READER'S VERSION: IN PABLO'S OWN WORDS
I have always been known as a man who goes against the flow of what others consider normal. This approach to work and life explains why I have often succeeded where others have failed. Born to Argentinean parents working in Lima, Peru, I was the only child until my sister showed up. She ruined a pretty good gig for a kid who had all of his parents' attention all of the time!
During my boyhood years in Peru, I began to play tennis through the encouragement of my parents. I didn't like tennis. I loved soccer and moto-crossing on the small bike my grandfather purchased for me for my tenth Christmas. Still, I had to do what my parents said, and everyone assumed that I loved tennis because I became good at it very quickly. Soon I was the best player of my age in my country, and at 11 years old I began to travel to international tournaments, where I also excelled.
My father, wishing to cultivate my athletic potential, began to plan my life according to his vision for my success. When I was 13, my parents sent me to attend a tennis academy in America. From there, I began to travel the world playing junior events. My life focused on making it as a professional tennis player. It became one big show, and I felt that I had to excel at everything I did.
As often happens when a person is forced to do something he doesn't enjoy, I rebelled when I got to college. There, I got involved with the wrong crowds--or maybe the normal ones--and began to party as hard as I possibly could. I experienced much of life, not all of it pleasant. I found myself stranded in a foreign airport. I slept for several days in the back seat of a car, too broke to buy food. So it went. All the while, my overactive instinct for survival kept me pushing myself to the limit.
Not surprisingly, I eventually burned myself out. My life was at a crisis point when I finally stepped into a church and for the first time approached God. But it still took two more weeks before I made the decision to become a Christian. It would take many more years before I understood--and began to truly experience--the transformation that occurred in my heart that sunny, warm morning in church.
After that first, defining point in my faith, my life took all kinds of twists and turns: marriage, the births of three precious children, a string of jobs and business ventures, a go at driving race cars, a divorce, and a growing religiosity that, far from freeing me, led me into bondage. Focused on keeping the rules rather than understanding God's heart, I became the prime example of a modern Pharisee.
My career as a professional world tour tennis coach started at a conference at the 2004 Wimbledon tournament. My job took me all over the world. I became familiar with a multitude of cultures. I experienced some amazing highs, but also some painful lows. There is no describing the thrill of marching into the inaugural ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and watching my players perform at the very pinnacle of their sport. Yet I longed to wake up next to my kids each day. I missed watching them grow up into the wonderful people they are today. After too many lonely nights in hotel rooms, I began asking some deep, long-overdue questions.What was life really about? Was this as good as it got?
Finally, in a jet flying 35,000 feet above the Earth, I began to break down. That is when God opened the curtains on a new, far more wonderful way of living--one in which I have come to know firsthand the depths of His love and the life-changing power of His grace. Join me on my journey where you will discover how it all began through my first book Holding On Loosely and how it has continued since that day within that plane through my second and latest book The Modern Fig Leaf. My hope is that you, too, will gain insights that can transform your life and help you wake up to understand whom you truly are. And what it looks like for me to live in the present moment where little by little I am learning how to relinquish control of life and experience the power and freedom of knowing that I am loved and I can truly trust God.
Since this new, second phase of my life began, I have remarried a wonderful Jewish girl who loves Jesus. We have two cute little girls, and we are based today in Tel Aviv. My work is expressed under the banner of The Zone Project where I aim to empower people to discover their new heart so they are able to live out of their true identity.
My life is not perfect. However, every day I discover more and more the wonderful reality of how much God loves me and how He really sees me. My relationship with Him is no longer based on my performance, but on His love and grace for me. I am well on my way to recovering from Pharisaism as I learn how to live from the new reality that has been within me since that first day I was born.
Pablo
Official Bio:
Born in Lima, Peru, Pablo Giacopelli learned to play tennis at an early age. In his eleventh year, rated the top young player in his country, he entered the international circuit; and at age 13, he attended a tennis academy in America. In his adult life, Pablo coached world-class players who reached further than they had before. His client's successes included: quarter-final showings at a Grand Slam; several titles on the tour; top-ten yearly race rankings; year-end masters championships as well as many victories over the ten best players in the world.
Today, as the founder of The Zone Project, Pablo serves as a Personal and Professional Performance Coach, helping men and women from all walks of life discover their new heart so that may be able to live out of their true Self. Drawing from his own spiritual journey and biblical principles which have been fleshed out in his own remarkable journey, he points people on a proven path to success that unites vision and energy with God's love and grace. Pablo is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is married to Madeleine. He is the father of five children: Vanessa, Jake, Mia, Gisella, and Anabella.
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