The Replacement Series Videos is a series of video drills that focus on simple yet highly effective ways to replace the old school, warn out drills with new, unique, fresh tennis tips. Following is a YouTube link to The Replacement Series Video Tip #4: Non-Dominant Hand
Tip #4: Non-Dominant Hand
Frank demonstrates how and why using the non-dominant hand improves the 2- handed backhands. Click Here to View
The following post is a quote for The Second Edition of the Tennis Parent’s Bible. Ebook Amazon pre-orders are now available (Click Here) Over 500 pages of invaluable information to maximize your child’s athletic potential !!!
“A first-class book from a first-class coach. Frank is an encyclopedia of tennis knowledge, has extraordinary talents to share and is a model of professionalism. When all of these components come together, an excellent book such as The Tennis Parents Bible appears.
By educating yourself, your children will have better results. This book is a must read for parents to understand how to educate themselves and to appreciate the extensive process they, their children and their coaches are undergoing while their children are developing their tennis skills.”
Shaul Zohar, Manager, Kiryat Shmona Israel Tennis Center
The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.
Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Top Ten Tools Needed to Attain Tennis Excellence
The mental and emotional strength of being a fierce competitor and a respectful human being is a learned behavior. Building mental and emotional muscle takes time and effort.
The way you think and feel effects how you perform. Rafa Nadal is a prime example of player that has built mental and emotional strength through hard work.
If your player truly believes in his or her game as a result of proper training and hard work he or she is bound for greatness.
No one can outperform their self-image. Due to their discipline, athletes like Rafa, have inner strength and inner excellence. They truly believe in themselves and their abilities because they’ve earned the belief.
Top Ten Tools Needed to Attain Tennis Excellence:
For more information read The Tennis Parent’s Bible– hundreds of hours of lessons for less than a half hour lesson!
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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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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The following is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you for visiting, Frank Gimapaolo
Why Does My Child Play Great In Practice But Horrible In Matches?
It’s Friday, the day before a local junior event, John the young hitting pro carefully feeds balls waist level, in the perfect strike zone for your little Nathan. Nathan doesn’t have to move and hits like a champ. On the way home, Nate says, “Man, I’m on fire! Tennis is easy! Forget the open tourney, I’m going pro!”
Saturday morning rolls around and little Nate’s opponent is playing “keep away” from him. He’s wisely keeping balls above Nathan’s shoulders out of his primary strike zone. Nathan goes down in flames. After the match Nate says, “I don’t get it, I was famous yesterday.” Practicing in the manner in which you are expected to perform is a battle cry heard at my workshops daily. There is a totally different set of skills that provide “competitive” confidence or confidence under stress versus simply hitting.
It is important to understand that the essence of a champion doesn’t simply lie in their strokes but in their head and heart. The ability to stay comfortable when things get uncomfortable is undeniably a skill. Mastering their emotions may be just the ingredient your child requires to break through to a higher level. In typical private lessons, clinics and academies around the world the primary focus is on stroke mechanics. The attention is placed on bending your knees, change your grip, toss higher and run faster.
No question, developing sound fundamentals is a critical element of success. However to improve your child’s ability to perform under stress, it is in their best interest to switch from 100 percent stroke repetition practice to the following five practice solutions:
Practice Solutions:
Hitting without accountability is like spending money with an unlimited bank account. Juniors perceive they hit better in practice because they are not aware of the sheer number of mistakes they are actually making. They remember the 10 screaming winners they hit, but forget about the 50 unforced errors they committed in the same hour.
Concentrate on skill sets such as shot selection, patterns, adapting and problem solving, spotting the opponents tendencies, tactical changes and between point rituals.
Trying 110 percent promotes hesitation, over- thinking and tight muscle contractions. Remember this topic in the blunder section?
If you must worry about winning, focus on winning about 65 percent of the points. Yes, you can blow some points and allow your opponent a little glory and still win comfortably.
Top players lose almost every week. Take for example one of the ATP stars I worked with as a teen, Sam Querrey. He has been on tour full time for years. He is well adjusted, rich and famous and yet he understands that he is not going to win every tournament – which means he’s ok with the fact that he will most likely lose almost every week.
Do you want your child to learn how to play through nervousness and manage their mistakes? Do you want them to get better at closing out those 5-3 leads? Do you want them to actually beat that moonball pusher in the third set?
Well, they have to overcome these issues several times in dress rehearsal first before you can expect them to win under pressure. Playing great under stress is a learned behavior. Practicing under simulated stress conditions is the solution.
FUN FACT: Most junior players spend hours upon hours hitting in academies and zero hours a week in full practice matches. They’ve become solid ball strikers but weak competitors.
The challenge is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Rehearse doing what you’re scared of doing. Take the tougher road less traveled. One of my favorite sayings is
“If you want to get ahead of the pack, you can’t hang in the pack.”
This goes for parents as well. Obviously dropping your child off at the group lesson then going shopping for shoes is way easier than finding practice matches, charting and /or paying a college hitter to play sets. But ask yourself, is taking the convenient way out keeping your child from winning national titles?
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
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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:
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:
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
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:
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:
Tennis specific speed, agility and stamina are key. Cross training is terrific. Hit the gym, hit the track and get physically stronger!
Re-focus on tennis! Teens can get derailed by numerous factors. School, parties, peer pressure, other sports, hobbies, shopping…etc.
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.
“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.
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.
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?
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.
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!”
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.
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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