The following post is a YouTube from a New Zealand Player/Parent/Coach Summit that Frank Giampaolo conducted with Craig Bell.
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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www.MaximixingTennisPotential.com
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The School Methodology of Tennis Training
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
FGSA@earthlink,net
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
Accelerate Your Game with B and C Game Plans
The following in an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. 
Ignoring their B and C Game Plans?
Developing your child’s secondary strokes is essential for the greatest tennis success. Only practicing basic ground strokes for hours each week is not the best game plan for winning tournaments. As I say over and over- tennis is a game of keep away and not a game of catch.
At the competitive stage of tennis, spend a few moments to discuss your child’s primary and secondary styles of play in matches. Styles include hard hitting baseliners, all court, net rushers and retrievers. In lower levels of competition, continually bringing the opponent into the net is also an effective style of play.
Set up practice sets for your child against lower level players and ask your child to rehearse their secondary styles of play. Champions have mastered more than one style.
Example:
My step- daughter played her first adult U.S. Open at age 15. In the first round, Sarah’s opponent came out with her plan A (hard hitting baseliner). Sarah won the first set 6-4. At the start of the 2nd set, the opponent switched to plan B (net rusher) and Sarah went up 4-1. The opponent then switched to plan C (moonball/pusher), Sarah’s least favorite style. Sarah was amazed to see a 30 year old WTA veteran pushed her way to a $15,000 victory in the 3rd set.
SPECIAL NOTE: Moonball/pushers style never goes away, so your player had better learn to handle it!
Thank you for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
www.maximizingtennispotential.com
www.raisingathleticroyalty.com
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