Tag Archives: tennis

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis – Part 4

Posted on March 30, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

Bottom Line: Playing High School Tennis

It is important to reiterate that most high school age players are not as devoted as Mark. Others may be just as serious but need to decompress and simply play social tennis for a season or two. If so, I recommend playing their freshman year to get a little famous at their new school and then again their senior year after they have signed their letter of intent to play for their college.

I encourage taking some time to consider all these variables. If your child is more of a “hobbyist”, high school ball is one of the best experiences available.  However, if your child is a phenom, a compromise may be in order. It may be best to have a meeting with the coach and/or athletic director and organize a win-win schedule. Often top players and their parents can negotiate a workable schedule with the high school coach.

For elite players considering high school tennis, the following three topics should be addressed (negotiated) prior to committing to the high school season:

1) Skipping most practice session in lieu of their private sessions.

2) Scheduling to only play the tougher rival matches.

3) Playing enough matches in order to qualify for the season-ending state championships.

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis – Part 3

Posted on March 28, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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NEGATIVE Side to Playing High School Tennis:

 

Developing Bad Habits

After spending four months on-court with less devoted “hobbyists”, Mark develops bad work ethic issues, poor shot selection, and poor mental toughness.

Quantity versus Quality Practice Time

Most often Mark is goofing off with intermediate teammates or even assisting them with their games. While on the court, he’s even texting friends and making plans for Friday’s party.

Quality of Match Level

Mark wins 8 out of 10 matches 6-0. Winning most matches easily may be great for his ego but not for his long term development. Mark needs a competitive environment to continue to grow and improve.

College Scholarship Factor

According to top Division I  coaches speaking at my seminars, Coaches look at national rankings and ITF rankings. They don’t consider high school ball as a High-Performance Level.

The Success Formula

Remember that the success formula is spending approximately 20 hours of serious training every week for approximately 10 years. Is playing high school tennis for 4 consecutive months 4 years in a row in Mark’s developmental plan?

Rebuilding the Level

It actually takes an additional 2 months of serious physical, mental and emotional training after the high school season ends to re-establish the high-level Mark was playing before the season. Now, factor in a six-month loss in training time. As Mark chose to de-stress and have fun playing high school ball for 4 months. His rivals who have chosen to skip high school tennis have continued to improve their games as well as their rankings.

 

The Pros and Cons of High School Tennis- Part 1

Posted on March 25, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

 

417THE “PROS AND CONS” OF HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

Playing high school ball is a rite of passage issue for the high-performance athlete. The benefits of high school tennis lean towards life experiences rather than excelled tennis growth. There are exceptions to any rule, so let’s take a deeper look at this interesting question.

The answer is a bit complicated. It greatly depends on your child’s level, needs, and goals. It also depends greatly on the level of the possible teammates and coaching staff at your child’s high school. Some high school teams I work with are better than most college teams.

Is High School ball right for your athlete?

Mark is a student of mine. He is an SCTA sectionally ranked player in the top 20. His national ranking is around 60. He is diligent about his tennis and spends about 20 hours of training extremely hard every week. He has reached the semis of three national events and his long term goals are to play for Peter Smith at his dream school USC.

His dad is a former player and they are certain he will play a minimum of two years on the ATP futures and challenger tours after college. At his high school, there is one other fairly serious player on the team. The high school coach is a super nice guy. He is a biology teacher. He is coaching because he used to play high school ball and enjoys the game. The coach runs an “optional” fee-based 6-week pre-season training camp. Of course, paying and attending greatly increases an athlete’s chances of playing varsity for the team. Now let’s review the positive and negative sides of high school ball for Mark and his family.

 

 

 

A New Way to Look at Strategy

Posted on March 22, 2019 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

 

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

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A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT STRATEGY

To understand on-court control dramas, take a minute and think of a tennis match as a control contest. Each player is attempting to pull their opponent into their style of play to gain command of the match.

Three Control Dramas Seen in High-Level Tennis:

  • The Power Contest
  • The Speed Contest
  • The Patience Contest

To simplify the process, the goal of competition is to choose the contest your athlete performs best. Then formulate a plan to PULL their opponent out of their own world and into your athlete’s world. Let’s look a little deeper, yet keep it simple:

 

I have a top 300 WTA player training with me.  We have customized her game plan to hide her weaknesses and expose her strengths. Her body type and brain type play a major role in customizing her success.

Weaknesses

Ann is light in stature. Her opponents are generally much bigger and stronger. We checked off and excluded the “Power Contest” from her A game plan. This is not to say that she might use power as a B or C game plan. Ann also has focus issues. We checked off the “Patience Contest” and excluded it as her A game plan.

Strengths

Ann possesses great speed and anticipatory skills. We chose the “Speed Contest” as her A game plan. Ann is extremely intuitive. She can sense when the opponent is vulnerable and knows “How” and “When” to move in and take away the opponents recovery and decision-making time.

When Ann chooses to play her “Speed Contest”, she most often is able to move the bigger girls enough to force errors. She can also pull the Retrievers off the court to open up winning angles. When Ann chooses to get into a “boomball-power” contest with bigger, stronger girls, she loses. When she chooses to out moonball a “World Class” moonballer she loses!

 

As I mentioned earlier, this section should be a conversation opener with your athlete and their entourage.  Knowing who you are is an important step in formulating your most successful game plans.

 

 

 

How to Build Mental Toughness

Posted on March 19, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

How to Build Mental ToughnessFrank Giampaolo

Players who are confident have a mentally tough aura about them. They are extremely intimidating because their confidence is obvious to all. It’s evident in their body language and facial expressions.  So, how can your athlete develop radiant confidence?

First of all, your athlete starts by reading about it. Then they earn it on the practice court. Mentally tough competitors earn this impenetrable wall of confidence by preparing properly. Mentally tough players are actually much more than just mentally tough. They are mechanically sound, emotionally unflappable and physically fit enough to thrive in third set warfare. Yes, they’re actually mechanically tough, emotionally tough and physically tough.

Below is a checklist of components that need to be developed by your child’s coaches.  Remember, it is your job as the CEO to assist the coaches in raising athletic royalty.

 

Developing Mental Toughness Checklist:

Stroke Mechanics:

  • Develop reliable fundamental (primary) strokes.
  • Develop a tool belt of secondary strokes.

Mental:

  • Organize & rehearse your child’s top 7 patterns of play. (Generic Strategies)
  • Rehearse patterns of play used to pull different styles of opponents out of their game.(Stylistic Strategies)

Emotional:

  • Organize their between point rituals & changeover rituals (both internal & external.)
  • Pre-set protocols to handle performance anxieties.

Athleticism:

  • Build the speed, agility and cardiovascular requirements needed to endure two separate three-set matches a day.
  • Build the strength and stamina required to close out 6 matches in a 3-5 day (64 player draw) event.

 

My students have won close to 100 National titles to date. Each one had a parent and an entourage of great coaches who were very involved in organizing and implementing their developmental plan. Most often, these champs worked their deliberate, customized organizational plan for 2-3 months before becoming National Champions.

 

Special Note to Parents: A partially committed parent is simply a hobbyist. That’s fine – tennis is an incredible hobby that teaches many life lessons. However, a hobbyist parent should be satisfied with raising a hobbyist tennis player and not expect champion results. In today’s game, it’s unfair to expect your child to become a champion without parental commitment.

 

The College Search Process- Part 1

Posted on March 13, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

THE COLLEGE SEARCH PROCESSIMG_080_R_WHITE

As a tennis parent, the long term development and direction of your athlete is a natural concern. The serious tennis players will likely set their sights on playing college ball. So it is not surprising that week in and week out, one of the most frequent question parents ask me, is how to go about obtaining a college sports scholarship for their child?

First of all, college sports are not recreational activities to dabble in while attending college.  College athletics is a business and the school expects their college team to win.

There’s a major difference between participating in your preferred sport as a hobbyist versus training for college athletics (pursuing a college scholarship). The question athletes should ask themselves is, “Do I want to be a hobbyist athlete or do I want to be an elite athlete?” The truth of the matter is…you’ll have to pick one, because you can’t be both.

 

“Top college recruits are former National or ITF Junior standouts.”

 

Serious competitors are nurtured differently than social competitors. College athletics requires more than seasonal participation in high school ball. The following list three pillars that separate the college scholarship players from the hobbyist:

1) Junior champions are born into inspiring and supportive environments.

Parental support is essential for athletic excellence. Becoming educated in the process is your job. Great coaches and trainers are there to assist you in your mission to raise a champion. Examples of extremely lucky athletes who were born into the right FAMILY environment include Mcllroy, Woods, Phelps, Evert, Agassi, Chang, Sampras, Hingis, Roddick, Williams, Murray, Nadal, Federer, Sharapova, Wozniacki, Djokovic, and Bryans just to name a few.

 

2) The love for the game is encouraged and nurtured early and consistently.

Athletic royalty becomes royalty with the help of loving and supportive parents and coaches that guide and oversee their athlete’s passion from an early age. Achieving greatness comes with great sacrifice from parents, coaches, and the athlete. As they all laugh and learn throughout the incredible journey.

3) Champions strive to improve.

Elite athletes continually improve each essential component. There are other athletes in every corner of the globe training harder and smarter each day.  Champions know they cannot be complacent with their game.  Weekly improvement is part of the champions’ mindset. Congratulations! By purchasing this book, it is obvious that you are taking the right steps toward improvement.

The Formula for Achieving Results- Part 2

Posted on February 28, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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Insight 3: Character building starts with the parents and coaches leading the way by letting go of the outcome results and reinforcing the process. How can we expect an adolescent to be performance oriented when their “guiding lights” are obsessed with only winning?

Great parents and coached educate the process of maintained discipline through chaos. Think about the last time your athlete was in competition. Remember feeling stressed for your athlete? Why? What were your thoughts that caused your pressure and anxiety? Was it past, present or future scenarios? Most likely the actual stress was caused by the long list of “What if’s?” What if they lose to this toad … What if they beat this top seed? What will they’re ranking move to? What will the coaches say? Will they get a Nike deal?

Insight 4: Focus on controlling the controllables versus focusing on the uncontrollables. In the competitive moment, is your athlete able to change past issues or forecast future issues? No, during competition, your athlete is only able to control the controllable – which is the present task at hand.

Parental focus should be on the effort and let go of results. Excellent physical, mental and emotional effort for the duration should be the entourage’s mission.

 

“Remember, there is a significant difference between excellence and perfection. Excellent effort is controllable. Perfection is a lie.”

 

Insight 5: Seek to educate your children to strive for excellence not perfection. The effort is in the process which will obtain winning results -not perfect results.

Your child’s success begins with preparing their character for the process of improvement. Only by achieving continuous improvement will your athlete be prepared when opportunity knocks. Unfortunately, many juniors get great opportunities but fail to capitalize, not because their lucky shorts were in the wash, but because they simply weren’t prepared.

 

Insight 6: Ask your athlete to complete a daily focus journal to assist them in self-coaching. Which of their components is weakest? Why? What would they suggest they could do differently to improve this weaknesses? The process of improvement needs a plan.

What drives your athlete to actually document their successes in their daily focus journal? What motivates them to wake up and put in the hard work? The answer is their moral compass, also known as their character. It’s their honest relationship and dialog with themselves that allows them to achieve their goals.

Insight 7: Character skills are life skills that parents can focus on daily. They include personal performance enhancers such as effort, dedication, time management, perseverance, resilience, and optimism. They also include personal ethics such as honesty, appreciation, loyalty, trustworthiness, kindness, unselfishness and respect. Parental coaching starts here.

 

Let’s review. The formula for parents to assist in skyrocketing their athlete’s chances of achieving championship results is, to begin with the character skills needed to implement their deliberate, customized developmental plan. An organized plan will be the foundation of the athletes accelerated growth. This is how you maximize your child’s potential as the quickest rate.

 

The Formula for Achieving Results- Part 1

Posted on February 24, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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THE FORMULA FOR ACHIEVING RESULTS

All too often, competitive parents and athletes have dreams they mistake for goals. The disconnect starts with confusing dreams with goals. A dream is only a goal if it has an organized plan. For example, when I ask naturally talented athletes about their goals, they most often answer with uncontrollable outcome dreams. Such as: being ranked top in the nation, winning the state championship, receiving an NCAA D-1 athletic scholarship or playing pro ball.

These are nice dreams but remember:

“A goal without a deliberate customized developmental plan is actually a dream in disguise.”

Although elite athletes may also have the above dreams, the difference is that they realize their success is a result of quantifiable performance orientated process goals. It isn’t always the most naturally gifted athletes that are successful, it is the athletes with strong work ethics, resiliency, and a plan. Below are seven insights that parents should apply while navigating their child’s pathway to greatness.

“Championship results are achieved by focusing on the process and the process starts with a plan.”

 

Achieving Results: Seven Insights  

Insight 1: Establish an outcome goal but then let it go because it isn’t in your athlete’s immediate control. What is? The process. The plan is everything.

The process starts and ends with the constant development of character. Daily focus on character building will shape your child’s life – on and off the playing fields. Character building develops your athlete’s inner voice through optimistic self-coaching. One of the most important jobs of a parent is to focus on character building through life skills.

Insight 2: Assist your athlete in developing calm, positive, proactive “self-talk.” This inner belief in themselves is the basis of the exact mental toughness they need at crunch time.

Your athlete’s inner voice is nurtured to either build them up to think clearly under duress or to tear them down and hinder their efforts at the most inopportune times. Often when things go south in competition, junior athletes allow their mind to drift away from the present process at hand (performance goals) and into past or future thoughts (outcome oriented thoughts). This is commonly followed by negative inner-chatter. Character building provides the optimistic scripts used to turn a possible disaster into another win.

Congratulations Frank!

Posted on February 21, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

CONGRATULATIONS to Frank Giampaolo

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2019 PTR International Newcomer Tennis Professional of the Year!

Personality Profiling: Mental and Physical Predispositions – Part 3

Posted on February 13, 2019 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

Body Typing

Now that we have introduced you to brain typing, let me review how body types affect motor skills and athletic potential.

The two opposing body types are called fine motor skilled dominant and gross motor skilled dominant. Individuals have a genetic predisposition to have a motor skill preference. Motor skills are signals sent from the brain through the nervous system into the different muscle groups.

Fine motor skilled athletes excel from the muscles found from the elbows through the hands and fingers. A common compliment given to a fine motor skilled athlete is, “They’ve got good hands.”

Gross motor skilled athletes prefer the use of the larger muscle groups found in the torso, legs, and feet. Gross motor skilled athletes are known for their superior core balance and elegant body coordination.

Raising athletic royalty requires matching the demands of your child’s sport, style of play and/or position with your child’s preferred brain type and body type design.

Here is an example of motor skill dominance in American football: a wide receiver’s primary job description is to catch the ball. It may prove beneficial if that particular athlete playing that particular position be fine motored skilled dominant (Good hands). However, the field goal kicker in the very same sport, on the very same football team has a very different job description. His primary job is to simply kick the ball. In this athlete’s role, it may prove beneficial that his genetic predisposition be gross motor skills dominant (core and leg drive). While it is essential to develop a well-rounded competitor, it’s important to note that all athletes possess a dominant body type which will naturally excels in the ideal environment position and/or sport.

 

“Raising a champion requires the development of a well-rounded athlete. For example, if your child is fine motor skilled dominate, plan on spending
more time and energy developing their
gross motor skills or vice versa.”

 

Knowing your child’s genetic makeup is critical. It helps to avoid the needless frustrations found in athletic development and in life. Being aware of your athlete’s natural strengths and weaknesses will better prepare you to assist your child and their coaches in their sport, style of play and/or position that they would most naturally excel.

The above section is courtesy of my book: Raising Athletic Royalty. If this topic is of interest to you I recommend Googling: Braintypes.com

 

Jon Niednagel coined the term “Brain Type” and holds the registered trademark.  Jon’s brain typing system (The Brain Type Institute) was developed by applying a combination of sciences to estimate athletic ability. Though his work stemmed from the teaching of psychiatrist Carl Jung and the later work of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, his innovative approach may become the most accurate science of human understanding on earth.