and I would be getting into the quarterfinals, semifinals and you know, everybody just quickly noticed me and the added media attention actually helped me get a little bit more help as I started improving and in time actually was interesting, Mike, is that some of these white kids that were, you know, never used to talk to me. I remember when I played my first few tournaments I played and I always had worn out shoes. I would win a tournament and then I'll win a round after winning a round, then I would have to pay a different location. That location may be three or four miles and I'll see these kids getting into their car and they would start actually driving there, get their lunch and get ready for the match, and I'll literally start walking to the next location. And oftentimes I'll get there and I'll just barely make it. And then, you know, just try and find water and then just start battling. And I'd win another round. And then pretty soon, there's a lady by the name of Mrs. Cohen. She realized what was going on, and she's a wonderful Jewish lady. And she started this massive effort to help all these other African kids. But she even went way out of her way to start helping me get rides from one location to another. And that wasn't enough because they could never be there at the time. So it was a very interesting journey. And throughout all this, my father, my mother and my grandmother essentially never saw me hit a tennis ball once. They were so busy working, but they knew that I was doing very well. My father took pride in when we got into a bus, everybody in the bus would recognize me because of the things that I was doing. Sometimes even elder people would stand up because it really was a very special thing for them to see somebody African doing so well in a predominantly white environment. And he took pride in taking me to the bus station. He took pride when I had to start playing the. When I made it to the regional team, walking me through to the area where I would have to. They'd be waiting for me in a car and, you know, just dropping me off there. He didn't even have say anything to any of the people. They were all white people that were, you know, like, running the event. So it's been a very interesting journey. You know, I was up against all odds, but I love the sports and never saw really any obstacles. There's times where I'll play a match and I'll play back to back matches, like three matches, because my schedule was always a little bit more challenging because most of the time I wasn't seated and I would be walking home and I start cramping. I didn't know anything about hydration or nutrition up until I started practicing with Doug Buchanan on a regular basis. And he started teaching me all these things about taking care of my body, always having water, eating healthy, which was difficult.

So what a.

That.

What a great story. So. But what people don't know is you played in some major tournaments as well. Like, you've done some. Can you share a little bit about the tournaments? And I just want to go back. We'll go back a little bit to, To. To your days in Africa. But can you share just a little bit about some of those big tournaments that you played in?

Yeah, we would, at the time, this was in the, in the late 80s, you know, basically we would travel to Kenya and play these junior, you know, regional tournaments at the, at the national. So you bet. We basically playing the top kids from every country we travel to. It was mostly sub Saharan Africa. And then I made a big debut in 89, 88, when I played for Zimbabwe. And at the time, I remember I got home after practice, I was in high school, and my tennis coach at the time, Larry Katz, was waiting for me and he knew that I'd taken a bus and I'll be going home after practice. And then he was waiting for me. And then they decided that day that they wanted me to play for the Zimbabwe Davis cup team the next day. So we literally packed my clothes that, that it was 6pm the plane was leaving a little after 8 and we rushed to the airport. I'd never been in a plane in my life. I was terrified. I remember Larry sitting there smiling and laughing because he, he could see the anxiety. So that was really one of the. Those are the type of tournaments that I was playing at the time, up until I got to the United States, where I went to a small school, John Brown University, and I played for the team. I paid one or two times for Zimbabwe when I was in Davis.

That's the big deal. I mean, I mean, what a dream. Here you are. So I think it's just amazing how you were able to play in the Davis Cup. I mean, what a dream come true. I mean, I mean, did you ever dream of something like that, that that was going to happen to you? I mean, plane from. And come on, you're an Africa plane. Next thing you know, you're on an airplane and you're in the Davis Cup. Then you're in the United States. I mean, how does that happen?

Yeah, no, I, I never ever in my wildest dream, Mike, ever thought I would be a thing at that level. I didn't even know I was in anybody's radar to play at that level. But I'd been progressively getting better every year. Doug beginning had coached me and then Larry Katz actually, who became my coach in the late 80s. He actually, incidentally, passed away this last year. He's a wonderful man. I wouldn't be here without him. But he started working with me and he exposed me to a predominantly Jewish club. It's called Parkview. They had grass courts. I started going there on a weekly Basis weekends, I'll be practicing with him. His father had played at Wimbledon. There's another gentleman also had also played a few rounds internationally that were part of the club. So that exposure allowed me to hone in my skills. But even then, honestly, I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to play for Zimbabwe, let alone get a tenor scholarship under a program that was actually first highlighted by Arthur Ashe, you know, for academics for African athletes. So I just never. I didn't see coming. All I did was I always worked. And remember, I would take my rackets to school early in the morning at 5. Every minute I got, I practice. If I didn't have anybody to practice with, there's a wall by my house. I'll go in there and do all these drills on the wall. There's one time where the wall had to had holes because I hit on it so much and other kids will start coming to watch me hit him on the wall. And I become so good at hitting on the wall. But all I did was just tennis school and tennis.

So the message here to people is you don't need the fanciest racket. You don't need the fanciest skates. If you're a hockey player, you don't need the best shoes. And if you really want something, it's possible, it's there. And. And now look what you're doing now. Now you're helping out kids all over Charlotte. We did, you know, when you had me, actually, when you. When you worked with me, I was just starting and you. I could tell. I didn't even ever have to know that you were a competitive tennis player that went to the Davis Cup. I knew right away by your work ethic out there. Now, we kept our place here. I've owned a place here for years in Charlotte. Then we went to the New York City area and came back, but I haven't seen you just then we had that copy just. Well, I don't know, maybe about two months ago when I moved back. But you're such. Yeah, you bring such an impact to people that I said, okay, I have to have Patrick on the show now. Tell me about now, working with kids, is that something you love to do? Is that your passion now?

Yeah, I do, Mike. I mean, I think it's a blessing. I mean, I just go crazy when I'm on the tennis court. I absolutely love the opportunity to find somebody and notice one or two things that they do and point out how special they are and start working with them to bring out that Gift. The biggest thing that we do is with our program, our tennis program, which I believe is second to none in our region because of our mentality. But the whole idea is we work very hard on technique with all our juniors. We focus on mental toughness, consistency, poor control. We challenge the instructors, we challenge the juniors that we work with before working with you. And you can't stay in the rally. Something's wrong. What is wrong? We want to know. And that whole mentality, I think it's helping some of the kids that we have to really excel and even more importantly, develop that confidence within. And they're becoming, beyond tennis, better human beings. And also, Mike, just FYI, I've been working on a tennis book. It's called Master Yourself and Master the Game of Tennis. I've been working on it for seven years. This is the year the book is pretty much done. We're just stitching it together. And I would like to publish that book sometime in June this year. Really, the goal is May, but release, guys, probably June. And I think that book will help. It's not about me. It's really about helping people. Because the hardest thing in sports, in tennis, is how mentally tough can you. Can you battle? Can you handle the pressure? Can you overcome all the adversities that come at you? And, you know, how do you get up when somebody knocks you down? Which is what I had to do so many times.

Yeah, look what you had to do. You had a walk, and these kids are getting into fancy cars. Because, let's face it, tennis is a sport that is, you know, it's a country club sport, or for the most part. I know a lot of the. The young players you have, some of them are private schools. Does it. You don't have to answer this, but does it drive you crazy a little bit about how hard you had to work just to get where you are? Then people show up and say, okay, hey, I want to get a college scholarship. I want to play at the highest level. And they're in the fanciest clothes, the nicest shoes, the best racket. And how do you deal with that personally, because you came from nothing and you know what it takes. But give us something to take away with us that would help people that have that mindset of just showing up thinking they could be a tennis player.

Yeah, I think a lot of the kids that we work with, they really. They have. And by the way, Mike, I think that's really a great question, and that's what we battle every day. Right? How do you transfer the element of being tough, of being hungry, of wanting to go above and beyond, go the extra mile, you know, have this super focus to these young people. When they have everything right, they go to these really nice schools, they have parents that love them to death, that give them everything. That is very difficult. That's what we. That's what we're fighting every time. I usually ask the parents not to get engaged because the parents themselves are part of what their kids have become. And so for me, it's very challenging most of the time because I tell the kids all the time, look, you have no clue. You are so lucky and you have to take advantage of the opportunity in front of you. Typically once in a while. I've seen it in the last 21 years, I've seen maybe two or three really outstanding young people that are hungry that, you know, are willing to dig in. And that is, to me, I think that's the biggest challenge. What prompted me to write this book about mental toughness is exactly that, you know, you will never have mental toughness unless you learn to be grateful for what you have and then also try and dig in within yourself and to bring out the best in you. And so I think that's one of the gifts that we can give these kids.

Well, you definitely have mental toughness. Where can. Well, we can't get it right now, but is there. Can you give us a website? So when the book does come out that our listeners can go to, we have tens of thousands of athletes that listen to this and I don't care if you're a football, basketball, soccer, tennis, netball. That's a sport that's played overseas. I don't care. I think you should read your book because what. You lived it and you ended up living the dream of playing in the Davis cup for your country. And it's got it. And it has to be hard, you know. Yeah. Being black and being different than everybody else and I. That that's mental toughness.

Where.

Give it. Is there a website that we can go to?

Yeah, the website is, you know, Russell Tennis Center. Right now. That's where I am. And people can also look at me on Facebook. It's Patrick Mlauzi. The last name is M L A U Z I. And Mike, you know, actually, you actually provoked a thought in my mind about something to share. I remember one time we were going to a country called Botswana to go play a tournament and, you know, we had to go on a train. This is the Zimbabwe junior team and all the kids in the team was Only black kid. And I remember it was always interesting to show people how lucky they are. All the other kids were in first class. I did travel in first class, and I had to go to fourth class. So this wonderful lady, Mrs. Cohen, actually helped me coordinate all the travel. I had the right passport. She gave me the right instructions. She even arranged for me to stay with the family because I couldn't stay in the same hotel as the other kids. And I remember, you know, when I got off the train, all the other kids were going one direction, and I actually was going a totally different direction with a different family. So, you know, but I never looked at it as a problem because I didn't know better. But all these kids that we're talking about right now, they have a tremendous opportunity because the challenges for them are not as much, maybe in a different way they are, but not as much as what, you know, some people have overcome. Like myself.

Well, Patrick, I mean, you're an inspiration to. To even somebody like myself. We've been in touch all these years, and when things get better, I'm going to be right back in there with you. I'm competitive. I mean, not. No, I didn't mean, like competitive playing with you, but I'm going to be right back. You are competitive, but I am, but I'm not. But I'm excited that you were on. You're an inspiration to me, and you're a proof to everybody that things are possible. Patrick, thank you for being here.

Yeah, thank you, Mike. Thanks for having me.

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