February 15 2004 TennisONE Newsletter

March 1, 2004

Spring training

"Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life." Herbert Otto*1

By Jim McLennan

Publisher's Note: Jim McLennan, TennisOne's Editor, now takes over the writing of the TennisOne newsletter. Kim Shanley, Publisher, will continue to contribute periodic feature articles.

Back to Basics

In baseball the concept is to revisit the fundamentals, again again and again, until the guys have gotten it right. Not that these professionals have forgotten anything, but rather that it pays to constantly revisit the nuts and bolts of baseball.

As you gear up for USTA leagues (which are huge in my neck of the woods) do you have a similar “spring training” ritual? If you don’t, here are some thoughts. Pick one shot in your game that might deserve attention, be specific, set measurable goals and a timetable for improvement. One of the difficulties in tennis is that one’s wins and losses are influenced by how poorly or well our opponents play, and in that manner we are not always sure how well we are playing.

Picking One shot

So here are two suggestions. If the saying, “You are only as good as your second serve” rings a bell, my thought is to find a partner and practice second serves while your friend practices returns. No rallying, no scoring, just serve and return.

I joke (but also teach) the juniors at our club to answer the following question that may be delivered to them by their college coach, “Okay kid, what are your strengths?” The answer we rehearse is, “Coach my serve is the best part of my game (as was the case for Sampras and now Roddick) and the next best part of my game is my return (as is the case for Agassi).” Now the coach knows the kid understands tennis and can truly play the game, for if the answer was, “My big forehand” then that presumes getting into a point on serve or on return and then getting a forehand.

The measuring is to count percentage of serves, and percentage of returns in each 10 shot sequence. Meaning 8 of 10 serves (perhaps) and 7 of 8 returns (not bad). Further, the servers objective is to find some amount of spin so the swing is fast and not a push, and the receivers objective is to play the return well inside the baseline at the absolute top of the bounce.

Exploration and Guided Discovery

I am reading an interesting book, Coaching for Performance, recommended by Sean Brawley.*2 The book contrasts command style teaching with exploration and guided discovery. The “command” teacher surveys the situation, tells the student what to do, and hopefully the student gets the message and changes. Does this sound familiar?

In the exploration and guided discovery model, the coach asks continuing series of questions, intending to promote awareness and responsibility within the student. Well if awareness and responsibility become your own personal watchwords on court, then the serve and return drill above really works. With repetition, and quiet but continual internal awareness of how things feel (not why they work but just how they feel) you will start to improve both your serve and your return. With apologies to the legions of command style tennis teachers, if you experiment with this you may make as much headway as when you have been “taught.”

Training Aids

I use a large collection of training aides for pupils and for myself. Often these aides are just the trick to clarify a difficult feel, or to learn a new shot. Bullwhips (for the serve), indo boards (for balance), 8-board (for rhythm), vision cards, audiotapes (sports psychology) and more.

In this issue I want to call your attention to a Dynaball. This is a gyroscopic trainer, a spherical ball with a smaller ball inside. Once spinning, you rotate your wrist to accelerate the inner ball, the gyroscopic action makes the Dynaball become heavier, and the resulting exercise both strengthens the forearm (rehabilitates as well) and equally trains rhythm and feel, for there is an art to using this Dynaball.*3

Good luck with your spring training. My project this spring is retooling the return of serve. Had a good one once, or so I think, but have become tentative and less confident of late. Remember, practice makes perfect - if you are practicing perfectly.

As always, we would love to hear your views on the subjects raised in this newsletter. Please click here to send your email directly to me.

Jim McLennan
Editor, TennisOne

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