“I have been involved with tennis for 60 years and I have witnessed the development of the modern game. Frank has put together the most complete manual for Parents, coaches and players. I learned a lot from this book. It’s a must for every Parent and Coach who want to make the least amount of mistakes.”
Carlos A. Kirmayr, Centro De Treinamento Kirmayr, Brazil
The following post is a Q & A excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most on-line retailers! Click Here to Order
QUESTION: In scheduling practice sets, what should my daughter focus on?
Frank: Design a plan of action, a focal point for each day’s practice session. The missing link I see daily is that most juniors don’t focus on improving a weak component. They only try to win. As you know by now, utilizing performance goals is the key to systematic growth.
Instead of relying on other juniors and their parents, it’s often much more efficient to hire a seasoned player and ask them to role play for two complete sets. If your child is in elementary school, hire a high school player and high school players should hire a local college player. (If your athlete has issues beating a retriever, ask the hired gun to be the most annoying pusher for both practice sets). Also, remember that most kids are “One Set Wonders.” They meet to play sets but chat for 20 minutes, maybe complete one set then go home. After the tournaments they’re known to say…”Geez…I have such bad luck, I never win these three set matches!”
Below are 8 common topics to focus on during practice sets. (Focus only on one of the below topics at a time.)
Eight Focal Points Used During Practice Set Rehearsals:
1) How to Beat Retrievers
2) How to Beat Hard Hitting Baseliners
3) How to Beat All Court/Net Rushers
4) Focus Only on Their Top 7 Patterns
5) Focus on Spotting and Stopping the Opponent’s Top 7 Patterns
6) Focus on Offensive, Neutral and Defensive Shot Selections
7) Focus on Applying Quality Changeover and Between Point Rituals
8) Focus on Spotting Game Points (Mega Points)
The key to quality practice sets is to agree upon a pre-set improvement goal. Focus only on the improvement of that skill set versus focusing on the need to win. You’ve heard it before but trading in that old fashion grooving back and forth with a deliberate improvement plan is in your athlete’s best interest.
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
