Foam Ball Volley

Yesterday I had the chance to experience what it was like to play on a clay tennis court. My yard is hard dirt. I decided to take my racket and my foam tennis ball out to practice my volleys and half volleys against a wall. It was very interesting because I had to adjust my footwork if the ball hit a stone. I noticed that ball was slower when it bounced compared to a hard court. I tell you this story because this is a great way to practice your volleys. 
So how do you start? You will need a foam tennis ball, a tennis racket and a wall or garage door. The surface does not matter.
To start, depending on skill level, I would start by tossing the ball up against the wall and catching it. Practice tossing the ball higher so the ball will come back slower and at an arc shape. 

When you add the racket: Point the racket handle to your opposite foot to keep the racket head up.

Aim with the ball above head height and practice keeping your racket in this position while you volley. If you miss, great, you get to start over! You just start a new game.


You can purchase the foam balls on Amazon or at Big 5 Sporting Goods at Christown Mall.

Climb the Serve Mountain Greek God Style

In Greek lore there is a story about a man who was sentenced to pushing a boulder up a mountain for eternity, but if he was able to get the boulder up and over the mountain then he would be set free.  We use this story as our hook for a classic game to help students master the serve at different lengths of the tennis court. Ultimately being able to serve from the baseline on whatever court length they are playing on.
We start everyone at the 1/8 line. In order for the student to be able to move back and ultimately break the spell, they must have the karate serve grip, the ball must bounce twice within the boundaries, and they must hold their follow through for the two bounces. If that happens, they get to move up the mountain two steps. If it goes cross court, they get to move back four steps. If they miss into the net or out of the court after the 1/8 line they move up two steps to try again from where they had earlier success. We tell our students we want two bounces (or more) because no matter where you are on the court, if you can get the ball to bounce two times on the other side it will always land in the service box.  We want our students to hold the finish so they work on balance, taking time, and becoming aware of their movements. Once a student has moved to the baseline they break the spell and everyone gets to move back and serve from the baseline. We adapted this game from the Canadian Tennis Association. I have attached that here as well. This game is loved by everyone in our lessons because they are working on a learning goal of being able to aim higher over the net to be able to serve from the baseline. We sometimes will do this with a time limit as the students become more confident and competent in their serve. I hope you will use this in your practice regimen towards mastery and be able to break the spell.




Climb the Serve Mountain
Goal: To understand starting the point with an overhead serve.
Rules of the Game: Players are in teams. Each time a server comes
up they attempt to serve the ball into the service box from a different
distance from the net. If they get it in, the next time they come up to
serve, they move to the next distance. Points are gained for the team
by getting the serve in from different distances (climb the mountain):
 Base: Middle of their service box (short distance) = 1 point
 Summit: ¾ distance (medium distance) = 2 points
 Peak: Baseline (long distance) = 3 points
Place a target in the service box to point the racquet face at (they
don’t have to hit it but there is a bonus of 2 points if they do). First
team to 25 points wins. Switch teams being on the Ad or Deuce side
for the second game.
Note: This activity can be done on Red, Orange (shown), or Green
courts.

Deliberate Practice

Practice is loving the feel of the ball on the strings. Practice is the pursuit of mastery. To make your game look effortless and to be the example that will inspire someone else. How do we get there though? It isn't just practice for the sake of practice, but deliberate practice. Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.Taking the time to work on the little things like the forearm turn on the serve or the swing pattern on the forehand. It is that deliberate action of practicing the tedious movements as well as playing games and sets. The key to mastery is this intentional focus of 10,000 hours. When someone commits over 10,000 hours of intentional and hard work, suddenly they are an overnight success. We always incorporate the deliberate practice, the routine of working on the mechanics of the strokes and applying it in a game situation in our lessons. By incorporating that routine our students have a practice plan they can use outside of our lessons on their journey towards mastery.

The Standard Method

For twenty years I have been trained in the Standard Method. What is the Standard Method? The Standard Method is the name of the teaching methodology the Professional Tennis Registry uses as the framework to design lessons. This method is a Gradual Release of Responsibility that allows students to see a model, get guided practice, and then apply their new skill on their own. 

What makes this system so unique is how we are able to use cooperative learning and differentiation to allow students of all ability levels the chance to learn in one environment. We can adapt the lesson to the student strength and area of growth. We also focus on mastery of the skill by focusing on repetition and learning goals. Over the next couple posts I would like to discuss more about our methodology and how it helps me as well as your child  create a framework for overall mastery.

Reflections on 2019: Taking New Ground

When we go through struggles in our lives, stay the course. Often those struggles, those setbacks are set-ups for a comeback. They are removing things you don't need anymore or pushing you away from things you don't need anymore and allowing new growth to happen. The key was to have the mindset to be present in each moment.  2019 will be a year of comebacks, resets, recovery, refreshing, and rejoicing. Seriously, who could have imagined a better year to end the decade on. I reflect back to where I was ten years ago and the vision hadn't even been established. Ten years later we had our greatest summer, we saw kids take their skills to new levels, we saw kids loving the moment, and we saw relationships grow stronger.  

Learn To Rally Summer 2019

Saturday at North Phoenix Baptist

To say that one part of 2019 was the best would take away from all that happened. We saw so many of our students grow and take new ground. Our summer program was the best yet. I felt like a kid again watching thirteen, yes thirteen, five to eight year old students in our Learn to Rally class.
We had new private groups  and classes with students from Khalsa Montessori, Encanto Elementary, Arizona School for the Arts,

Learning to Volley in a Private Group

Encanto Fall 2019

Phoenix Elementary School District, Biltmore Prepatory Academy, Madison Heights, Madison Simis, St. Thomas, St. Francis, and Madison Traditional Schools. I never dreamed we would be able to influence kids from so many different schools. 
Our fall 2019 sessions were awesome! We added some new days and times. Our Learn to Rally classes, orange ball classes, and green ball classes were the place to be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
As many of you know we were in a horrific car accident in 2018. In 2019 we received our new miracle mobile to be able to get to our lessons. I guess you could call this the Service Wagon, since that is what we are here to do, serve.

The Power of 3

The goal of tennis is to keep the ball in play until you have to start over. Sometimes that can be rallies of 10, 15, even 20 hits. Most of the time this is not the case. As a matter of fact, the top professionals in the world average between 1 and 3 hits per point.  This fall we incorporate this practice into our lesson planning. While we still want the students to play until they have to start over, we also want them to realize the importance of getting that first, second and third ball in play. In most matches, the point is lost on the third hit ball. So we want our students to get good at getting that third and fourth ball back. We have played a lot of games like 3+, where the students get a bonus point for getting three or more balls in play. We also work on serve, return, +1, focusing on the next shot after the return.  So, next time you are out playing with your kids, have them focus on getting three balls over to start. Anything after three is bonus hits.

 

It's all about the WHY

I sometimes have to wonder why I keep doing some of the things I do. It could be productive or non-productive activities. The thing is there is a WHY.  The WHY is probably the strongest factor to motivation there is. If your WHY is to find food because you are hungry, then you will search to find what you need. If your WHY is to work to provide for your family, than you will find any level of work to make sure that happens.
I think the same principle of the WHY applies to playing tennis or teaching it. Recently though I have been soul searching more about the WHY. Is the reason I teach tennis just because I like to be outside and be active? Not as much anymore, because I can find a lot of activities outside that I like to do. Is it because I have been doing this for a while and have confidence in my abilities? Maybe, but even too much lobster after a while starts to taste like soap. I think the WHY is I just love seeing the improvement and engagement of the students. The connections that are made through practice.