NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2010 Issue 11/10
WELCOME TO ALL NEW AND EXISTING MEMBERS
News from the Editor
The dictionary is the only place success comes before work.
Hard work is the price we must all pay for success."
Vince Lombardi - Legendary Green Bay Packers Coach
So, the current tennis season is coming to an end as far as the top players are concerned - the men’s top
eight players fight it out during November at the Arena (are there likely to be any upsets there?
The ladies have just completed their tournament in Doha, with Clisters & Wozniaki reaching the final which
Clisters won. Rather, I thought Wozniaki lost the match.
She made far too many errors both forced and unforced, but considering her age, she still has a lot of
opportunity ahead of her. Today’s tips are concerned with consistency and unforced errors on the forehand.
There are two factors that I find quite interesting with the pro players, I know it is easy to make comments
from the side line but in many instances it almost appears that they have not been grounded in certain aspects
of shot selection.
With Wozniaki I noticed that on the rare occassions when she was drawn to the net on a short ball, she could
only think about a deep slice to the back of the court (and they did not come off that well) whereas a good
dink shot across the net would probably have won the point. So many of the modern players do not have the
hand skills when faced with difficult balls close to the net.
The second area I have observed, is the skill of a good deep top spin lob when the opponent is close to the net.
many of these shots are not good enough and are put away with ease.
It is therefore important as coaches that we give our players skills and that they practice these, in all departments
of our wonderful game. I think that one of the difficulties is knowing at what stage to develop the various shots.
It is of course quite easy to get juniors to learn and practice all of the strokes in a closed situation- the problem
is their practicing these in a match environment at the appropriate stage. It is easy for a junior to advance to the
senior game being quite comfortable playing from the back of the court.
It is our responsibility to recognise their leaning as far as their style of play is concerned, but to give them the
additional skills that they will need at various stages of the game.
How do we do this without putting too much pressure on changing their style of play that they are quite happy
with? Conditioned tennis games. Occassionally it pays to introduce a fun game that is conditioned to make
them do different things, such as one bounce doubles where they have to go to the net to play. Or with singles,
get them to play down the line half court where the only place to win a point is at the net.
We are responsible for their final rounding as a player.
Coach john
The dictionary is the only place success comes before work.
Hard work is the price we must all pay for success."
Vince Lombardi -
So, the current tennis season is coming to an end as far as the top players are concerned -
The ladies have just completed their tournament in Doha, with Clisters & Wozniaki reaching the final which
Clisters won. Rather, I thought Wozniaki lost the match.
She made far too many errors both forced and unforced, but considering her age, she still has a lot of
opportunity ahead of her. Today’s tips are concerned with consistency and unforced errors on the forehand.
There are two factors that I find quite interesting with the pro players, I know it is easy to make comments
from the side line but in many instances it almost appears that they have not been grounded in certain aspects
of shot selection.
With Wozniaki I noticed that on the rare occassions when she was drawn to the net on a short ball, she could
only think about a deep slice to the back of the court (and they did not come off that well) whereas a good
dink shot across the net would probably have won the point. So many of the modern players do not have the
hand skills when faced with difficult balls close to the net.
The second area I have observed, is the skill of a good deep top spin lob when the opponent is close to the net.
many of these shots are not good enough and are put away with ease.
It is therefore important as coaches that we give our players skills and that they practice these, in all departments
of our wonderful game. I think that one of the difficulties is knowing at what stage to develop the various shots.
It is of course quite easy to get juniors to learn and practice all of the strokes in a closed situation-
senior game being quite comfortable playing from the back of the court.
It is our responsibility to recognise their leaning as far as their style of play is concerned, but to give them the
additional skills that they will need at various stages of the game.
How do we do this without putting too much pressure on changing their style of play that they are quite happy
with? Conditioned tennis games. Occassionally it pays to introduce a fun game that is conditioned to make
them do different things, such as one bounce doubles where they have to go to the net to play. Or with singles,
get them to play down the line half court where the only place to win a point is at the net.
We are responsible for their final rounding as a player.
Coach john
Here is a bonus of 100 drills for you - they can be adapted to suit individual or group sessions:
DOWN LOAD HERE.
DOWN LOAD HERE.
For some of us of course the season does not come to a full stop - I’m sure many coaches continue throughout
The winter months and some of us have to be quite hardy, not having the luxury of indoor courts.
Therefore as most of you know, this newsletter also continues every month through the year.
I am just in the middle of completely updating the main website and this will feature all the past newsletters
Plus all of the articles from past issues.
Therefore as most of you know, this newsletter also continues every month through the year.
I am just in the middle of completely updating the main website and this will feature all the past newsletters
Plus all of the articles from past issues.