Tag Archives: The Tennis Parents Bible

What the Experts Are Saying…

Posted on November 3, 2015 by in The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following is a quote from Shaul Zohar about the Second Edition Tennis Parent’s Bible- Coming Soon!

 

black_ebook_design2

“A first-class book from a first-class coach.

Frank is an encyclopedia of tennis knowledge, has extraordinary talents to share and a model of professionalism. When all of these components come together, an excellent book such as the Tennis Parents Bible appears.

This is a must read for all parents, players and coaches to understand everything related to this sport we love.”

Shaul Zohar, Manager, Kiryat Shmona Israel Tennis Center

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate 

 

Coming Soon- The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible

Posted on October 31, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Following is a quote from Susan Nardi about the  upcoming second edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible.

Thanks for visiting, Frank black_ebook_design2

“Frank has taken his master piece book and has even made it better. Tennis Parents Bible is a must read for every parent and coach.”

Susan F. Nardi

Assistant Chief Performance Architect
MTM Level 4 International Tester & Clinician
PTR International Tester & Clinician
USPTA Elite Professional
Nexx Player Tennis Academy

Intimidation and Athletics

Posted on October 3, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible is coming soon! The following post is an excerpt from  The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

 

Frank Giampaolo

Question: My daughter is easily intimidated out of competing. Is this fair?

Frank: Yes, intimidation is fair. At the higher levels, tennis is a game of intimidation. If your daughter has terrific strokes but is an inexperienced emotional competitor, it is your child’s coach’s responsibility to assist them in developing a “thick skin.”

Dealing with gamesmanship should be part of your child’s basic training. The first step in handling gamesmanship is devising customized solutions (protocols) for each form of gamesmanship.  The second step is rehearsing those solutions on the practice court to gain confidence in applying pre-set counter gamesmanship solutions in a real match.

To progress into the higher levels of the game, mental and emotional skill set development is crucial. Parents, if you’re not taking an active role in helping to develop these critical components in your child, please don’t blame your child when tournament after tournament they lose as a result of gamesmanship.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Accelerating Growth

Posted on September 20, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloFrank Giampaolo

Question: Why is it hard for some athletes to make changes?

 

Frank: Let’s take another look into personality profiles. People with a sensate judging (SJ) dominate brain type are actually wired to be safe. In their mind, being safe provides a sense of security. For them conformity is comfortable. Standardization is key. To these SJ personalities, change is uncertain and therefore feared.

Others personality types, especially intuitive perceivers (NP), are wired to trust their natural inquisitive instincts and be more risk takers. These NP personalities are future oriented and boldly see the world as something to conquer. It’s in their DNA (nature.)  These inborn characteristics are called genetic predisposition.

A person’s ultimate belief system is a result of both their genetic predisposition (nature) and their life experiences (nurture) -such as upbringing, surroundings and parental views. Humans naturally protect their beliefs, some way more than others.

When confronted by different ideas or opinions a chemical reaction triggers a response. To the SJ personalities, this new idea may be viewed as a threat because it hasn’t been analyzed yet, so avoiding it is often normal.

When new techniques are presented to these folks they are often uncomfortable simply because the information is different. The new method clashes with the old comfortable method so the new method is disregarded as wrong.

 

“Sometimes the new way is actually the right way…but it feels wrong to the SJ athlete coach and/or parent.”

 

In seeking change, consider your athlete’s brain type and body type.  For example, asking a fine motor skilled dominant body type player to change their foot work, core balance and stability is going to be much more difficult than asking a gross motor skilled dominant player to do the same task.

 

“Motivate your athlete to accept change.  Although change can be difficult, by refusing to change and grow … you will likely be left behind.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

 

Benefits of Opponent Profiling

Posted on September 16, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from the NEW Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible- Coming Soon!  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Frank Giampaolo

 

Opponent Profiling

At the advanced levels, every player has efficient strokes. In tournament competition what often separates the champion from the field is their mental and emotional skill sets. This includes paying attention to why points are won and lost. They manage the score, their strategies and their performance anxieties as well as their focus control. Winners enjoy adapting to the ever changing challenges of closing out sets and matches. Winners maintain their poise under stress because they are one step ahead of the opponent by opponent profiling. I encourage both the parents and the coaches to begin to develop each athlete’s mental and emotional “muscles” at an early stage.

 

“In any sport, experts don’t simply see where the action is… they can see where the action is going to be in the very near future.”

 

Opponent profiling is essentially paying attention to the opponent’s patterns and tactics and applying the appropriate counter tactics.

Benefits of Opponent Profiling:

  • Controlling the tipping points and energy of the match.
  • Shutting down the opponents preferred play. Forcing them to shift to their less comfortable patterns at crunch time.
  • Gaining the critical mental/ emotional edge in tiebreakers.
  • Inflating their own confidence while systematically deflating the opponents.
  • Intimidating the opponent by out-thinking them-staying on top of their preferred patterns.

Just as I urged players earlier in this mental chapter to design and rehearse their “Top 7” patterns (2 ball shot sequence), I also have high hopes that your athletes will progress one step further and apply the art of spotting the opponents favorite shot sequences.

Identifying the Opponent’s “Top 7” Categories:

  • Top serving pattern to the deuce side.
  • Top serving pattern on the ad side.
  • Favorite return pattern and position versus a big first serve.
  • Favorite pattern and position versus a weaker second serve.
  • Favorite rally pattern.
  • Favorite short ball option.
  • Favorite approach shot pattern.

“Forcing talented opponents out of their comfort zone requires your athlete to identify and systematically shut down the opponent’s favorite strategies and tactics.”

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

The SECOND Edition Coming Soon!

Posted on September 6, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

Question: Should parents be discouraged or encouraged to watch practice?

 

Frank: I encourage the parents to be involved in the learning process. There’s so much “GOOD” that comes from positive entourage synergy. However, there are two situations in which I will speak privately with the parents and explain to them that their presence during the practice session may be stunting the growth they seek.

The first situation is if the child has told me that their efforts are constantly being overly criticized by their parents or if the parents are so outcome driven, the athlete feels immense added pressure to perform perfectly or else. Athletes and their parents should seek excellence …not perfection.

 

“Stress and fear are not optimal learning environments. Maximizing potential comes with the freedom of making mistakes.”

 

Players need to experiment and try things “their own way.” Junior athletes have often confided in me that when their primary tennis parent is in attendance, they’re later bombarded for hours with a laundry list of additional failures that need to be fixed. The player begins to feel hopeless – believing that they will never be good enough.

The second situation in which a parental discussion is in order involves overly protective, mildly obsessed parents. In today’s world, they are commonly called “Helicopter” parents. The nickname comes from their neurotic hovering on and around the court every session as they attempt to dominate the coach-athlete relationship. (If you suspect that you or your spouse may be a bit of a helicopter parent, the next question is for you.)

Parents, if your child feels additional stress from your presents, it’s in everyone’s best interest to take the time to get educated in the process of raising athletic royalty. If you’re interested, I have a detailed book on the topic actually called: Raising Athletic Royalty: Insights to Inspire for a Lifetime. It’s everything you didn’t even know…you needed to know.

 

 

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Coming Soon

Posted on August 30, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the NEW The Tennis Parent’s Bible coming soon!

Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloFrank Giampaolo

 

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

 

Due to the over-whelming response to the 2010, bestselling first edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible, I’ve been traveling the world with coaching seminars, tennis parent workshops and working with private families of passionate athletes. Throughout my travels, I continued my quest to go deeper into the process of raising athletic royalty.  In the past five years, I’ve increased my knowledge tenfold and I want to share these discoveries with you.

I was compelled to write the first edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible for two very important reasons:

First and foremost, I found that the old system of raising elite athletes lacked player, parent and coach synergy. And secondly, a successful organized guide to support parents in developing athletic royalty had not been established.

After years of coaching and working with players, parents, coaches and researchers, I had developed a more efficient way of organizing the tennis player’s team. I am obviously an “outside the box” style of thinker… I always have been. It’s my genetic predisposition. I found that by educating the tennis parent about the nuances of tennis development, the developmental process was more successful and the journey was appreciated.

 

“The modern epidemic of mediocrity, stemming all the way back from 1950’s and the assembly line mentality, is ineffective in athletic development.”

 

Educating the athlete’s parents is a revolutionary way to achieve greater family harmony while maximizing player potential at a quicker rate.

To illustrate my philosophy, here is an example of why your children shouldn’t be placed in groups based solely on their age. Customization is essential. I know 6 year olds that are more coordinated and athletically mature than 12 year olds and 17 year olds more emotionally immature than 10 year olds. Some athletes thrive in shorter sessions, some in longer sessions. Some enjoy training in groups of peers, some prefer private sessions. Growth development schedules are diverse. Different personality profiles require different approaches to their development.  This book’s intent is to break the old fashion standardizations beginning with the role of the tennis parent in the developmental process.

Invested selfless parents deeply want to be involved in their children’s lives and be a part of the team. Telling the primary care givers to “butt out”, which is sadly the industry norm, isn’t in anyone’s best interest. Tennis parent education has been the most ignored and mysterious topic in the industry and I intend to continue my quest in changing this direction.

Regardless of the stage of development, The Tennis Parent’s Bible will assist you, the tennis parent, in maximizing your child’s tennis potential at the quickest rate. The evolutionary state of tennis demands parents be more involved and informed, due to the ever increasing demands of the game. The competition is bigger, faster and stronger. Around the globe, the competition is training more efficiently. The days of raising a talented athlete while being a passive parent are long gone. The Tennis Parent’s Bible is essential reading for those interested in developing confident, self-reliant and accomplished children.


 

 

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate

Essential Tennis Skills

Posted on August 8, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

 

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloMaximizing Tennis Potential with Frank Giampaolo

 

Accelerate your child’s game with proper physical training.  Modern high level tennis demands high level athleticism.  Ignoring training and only focusing on stroke mechanics will severely limit any athletes potential.

The Following Training Skills are Essential to High Performance Tennis Athletes:

  • Lateral Movement (Side to side)
  • Up & Back Movement (Forward & back)
  • Aerobic Fitness
  • Ability to Accelerate
  • Ability to Decelerate
  • Speed/Agility
  • Stamina
  • Recovery Time between Points/Plays
  • Recovery Time between Matches/Games
  • Strength (Upper body/core/lower body)
  • Body Coordination (Gross motor skills)
  • Hand-Eye Coordination (Fine motor skills)
  • Flexibility/Stretching
  • Anticipatory Speed

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate 

Pre-Match Preparation

Posted on July 29, 2015 by in Match Day Preparation

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible.  Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo

 

Intelligent Pre-Match Preparation:

  1. Train repetition of primary and secondary strokes. This grooves the athlete’s timing and increases their confidence in every tool in their tool belt.
  2. Train repetition of proactive patterns. This leads to fast cognitive processing speed, no hesitation and faith in the patterns.
  3. Perform light off-court training. This leads to the reduction of injuries and increased strength and stamina.
  4. Preset mental protocols. Pre-planning how to beat the different styles of opponents leads to confidence and dependable problem-solving skills.
  5. Preset emotional protocols. Pre-planning how to conquer performance anxieties leads to self-assurance and trust under stress.

 

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate 

 

Decreasing Unforced Errors Part One

Posted on July 26, 2015 by in The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from The Tennis Parent’s Bible. Thank you for visiting, Frank GiampaoloThe Tennis Parent's Bible by Frank Giampaolo

Decreasing Unforced Errors -Part One

 

If the most common cause of errors in competitive tennis is shot selection, can you share some examples?

Shot selection starts with understanding that in between each shot in a rally, there are only approximately 2 milliseconds of actual decision making time. So, how much can you analyze in that small amount of time? The answer is not much. This means that most shot selection options are learned behaviors acquired in sparring session, under the watch of a high IQ coach on the practice court.

To explain the importance of shot selection, we will use two of my students, Jack and Jason (brothers that couldn’t be more different). Jason has chosen to focus on the mental/emotional sides of tennis early in his development, while Jack was and still is too cool to listen to this silly stuff and enjoys grooving back and forth to the pro for his entire lesson.

 

Strength and Weaknesses

Situation: It is add-in. Holding serve means a comfortable 5-2 lead.

Jason: Selects to serve a big kick serve wide to the opponent’s weaker side; He runs the same old boring, Winning pattern to close out the game.

Jack: Selects to go for a huge ace down the center (the one that he made once in a tornado back in 2010); He misses, gets angry and rushes into a double fault.

 

Broad Vision

Situation: Our player just hit an offensive shot and has the opponent on the dead run; the opponent is stretching and lunging at a low slice backhand.

Jason: Spots the visual clues like the defensive court position, body language, open racket face and defensive strike zone of the opponent. He moves in, takes away the opponent’s recovery time and steals an easy volley winner.

Jack: Didn’t bother to learn to spot these clues, so he stands at the baseline and lets the opponent float the ball back and he then re- starts the rally. Jack just missed an important opportunity to win the point.

 

Offense, Neutral Defensive Options

Situation: The brothers are in a vulnerable position running fifteen feet behind the baseline retrieving the opponents terrific shot.

Jason: Throws up a deep, high, defensive lob to push the opponent back and gain valuable recovery time.

Jack: Goes for an offensive, down the line pass that lands near the back fence…Then screams…AAAHHHH!

 

Movement, Balance and Strike Zones

Situation: Our player gets to the ball late. He is off balance and ends up striking the ball down by his socks.

Jason: Quickly dials his offensive shot selection down to neutral and elects to simply keep the opponent from taking an offensive position.

Jack: Is still in full flight and goes for a topspin rip off of his shoe laces. The ball rips into the net. Then yells “Geez!!!”

 

Winning Score Dynamics

Situation: Our player is winning comfortably 6-3, 4- 1.

Jason: Continues to do the exact same, boring shot selections. He closes out the match in routine fashion. He realizes the importance of saving physical and emotional energy for the next round.

Jack: Gets bored with such a lead. He begins to throw in a bunch of more exciting, yet low percentage new things. In essence, Jack has changed the shot selections that have gained him a comfortable lead. Now the set is 5-5; Jack is so angry that he is acting like a Crazy Person; throwing his racquet and yelling, “I Hate Tennis.” His situation is a result of his wandering mind.

 

Losing Score Modifications

Situation: Our player is down 1-4 but is actually controlling the court and the points. His hard hitting baseline style is working, but he is simply missing the put away balls by a few inches.

Jason: Spots that the style is working. He adapts by staying with the hard hitting style of play and chooses to apply more top spin to his shots and simply aim three feet inside the lines.

Jack: Is so upset that he is missing, that he does not spot that fact that he is actually controlling the points with his hard hitting baseline style of play. So, he changes his hard hitting style and stands flat footed and pushes every shot. Jack’s slow, short balls are now “Sitting Ducks” and the opponent has a field day hitting winner after winner. After the match, Jack says, “He was too good.”

 

In summary, thinking, reacting, adjusting and problem solving are critical dimensions in top level tennis. Without it, the physical and technical sides of the athlete tend to drift off course. The key tools needed to compete at higher are developed by training the mental and emotional components of the game. If your child is more like crazy Jack, it may be time to organize their developmental plan before another critical year is wasted away.

Contact Frank Giampaolo
Cell: (949)933-1272
Web Site: www.MaximizingTennisPotential.com
Affiliate