Summer is coming!

Summer vacation is less than a week away.  We have some exciting programs planned for this summer. I just want to take a chance and reflect on what we accomplished over this past year. We have been in the process over the past year of redesigning our curriculum. We also discovered some key elements that will allow our classes at Encanto to flow better when we are transitioning classes. One discovery I was really excited about is that Encanto Park is one of only a handful of facilities that has actual 36 foot tennis courts for kids to play on. The courts are lined with nets and also are marked for pickleball.  My hope is to be using these courts for our Learn to Rally Classes this summer and for the future.

Open Stance forehand progression (ITUSA Phx,AZ)

Take the Time

I have heard of tennis coaches and their students who put in 10 or more hours a day practicing and training. While I believe in putting in time to master your craft, I have wonder what these coaches and students are doing that they feel they need to put in ten hours a day.  This game is not that hard, keep the ball deep, attack the short ball. It is more important to be consistent and intentional than to be putting in the long hours. Now, there are times when we need to put in more time. I remember Andre Agassi had fallen to 138 in the world back in 1998.  For one year he recommitted himself to better fitness, mental skills, and training to get back to being one of the elite players in the world. That is fine, when ever we have a particular goal we want to meet, there is nothing wrong with going intense and putting in all of our time into something in the short term. When we meet that goal though, we need to set a schedule and a routine that will allow us to be efficient.  Practicing your skills in practice matches or with a hitting partner for an hour or two every day or every other day can be just as beneficial if there is intention to what you are doing. Remember to take the time to regenerate the body and focus on the mental skills to create the image of success in your mind.

You must keep the ball deep

Slam! Bang! Hope it goes in Sam! 

That is how a lot of recreation players like to play tennis. They try to hit the ball as hard as they can to end the point as fast as they can. Most of the time the ball sails out.  This strategy will never help someone grow as a tennis player.  While you need to be able to hit the ball harder, the better players you play, you must also keep the ball in.  It is very important to develop shots that you will never miss on and work those  shots into a way to get a short ball. Tennis strategy really is not that hard. We like to tell our students keep the ball deep, wait for a short ball, make the winning shot.  When you are first learning to play tennis, that is your number one tactic. You must keep the ball deep. You should aim at least six to ten feet over the net. Most players do not like to play high balls. These high balls will give you time to recover, margin over the net, and in most cases a short ball to come in on. So for today's take home assignment, go out and practice keeping the ball deep by aiming six to eight feet over the net.

Ten and Under Observations: Feelmage

"See it, Feel it, Learn it."

In today's world it is so easy to watch a youtube video or send pictures by social media. We can see the image of a particular way a stroke it done. This is so powerful. The use of slow motion video for before and after is priceless. I want my students to take these tools one step further and  FEEL their strokes. Can they describe what it felt like when they hit that ball just right? Can the recognize or are they aware when they are off or the ball continues to sail long? What corrections can their autonomic nervous system make. By getting our players to feel, really love the feel, of that perfect stroke, we are setting them up to be instinctive players. Our methodology focuses on showing a whole concept and then working backwards in chunks. We want the students to be able to experience the end in mind as they feel their way through each concept we teach.  This idea of feeling the stroke has been influential in our students over the past five years. The biggest impact is in retention. Where I noticed students have retained is when they take two weeks or more off of tennis if they have a holiday vacation or go on a summer vacation.  They usually come back playing better than when they left. I remember how that was the opposite for me when I first was learning tennis, actually, it was the opposite for me in school to. I would come back after summer vacation or time off and I would have to relearn everything as I was a bit rusty.  I feel that the time off allows the students to absorb everything even more. Our system focuses on chunking of information and visualization in short increments over a period of time. That consistency is key because it is developing in them a ritual for success. That ritual is the instinctive movement where they can feel and be aware of their strokes and adjust when they need to.

The Diligent Prosper

I used to think to master a task you needed to focus all of your energy on that one thing by cramming the information into your brain. For example, if I wanted to master a specific area of math, I needed to  cram the night before an exam, or cram for several hours one or two nights per week. What happened though was other areas in my academic career began to suffer. Why was this?  I didn't have balance, an efficient plan, or the best way to focus on a goal.

Over time I have learned the key to learning is applying those skills in small increments over time. Think about doing a math study session for two hours on a Wednesday and then not reviewing it until the next week. You may have a math lesson in school, but often the lessons are different each day. By the time you came back to review the previous study session, most of the learning will have been forgotten. Cramming never works. Football coaches who leave the office at 2:00 am after studying film, baseball players, and even tennis players who feel they need to practice their serve for three to four hours per day can end up with over use injuries, burnout, or volatile performance peaks and valleys.

A better way to describe what is going on is, the diligent prosper. For one to develop mastery they should be applying a certain skill in small increments over time. A person who does this is allowing their mind body connection to absorb the learning into their neurological pathways (unconscious mind) to become more instinctual.  Practicing a particular skill for 15 to 20 minutes a day with focused intensity will allow the mind and body to absorb what is developing. After practice, one should find opportunities to put that skill into practice whether that be practice sets or modified tennis games. There has to be the release of a restricted environment where the student is able to see how instinctual they are becoming.

Develop Rituals

"Rituals are important to tennis because the repetition of enacting each ritual provides a focal point from distraction; a level of comfort and familiarity; and an opportunity to demonstrate reverence for being in the moment, moment to moment."