The following post is a YouTube of a Parent/Player/Coach Summit I held in New Zealand with Craig Bell. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact:Frank Giampaolo
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Match Day Essentials
Attending a Tennis Academy?
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
A tennis academy has offered us a scholarship. Should we take it?
This is a touchy subject. Some of my best friends and lifelong business partners run successful academies. I am often presented business plans to open a full time academy, but I am convinced that a new blueprint is needed to ensure that each student is receiving the customized attention he/she deserves. I’ve opened and directed clubs and academies since the mid 1980’s. These include Vic Braden Tennis Colleges, the Rancho San Clemente Tennis Club and the Sherwood Country Club- some of Southern California’s most prestigious clubs. As a result, academies are very familiar territory.
Here are my feelings toward academies in this stage in my coaching career.
The Positive Side:
- Academies provide a terrific social environment for the players. The players can hang out with their peers of both genders.
- Players can experience the bonding of a team versus the individualism the sport often requires.
- A few top players receive free t-shirts, bags and sweats with the academies logo. Other players may receive a discount.
- Academies provide a convenient one-stop shop for parents. In essence, the parents can rely on others to organize and develop their child’s career.
- Academies should provide plenty of free hitting, off- court training options and match play for the motivated individuals.
- Live ball sparring. Players grow from the daily battle.
- Academies get players good. How good? With the rare exception, most attendees advance to high school varsity, top sectionally ranked and/or NCAA to Division 2-3 level college ball.
- A fact is that most juniors are not truly interested in putting the hard work it requires to be a national champion. They are hobbyist. In that situation, academies could be the right choice. Remember, tennis is a terrific hobby.
- Players experience many different coaches and coaching styles.
SPECIAL NOTE: If your child is ranked higher than most players in the academy, you may be able to negotiate attending for FREE in exchange for attracting paying customers to the program. Also, some academies give every attendee a price break thus giving everyone a partial scholarship. That is, if you pay up front! Folks, that’s marketing 101.
The Negative Side:
- Most academies recruit their top players AFTER a quality teacher has developed the student’s skills.
- The paying customer should receive instruction equal to that given to the elite superstars, that attend for FREE. Unfortunately, in some cases, the experienced coaches are busy working privately with the non-paying super stars and NOT with your child.
- In the higher levels of high performance tennis, detailed customization of the lesson plans are required. For example, if a player has holes in their transition game, sending them down to court #6 to get in line with the rest of the group and hit forehands and backhands may not be in the student’s best interest.
- Paying customers do not progress at the quickest rate. Often they have to win to move up into the “higher” level courts. This forces the junior to choose outcome goals over performance goals. This means they avoid building their new weapons as they choose to use their old comfortable “flawed strokes” to try to win. This behavior stalls the exact progression you seek.
- A great young talent positioned in an unsupervised setting will often learn how to goof off, throw their racquet, waist time, go for low percentage shots, over hit, and give half effort.
- Often inexpensive overworked introductory coaches are employed to oversee the paying customers.
FUN FACT: In the last decade, most park & rec’s, high school courts, apartment complex, college courts, country club and city facility have changed the name of their after school junior tennis program to an academy. It sounds more official, doesn’t it?
Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: frank Giampaolo
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Essential Skills Champions Develop
Ten Techniques Junior Tennis Championships Develop 
“A Junior Champion is much more than a gifted athlete”
By Frank Giampaolo
John Kolouski (The name has been changes to protect the guilty.) has the Babolat Pure Drive, strung with natural gut on the crosses and polly on the mains… just like the pros. He sports the latest “Nadal” Nike shirts, shorts and shoes. His 8-pack racket bag even says “TOUR TEAM” on it. Man, he even goes to a $40,000 a year tennis academy. At first glance, he looks like a sure bet for the pros.
Now let’s look at Johns’ regiment a little deeper. John loses early every event in an implosion of negative behavior. Hummm… why?
There is nothing more common than young, talented athletes that are Weak Competitors. After reading the following Ten Essential Hidden Skills of a Champion, ask yourself if there are any similarities between John and your tennis phenom?
Ten Essential Hidden Skills of a Champion:
- Champions face their fears versus avoiding them. If you ask John to play a practice set against a younger retriever he has 100 excuses why he can’t and won’t play.
- Champions have swagger which is truly different than fake, empty confidence. John willingly practices his primary stroke production and then routinely SKIPS his weekly regime of off-court training sessions, closing out set rehearsals, and secondary stroke practice. Empty confidence shatters under the slightest bit of pressure.
- Champions are strong competitor’s not just good athletes. Set up a great sparring session for John and he’ll tell you “No thanks…I’m good! …I already hit back and forth to a partner today.”
- Champions do everything to prepare properly. John often stays out late the night before a big event; he doesn’t make time for a real breakfast; he doesn’t organize his tournament bag; and he only hits for maybe 10 minutes before the match. And he believes he is ready.
- Champions know that they will lose more than they will win. John believes that he should win every match he plays.
- Champions develop problem solving confidence, perseverance, determination and work ethic. John just focuses on stationary strokes, week in, week out.
- Champions have self-belief and a positive outlook. John wears his ball cap backwards and twirls his racket confidently at the start of each tournament, until he begins to play. Then like clockwork, he loses focus, misses a few easy shots and then morphs into an “Emotional Basket Case” every weekend. John only has one game style- hard hitting baseliner.
- Champions develop several game plans, emotional solutions to common problems, agility and brain speed. John is brain washed into believing that if he perfects his primary strokes every day, he will go pro.
- Champions understand that controlling their adrenaline and concentration wins matches. John believes that he is the one and only gifted, athlete out there and that should be enough to sky rocket him to success. When his opponents begin to challenge his game, he folds emotionally and mentally.
- Champions spot tendencies and control the energy of the match. John simply hits the shots that feel good to him versus hitting the shots that feel uncomfortable to the opponent.
In conclusion, it’s important to understand that there is nothing more common than extremely athletic individuals with weak competitive skills. This is why, to the untrained eye, it appears that the better “looking” athlete should win. As you all know, it is not the case.
Once solid fundamentals are developed, the art of winning stems from repetition of competition. “Practice in the manner you’re expected to perform” is the motto champions follow. Training with competitive or simulated stress drills will improve match performance.
Thank you for visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giamapolo
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Between Point Rituals
Between Point Rituals are an essential skill of athletic royalty. For more information : The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks, Frank Giampaolo
BETWEEN POINT RITUALS
The following YouTube post was filmed at the Australian International Coaches Convention in 2011. I look forward to returning to Australia this coming January 2012. Parental tennis education will be the focus of my presentation.
Patrick McEnroe, USTA Player Development, has been quoted as saying “Player development should be called parent management.”
The importance of the parent’s role is critical to the success of a junior tennis player- regardless of their desired level of play.
Thank you for visiting, Frank
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
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Tame Negative Thoughts
Athletic royalty requires a positive mind set. It is essential players learn to tame negative thoughts to maximize potential. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
To order Raising Athletic Royalty or The Tennis Parent’s Bible CLICK HERE
SOLUTIONS TO “TAMING” NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
Self-talk is an essential high performance tennis skill. The following are twelve solutions to over-coming negative thoughts:
- Say Something Good/Positive
On the practice court, ask your child to rehearse finding something they did well on each point. This will shift their energy and focus from the negative to positive. The thoughts you feed tend to multiply. Multiplying the positive is a learned behavior. This rule applies to parents as well as players! Here’s an example: I teach a 14 year old ranked junior that has a terrific 128 mph serve. As he was “nailing” his serve into the box, all his father could say was “ya, but look at his knee bend, it’s pitiful…etc.” Ouch
- Education is Not Completed in the Lesson.
The most important lessons are taught in tournament play. They are analyzed in match logs. Assist your child in completing a match log after each match. Match logs are great for deciphering the X’s and O’s of why your child is getting their results. Solutions are found in match logs. The poised even tempered players have pre-set solutions rehearsed and designed for their future on court problems. Match logs identify the reoccurring nightmares. In anger management, prevention is the best medicine.
- Rehearse Successful Performance Goals Versus “I Have to Win” Outcome Goals
Champions are performance orientated not outcome orientated. In a single match, professionals think about the same hand full of patterns a thousand times, irritated juniors think about a thousand different things in the same single match! After blowing a lead I ask our players “What were you thinking about when you went up 5-2?” The answer is almost always future outcome issues such as “what’s my ranking going to be after I beat this guy.”Parents need to be performance goal oriented as well. After a match parents need to replace “Did you win?” with “How did you perform?” In the 2009 Masters Doubles, one ATP team got 81% of their first serves in and capitalized on 3 out of 4 break points. By looking at the performance chart/goals only, guess who won easily? Now, that’s thinking like a champion.
- Tennis is Not Fair
There are so many reasons why this game is not fair. Understanding these issues will reduce the stress some juniors place on themselves. For instance, luck of the draw, court surfaces, match locations, elements like weather, wind, lucky let courts, miss-hit winners, creative line callers…Can you think of a few?
- Everyone Gets the Same 24 Hours in a Day
The difference is how they use it. I suggested getting a daily planner and discuss time management with your child. Assist them in organizing their on-court and off-court weekly schedule. Avoiding anger on match day is earned on the practice court. Most often, players seeing red shouldn’t be mad at their match performance. They should be upset with their pre-match preparation. Poise, relaxed performers are confident with their skills because they deeply believe they are doing everything in their power to prepare properly. I’ve found that players that are breathing fire in matches know, deep down, that they are now paying the price for their lack of preparation.
- Managing Stress
In the heat of battle, experience tells us that if you are struggling take a moment to detach. Often appearing unflappable is the tool needed to send the opponent over the edge. The opponent will appear calm as long as you are the one throwing temper tantrums. If you are steamed, fake it until you make it! Simply pretend to be unruffled. Parent’s this applies to you as well. Detach during your child’s match by going for a brisk walk, read the paper, chart the match or listen to your ipod. This sends the message that you are not overly stressed about the results. Take a moment and talk to your child about time management as it pertains to controlling the pace of the match. Winners absolutely control the pace of the match. Think back, top seeds often take bathroom breaks at critical times in a match, don’t they? Controlling the energy flow of the match is a super way to control the fire!
- Champions Experience Failure
Discuss how most tennis champions have probably lost way more matches than your child has lost. Ambitious people experience many failures. California’s Vania King’s professional career single results- similar number of wins and loses. But she has also won 2 WTA GRAND SLAM Doubles titles and has earned over 3 million in prize money. Great job Vania! (Champions learn from losses.)
- Never Outgrow Fun
You often see top professionals battle and still smile in the course of a match. The vintage Vic Braden slogan “Laugh & win” makes perfect sense! Stress and anger clutter your thought processes; pull you into the wrong side of your brain which destroys your problem solving ability; irritates, tightens and constricts muscle flow which decreases your swing speed as well as your on court movement and/or simply destroys your ability to perform.
- Tennis is a Gift Not a Right
Discuss how there are millions of great athletes the same age as your child that will never even get the opportunity to compete at this level. Tennis isn’t fair, right? But has your child thought about how lucky they are to be able to play tennis and have a family that wants to support their passion?
- If Good Judgment Comes From Experience Where Does Experience Come From?
The answer is Bad Judgment. It is far less painful to learn from others failures. After a tournament loss, don’t race home steaming mad. Instead, stay at the tournament site and observe a top seed. Replace focusing on the strokes with analyzing the easy going attitudes as well as the infuriated, angry behaviors. Remind your child that an unflappable, quiet opponent is far more difficult and annoying to compete against than a wild angry one.
- Rehearse Ignoring Their Negative Thoughts
Ask your child to allow you to video tape a few matches. As they watch them back, ask your child to count the times they had a negative thought, loss of concentration or an emotional breakdown on the court. Now, here’s the solution. Ask them to simply reduce that number by 25% in next week’s video match. If done properly, negative on-court behavior will be weeded out or reduced.
- The Door to Success is Always Marked “Push”
Ask your child if they are always pushing themselves to their fullest potential? Remind them that there are thousands of really good juniors. There are only a handful of great juniors. From a parents’ perspective, if you do not push gently everyday (or pay someone to do the daily pushing) your child does not have a shot!
Thanks, Frank Giampaolo
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Champions Work Smart
The following post is an excerpt of Maximizing Tennis Potential. Thanks, Frank
TENNIS CHAMPIONS WORK SMART
Every athlete wants to succeed. They all want the exact same outcome goal. So what separates the champions from the early round losers?
- Is it cleaner strokes?
- Sharper anticipatory speed, quicker foot speed?
- Smarter shot selections?
- Calmer frustration tolerance levels?
- Longer focus?
The answer is that the best players begin working EARLY on all of these issues. Great coaches, however, have the ability to zero in on the players re-occurring issues (nightmares) years before the player or the parent actually even see it.
This is where Smart Work comes into play.
Let’s use an analogy. If a race car continually loses race after race due to its tires blowing out, is spending 4 hours a day polishing the fenders going to solve the problem? Not likely… Hey but their working hard 4 hours a day! Your child may be working hard 4 hours a day, heck, maybe even 6 hours but is it Smart Work?
Translation: “Are you spending your limited time and money wisely?”
In my last blog post, Maximize Performance with Accountability, I posed the below questions to a top 200 tournament level player. Now let’s look at the same question posed to a top 10 nationally ranked player. The answers are dramatically different, except number 7.
- How long have you been playing? “4-5 years”.
- What does your weekly training schedule look like? “I train about 20 hours a week. My routine consists of off court training, hitters, stroke lessons, occasionally I go to an academy for sparring, sets, video analysis, tournaments”
- Ok, what has been your developmental focus? “Mainly strokes, that’s why I’m here! I need to beef up my mental and emotional sides.”
- Primary and secondary strokes? “Mostly primary?”
- What is your style of play? “I’m a hard hitting baseliner”
- Have you developed your B & C game plans? “Yes, I play sets weekly as a retriever and as a net rusher?”
- What type of players do you hate playing the most? “Moonballers, for sure pushers!!”
- All right, what patterns have you developed to beat those retrievers? “I can bring them in, and I have a solid moonball approach to swing volley pattern that usually works”
- Ok, last question, what are your goals in the upcoming year? “To improve my drop volley, kick serve, my frustration tolerance and get fit enough to reach the semi’s of most events”. I want to begin playing pro Challenger events this summer.
Champions, with very few exceptions, are the smartest workers. Why? Because their parents are the smartest “tennis” parents!
Parents of national champions are extremely involved. Usually, at least one parent is the “tennis” parent. Raising a world class athlete is a full time job. Most champions require a team approach. (Check out Rafa’s new book to drive this point home.)
One of the initial ways to begin to develop a National Champion is to use the same developmental methodology used in school. Children study math, science, English, and history year in and year out. It’s a proven successful method of developing a well-balanced child. In tennis they need to apply the same principle. Trust me, it works! Branch out and develop your child’s “other” sides!
The four sides in tennis development:
- Strokes (Primary & Secondary)
- Movement (Spacing, Speed, Stamina)
- Mental (Shot selection, Pattern selection, Spotting tendencies)
- Emotional skills (Choking /Over thinking and panic/Under thinking).
Working smarter yields numerous benefits:
- Greater your self esteem
- Increased confidence in your personal ability
- Decrease the likeness to surrender when the going gets tough
- Master more tools to problem solve on court
Thank you for visiting. Frank Giampaolo
To order The Tennis Parent Bible or Raising Athletic Royalty CLICK HERE
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Maximize Performance with Accountability
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible Thank you for visiting, Frank
TENNIS TIME MANAGEMENT STARTS WITH ACCOUNTABILITY
Chances are you are wasting time and money if you are not being accountable. Whether your child’s goal is a professional tennis career, college tennis scholarship, or even high school or recreation tennis, it is critical you have a plan. Everyone gets the same 24 hours a day. It is what you do with it the counts. What’s your plan?
To begin, let’s look at an accountability question. But first, review a schedule breakdown of the hours in a week of a typical top 200 nationally ranked junior player:
- There are 168 hours in a week.
- Sleeping takes up roughly 56 hrs,
- School/homework takes up roughly 60,
- High performance tennis training takes up 15 hours,
- Add on travel and meals and the average player is still left with approximately 25 hours unaccounted for?
- That is an extra 100 hours a month!
Another side of accountability is based on the fact that National tournaments are often held over holiday breaks. Do you choose Thanksgiving at home with your family & friends or are you ok with spending Thanksgiving in a hotel out of state? Or remaining home so your child can prepare properly for the winter nationals or would you rather go skiing the week before the event?
The accountability factor I’m talking about here is yours- The Parents!
If you truly wish to witness your child’s success you need to be accountable. Your actions will teach meaningful time management and accountability lessons to your children.
On the first day upon arriving at our workshops I ask each student a few questions. Not only am I looking for their answers, but their knowledge of the game, their concerns, their communication skills, their tournament frustrations and how they are wired.
The conversation with a typical top 200 national player sounds like this:
- How long have you been playing? “4-5 years”
- What does your weekly training schedule look like? “I…ummm”
- Ok, what has been your developmental focus? ” I don’t know…strokes I guess “
- Primary and secondary strokes? “What’s that?”
- What’s your style of play? “I like hitting hard”
- Have you developed your B & C game plans? “My what?”
- What type of players do you hate playing the most? “Moonballers, for sure pushers!!”
- All right, what patterns have you developed to beat those retrievers? “Patterns?”
- Ok, last question, what are your goals in the upcoming year ? “To win and be #1!”
Tennis is full of inevitable trials especially without a plan. This is a wake-up call. For more information, buy The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact:Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Building Confidence
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you, Frank
Confidence is Like Friendship
A meaningful friendship is founded on time, energy and hard work. The same components are found in true confidence.
Lack of confidence issues such as self-doubt and/or a negative self-image arise from how athletes view past experiences. Often, when asking an adolescent what happened during competition they reply “I don’t know, I’m horrible!”
Getting to the root of the issue is done by organizing tournament experiences using match logs. Champions have experienced losing hundreds of times more often than your junior player. The difference is how they view it.
So, how should your daughter view tournament competition? Junior tennis tournaments in general should be viewed as information gathering missions. Success lies in doubling your child’s level of competence every six months. They have to be twice as good as they were six months ago. Replace focusing on winning with focusing on improving every week.
Lack of confidence is a common issue. It sneaks into every athlete in every sport. Lack of confidence usually occurs when:
- Not training or being trained improperly
- Injured or illness
- Returning to the game after an injury or illness
- Underperformed in recent competition
- Burnt out
- Players in a slump may be under achieving in more than one of these issues simultaneously.
Rebuilding Confidence
Confidence is a progressive spiral of positive input which leads to positive attitude. True belief and trust is earned by doing everything in your power to be the best you can be. So let’s first look deeper at ten common stepping stones that will rekindle your child’s confidence:
- Re-commit to Getting Fit
Tennis specific speed, agility and stamina are key. Cross training is terrific. Hit the gym, hit the track and get physically stronger!
- Clear the Mind
Re-focus on tennis! Teens can get derailed by numerous factors. School, parties, peer pressure, other sports, hobbies, shopping…etc.
- Proper Nutrition/Hydration
It takes just 1-2% dehydration and the body is impaired mentally and physically. This could take effect with blurred vision, mental confusion, headaches, cramping etc. As for proper nutrition, the body needs high quality protein and carbohydrates at the right time to function most efficiently.
- Customize the Instruction
“Practice in the manner in which you are expected to perform”. Build a game plan around exposing your child’s strengths while hiding her weaknesses. Customize her style to her brain and body type.
- Promote and Educate Independence
Independent problem solving promotes confidence on and off the court. Even though some parents think they are helping, it may be wise to slowly stop doing everything for your little phenom.
- Surround Them with Supportive People
Positive coaches, trainers and friends with character are key. Is her new boyfriend pulling her focus in a new direction? Do her new friends at school want to party and shop all the time? Is his coach pessimistic or negative?
- Help Others
Ask your daughter to assist the local food bank once a month and feed the homeless. Seeing the positive attitude of someone less fortunate reminds them of their terrific fortune.
- Avoid Negative Comments
This is any advice or stimuli that are perceived as unfavorable. The key word here is perceived. We find that derogatory comments, tone of voice, body language or even facial expressions can tear down a sensitive player’s confidence.
Examples: A friend telling your daughter “You play Amanda next? Oh no… Nobody ever beats her. She won two nationals and is ranked in the top 5!”
A coach saying ” You’re going to run 20 laps if you miss another backhand. Just do it right!”
A parent saying after a tournament loss “You always make so many errors, maybe you should quit!”
- Proper Warm Up and Pre Match Routines
Confidence comes from rituals. Warming up all the primary and secondary strokes. This includes swing volleys short angles, top spin lobs…etc. Proper nutrition, hydration, scouting, visualization, and going for a short run before you go on the court.
- Perfectionists Set the Bar Too High
Unrealistic expectations kill confidence. Parents, just because your son won last week’s tournament, don’t expect him to win every one from now on!
Players, a sure fire way to disable your confidence is to expect perfection. Even if you are in the zone for a while, it is a borrowed experience. No one owns the zone. No one stays in the zone and lives there year around.
Parents, ask your player to read through these ten common confidence busters. Do any of them apply to your child? If so, customize a plan to erase them from their preparation and performances!
Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Solutions to Cheater’s Antics
The following is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Share with your junior champs these six factors used to help defuse the antics of tennis cheaters and your player will be better equipped to deal with these unethical players. It is especially important your child learn to handle the antics of cheaters for two primary reasons:
- Cheaters are the gatekeepers of junior tennis – forcing many talented players to leave the sport early because they are unwilling/unable to tolerate the cheater’s unethical behavior.
- Cheaters remain in the game (cheating) until the highest level ( ATP and WTA Professional Tour) – when multiple lines judges call every point!
Thanks for visiting, Frank
Handling Cheaters
- Pre-Match Speculations
Preconceived ideas of what might happen when playing a known cheater causes so much stress that it affects the immune system and often results in players actually get sick. Many lose sleep the night before the match. Do not let your child’s expectations of the possible trauma pull them away from focusing on their performance goals.
- Focus on What You Can Control
Expect about 5 bad line calls per match. This is not in your control. What is? How about the 30 unforced errors per set you commit? Limit your unforced errors to 10 per set and they can have the 5 hooks!
- Focus on Not Cheating Yourself
The truth is that most often we see players missing calls. That is, not calling out balls out! The average number of missed calls is six per match. Tighten up your own calls.
- Be Grateful
Cheaters cheat because they know down deep that their skills are no match for yours. Usually a cheater is able to win because their bad calls get you so emotional that you become distracted from your performance goals and the trap is set.
- Try the Standard Procedure for Handling Cheaters
First First question the bad call. When that does not work, get a line judge. When the line judge leaves after a game or two, you have two options: Be an “enabler” and let the “cheater” steal the match away from you; or take matters into your own hands and fight fire with fire.
- After a Confrontation Do Not Begin Play Right Away
Regain your composer first by taking a “legal” bathroom break. You will need time to get your head back into your performance goals. Remember to use your between point and change over rituals to stay focused on your game!
FUN FACT: We conducted a seminar with 26 young national level players. We asked the ten National Champions in attendance to sit in front of the class and share their insight. The first question from Joey, a 10 year old from Las Vegas was “Were you ever forced to cheat back to stop a “cheater” from trying to steal away a National title or ITF title. Guess how many champions answered yes, they were forced to take matters into their own hands and solve the problem? All ten!
Thank you for visiting. By the way, if you think cheaters go away in college tennis, you would be mistaken! The sooner your child learns to deal with them the better. Frank Giampaolo
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Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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Training Zonal Tennis
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Modern Zonal Tennis
Mastering Zonal Tennis is essential for the most successful tennis career, whether it is playing junior tennis, collegiate tennis, country club tennis or professional tennis, players that choose proper shot selection (laws of zonal tennis) advance at a quicker rate. The following questions and answers may help you understand the importance of zonal tennis.
Question: “I must have spent $10,000 on lessons, forehand, backhands, serves…all the strokes. I look like a pro during lessons, but in real match play, I stink! I can’t even beat Mildred on the super senior squad. Why?”
Frank: The quick answer is that your loses are most likely due to poor shot selection and not stroke technique. There are four causes of unforced errors in match play: Stroke Mechanics, Shot Selection, Movement/Spacing and Emotional/Composure. The most common cause of errors in match play is poor tactical choices or shot selection.
Another interesting tidbit is that the human brain can’t consciously fix stroke mechanics while playing in the zone. Try shifting focus away from your own back-swing and follow-through and onto zonal tennis. Hitting balls short into your opponents court or continuing to hit a ball your opponent is hitting winners on is the equivalent of asking them to beat you.
Question: “Do retrievers have all the trophies due to their elegant strokes or their well-developed shot selection skill sets?”
Frank: The player with the smartest shot selection is usually the winner. Reduce your errors by applying Zonal Tennis: the use of proper air zone and court zone tactics. Note: Be aware that exceptions shadow every rule, so use your court sense in match play.
Air Zones
The Air Zones refer to the height at which the ball travels above the net. Your court position dictates the height your shot should be traveling above the net.
The Three Air Zone:
- Aim 2-3 feet above net when positioned inside the court.
- Aim 3-5 feet above the net when positioned on the baseline.
- Aim 8-10 feet above the nest when positioned ten feet behind the baseline.
Unforced errors and short balls multiply dramatically when players choose to ignore the laws of the air zones. Thanks, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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