THE FOLLOWING PARAMETERS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE LEARNING PROCESS.
1. MECHANICAL PROFICIENCY
2. LEARNING LIMITS/SKILLS
3. EXPERIMENTS IN PRACTICE
4. FOLLOWUPS/REVIEW
THE AFOREMENTIONED 4 STAGES ARE CRITICAL TO THE PROPER DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG TENNIS PLAYER. I WILL REFER TO THESE STAGES WHEN I WRITE ABOUT THE YOUNG CHAMPION I AM COACHING NAMED JOEY. JOEY IS LIKE EVERY YOUNG 13 YEAR OLD PLAYER MOTIVATED BY POWER AND THAT ONE GREAT SHOT HE CAN MAKE DURING HIS LESSON. I HAVE WORKED WITH JOEY FOR 2 YEARS ON HIS GAME AND THAT’S ABOUT HOW LONG HE HAS BEEN PLAYING. HE HAS A GREAT HEAD FOR THE STRATEGY OF TENNIS WITHOUT THE SHOT MAKING SKILLS. HE IS DETERMINED TO BE A GREAT PLAYER, BUT DISLIKES THE CONDITIONING ASPECT OF TENNIS. JOEY’S BEST WEAPON IS HIS FOREHAND, THIS SHOT IS AS “AS GOOD AS IT GETS”. HE HAS CONTROL WITH POWER TO BOTH SIDES AND CAN ALMOST HIT WINNERS FROM ANY POSITION IN THE COURT.
HE JUST NEEDS TO LEARN TO USE DIFFERENT POWER LEVELS TO CONTROL DEPTH AND UTILIZE THE COURT BETTER. JOEY IS CAPABLE OF HITTING THE BALL IN THE 60-80 MILE PER HOUR RANGE AND KEEPS THE BALL IN THE COURT. HIS GRIP IS SEMI-WESTERN LIKE ANDRE AND SOMETIMES SLIPS OVER TO THE FULL WESTERN. HE CAN ATTACK BEHIND IT WITH DEPTH AND SPIN TO SETUP THE VOLLEY PUT AWAY. I HAVE WORKED HARD NOT TO COACH JUST ONE STYLE OF PLAY IN HIS GAME. JOEY CAN PLAY NET AND PLAY IT WELL. HE CAN DROP SHOT, DROP VOLLEY, AND ANGLE VOLLEY WITH PRETTY GOOD CONSISTENCY. I HAVE FOCUSED ABOUT 25% OF HIS LEARNING STYLE TO THE NET WITH 75% TO THE BIG THREE, SERVE, FOREHAND, AND BACKHAND. THESE SHOTS IN TENNIS WITH STRATEGY CAN BE VERY EFFECTIVE IN JUNIOR TENNIS.
THIS GIVES YOU A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF JOEY THE STUDENT AND YOUNG CHAMPION. I WILL UPDATE YOU WEEKLY ON HIS PROGRESS AND EXPLAIN THE LESSON PLAN USED FOR DEVELOPMENT.