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A GUIDE TO BEING ON THE ROAD WITH PLAYERS

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 Traveling with players to different countries can be challenging and rewarding As coaches we sometimes forget that the essence of our job is to help players win in competition.   We spend a lot of time on   the practice court but a large portion of our job should involve being with our players at tournaments and helping them translate work on the practice court into results at tournaments. It would be nice if that happened automatically but unfortunately it doesn’t always translate on the match court. It’s difficult during practice however to simulate match-play conditions and to teach a player to create and implement a strategy during the heat of battle.   I have always found that the tournament environment   actually enhances the learning   process because the player is much more receptive to advice.   The player is under pressure and will listen to key instructions on technique and strategy.    Here is a check-list of suggestions for coaches traveling with play

FRENCH OPEN 2012: MENS SINGLES PROSPECTS

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With the French Open just around the corner this year the men’s singles looks tough to pick.   Here is a summary of 10 players likely to feature at the business end of the tournament. Djokovic goes into the French Open 2012 as favourite Novak Djokovic: prospects 8 ½ /10 Winning is a habit and Djokovic has had a really messy lead-up to Roland Garros this year. He still has the strongest game amongst the men and the grit to win multiple victories against the top prospect listed here. Djokovic is the hot favourite this year and has a mental advantage over the other top players.  No one goes into a match with Djokovic confident of victory, h owever any loss effects a players confidence no matter what the reasons for the loss.  Federer is in form but can he get past Nadal Roger Federer: prospects 7 ½ /10 Federer has done really well to keep up the pressure on Djokovic and Nadal.   The fire still burns inside and he knows how to win at Roland Garros.   He’s had

UNLEASHING THE COMPETITIVE MINDSET

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I attended a high performance sport seminar once and one of the speakers asked all the participants how important the mind was in their sport.   He asked what percentage the mind played in their sport compared to technique, fitness, nutrition etc. The representatives from all the various sports estimated the importance of the mind and the answers varied, but not by much.   Everyone estimated the percentage to be between 75-90%. They all thought the mind was the most important aspect. The speakers’ next question was even more reveling.   He asked “what percentage of practice time do you devote to training the mental aspects in your sport”? The answers fell between 10-15%! Why is it that as coaches we devote so little of our time to something that we know to be so important to the outcome in our various competitions?   I think the reason is that we understand very little about the way the mind works and therefore it’s difficult to train.   It’s the “hard” subject we try

HOW TO VOLLEY LIKE THE PROS

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The art of playing at the net has almost disappeared.   This is due to a variety of reasons.   Players are hitting much better ground-strokes today, with more power, spin and greater accuracy. This has put a lot more pressure on any player who comes into net. Courts today have also become more similar, the faster courts are being slowed down, while the traditional slower courts such as clay are playing faster because of the type of tennis balls being used. This is illustrated best when we look at Wimbledon and the French Open. The grass surface at Wimbledon has been changed to make it slower and to encourage longer rallies. The authorities have done the opposite at the French Open.   To eliminate long boring rallies they have introduced tennis balls that reward players who like to attack the point. Modern doubles exponents have also departed from traditional volley technique. When you get a chance to poach the ball at the net in doubles you have the luxury of taking a fu

TEACHING THE EVOLUTION OF TOPSPIN

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Many years ago I was watching a match in Japan between Andres Gomez and Aaron Krickstein. I was sitting close to the court and realized that I was watching something very different from anything I had ever seen before.   I was watching a table tennis rally!   Both Gomez and Krickstein were trying to produce a rally that was dominated by the flight of the ball rather than where the ball was bouncing . They were controlling the ball inside a tight “funnel” of arc through the use of topspin. Today that might seem normal but back then it was the beginning of a new era in tennis. Long before this, Bjorn Borg had changed our perception of topspin in tennis.   Borg hit the ball with much more arc than any other player at that time and years later while watching   that match in Japan I was witnessing the beginning of a post Borg era. The younger players coming through such as Krickstein and Jimmy Arias were hitting tremendous topspin on the ball and in the process were increasi

DNO THEORY: THE SHOT SELECTION TEMPLATE

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  Knowing when to attack or defend is crucial Playing tennis is a little like a car. The engine will drive you forward but without a means to change gears or steer the car, there’s no real way to use the car in a purposeful manner.   Many players, particularly in the women’s game rely solely on how hard they can hit the ball.   The faster the better.   It’s all about the engine! When I watch a tournament, the players that catch my eye are those who can change from offense to defense and understand which shot is the most appropriate for the situation.   This ability to change gears and understand the shot required is a difficult lesson to teach as it has nothing to do with stroke mechanics but instead requires a player to learn instinctiveness under a variety of situations. The best theory I know to teach this instinctiveness and one I have used for many years is The DNO Theory. The DNO Theory helps a player understand the correct shot to hit under varying situations within a