Learning to Play Smart Tennis

Over the years I have had students ask me to teach them tactics for playing tennis.  One of the tactics that many of the boys wanted to use was to hit the ball hard. Hitting the ball hard is not a tactic. Often times it is just extra arm practice and the ball goes anywhere. There was a teaching pro that called this tactic,"Bam! Slam! Hope to goodness Sam!" 

What many students don't realize is they are already doing tactics when they serve, return, volley, hit a forehand or a backhand. Any one of those is a tactic, especially depending on how you  play one of the strokes. 

Once you learn the strokes you can start using them to your advantage. First, you must keep the ball in play. You have to be able to rally. You must be able to get one more ball back. I always like to ask students,"How long before you start over? "

After you have been able to keep the ball in play, you try to move your friend side to side. Now you are rallying and making your friend move to play another ball. Once you have them running, you ring your friend to the net and then hit it over their head with a lob. As you become more advanced you start playing short and deep angle shots to get an easy ball to make the winning shot. 

Next time you go play with your kids, practice some of these tactics and soon you will be making the winning shot.

Encouraged and Inspired Summer 2019

As summer vacation in Arizona comes to a close, it brings cause to reflect. This was one of the best summer's yet! This June was full of some returning and some new students who came out to learn to play tennis! It seemed as if the students came out of the woodwork for our June offerings. Our offerings this summer were Learn to Rally for ages 5-8, a Beginner class for ages 8-10, a class for ages 11-14, and the Parent and Me classes. We use the progressive teaching model with low compression balls, modified courts, gradual release of responsibility method, and cooperative learning strategies.

Learn to Rally 2019

 We had an overflowing class in June and sometimes that can mean chaos with this age group. It wasn't and our system allowed for students to develop pre-rally and rally skills using cooperative learning games. I especially love to watch how some of the students who struggle in the first week suddenly become experts by the end of the session. Students could not wait to come to tennis. They were always asking to play certain game ad their favorite part. We even learned a few magic tricks along the way.

• Parents and kids teaching each other the palm down in the rolling rally
  Parent and Me ages 5-8

Another hi-lite of our summer program is the Parent and Me classes. We offered two age ranges this year. This is such a special time as families get to spend time with each other. In these sessions they develop stronger communication skills because they are teaching each other through cooperative drills.

We had students come from all over the valley and even from out of state. On our last day of our July session we had a special visit from Darnell McDonald of Svasport and the Chicago Cubs. Darnell shared his story and talked with our students about being in the moment and a better way to look at failure. The students walked away feeling encouraged and inspired. This was truly one of the best summers I have had. It was emotional to see it come to a close, but joyful in knowing that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.