HS Tennis Practice Feedback

[bubbatex]

My daughter is a sophmore and the past two years has seen a new coach in each of her first two years in HS. The guy we have now is nice, but not really a tennis coach - more of a football wannabe that took the tennis coach job to get into the school. They have tennis practice during their last period of the day and typically stay over one or two additional days a week during the season. The kids started out the year actually hitting and playing for practice but that has gradually been cut back to endurance training. They are running, lifting and doing agility drills and maybe picking up the racket for a few minutes. They are doing very little hitting - if I did not take her out 2-3 times a week, she would virtually not hit a ball! The coach says they need to be in better shape and if you want to hit - you'll need to find time on your own to do so. I believe endurance is important - but if you can't hit the ball back over the net it does not matter how much endurance you have.

I believe they need to be playing more together when they have practice and some of the other parents believe so too. Are we wrong? Am I off base in believing that "tennis practice" should actually involve hitting a tennis ball once in a while??

Opinions on next steps would be welcomed.

[redsoxrock930]

the coach sounds like he's trying tennis players to be football players. they don't need to be doing lifting. footwork and some long distance jogging twice a week, but they definitely need to do practice sets.

[SoCalDominates]

the coach sounds like he's trying tennis players to be football players. they don't need to be doing lifting. footwork and some long distance jogging twice a week, but they definitely need to do practice sets.

you are absolutely wrong. My coach is an experienced SOCAL player being top 3 in every age group every year and got a full ride to Notre Dame. I lift a couple times a week and he says that tennis players from age 15 should lift everyday. According to him thats what college coaches want

[TokyopunK]

Bubbatex for girls HS Coach 2008!

[redsoxrock930]

yea so cal , i agree that conditioning is very important. but as bubbatex said it doesn't matter how much endurance you do if you can't get the ball over the net.

what are your favorite workouts.
I like the basics, bench press, curls, squats, rows, pullups, treadmill, tricep extentions etc.
BTW what do you bench, i did 5 at 95 today.

[SoCalDominates]

i can do 2 at 100 but a full 10 at 90

[redsoxrock930]

full 10 at 90 is pretty good, i can do about 8 at 90.

[Kaptain Karl]

I am a HS Coach and your daughter's Coach needs someone to come along side him and point him to some useful sites like ... Dave Smith's <www.TennisOne.com> ... John Yandel's <www.tennisplayer.net> ... etc.

Or ... send him an e-mail with this thread linked (http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=25189). A lot of us coaches have put our favorite drills, etc in there.

Our season is too short for me to put that much emphasis on conditioning. Your experience may vary though.

- KK

[Jackie T. Stephens]

Conditioning is important but at my school after conditioning comes playing tennis for about an hour or practice.

[Venetian]

The kids should be conditioning on their own time. It's tennis practice, not physical training time. Skill levels in high school vary far too much to be worrying about conditioning. It's not likely to make the difference.

I was in fantastic shape in high school and routinely got beaten by better players in horrible shape.

They should be using that time to improve their technique. Otherwise what's the point of even having practice, or a coach for that matter?

[north4t]

you have to condition. I do every other day. But you also have to play tennis. Which I do more than I condition.(its funner!!!)

[bubbatex]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback (and the links KK). I just need to figure out a way to strategically get him going in the right direction w/o compromising my daughter's position on the team.

[Kaptain Karl]

You're welcome, bubba. I just remembered another resource. Tom Avery's Consistent Tennis Wins (http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageAVERY-CTWCOMP.html) DVDs.

They would be excellent as an anonymous(?) gift to the Coach. (You'd be helping future generations of teammates, too.)

I have the complete set. I setup a Lending Library with them and give my boys selected discs for their Extra Credit work....

- KK

[Pusher]

My daughter is a sophmore and the past two years has seen a new coach in each of her first two years in HS. The guy we have now is nice, but not really a tennis coach - more of a football wannabe that took the tennis coach job to get into the school. They have tennis practice during their last period of the day and typically stay over one or two additional days a week during the season. The kids started out the year actually hitting and playing for practice but that has gradually been cut back to endurance training. They are running, lifting and doing agility drills and maybe picking up the racket for a few minutes. They are doing very little hitting - if I did not take her out 2-3 times a week, she would virtually not hit a ball! The coach says they need to be in better shape and if you want to hit - you'll need to find time on your own to do so. I believe endurance is important - but if you can't hit the ball back over the net it does not matter how much endurance you have.

I believe they need to be playing more together when they have practice and some of the other parents believe so too. Are we wrong? Am I off base in believing that "tennis practice" should actually involve hitting a tennis ball once in a while??

Opinions on next steps would be welcomed.

Sounds like the coach is doing what he knows he does best-conditioning. He 's probably smart enough to know he can't actually coach tennis. That's the way it is in high school tennis.

The problem with high school tennis is that you usually have two kinds of players-the one that wants to play a high school sport, likes tennis, and figures they have a decent chance of making the team. The other type trains year round with a professional coach, plays USTA tournaments and plans on playing at the college level or beyond. Each expects something different from high school tennis.

The serious players want to continue to train with their personal coach and show up at high school practice just to play challenge matches to determine the seeds. They expect nor want nothing from the high school coach. The more casual player expects to receive some coaching and actual tennis practice.

My son has opted out of high school tennis for the past 2 years because he had to spend 2 hours a day at practice with a coach that knows very little and he was hitting with kids with little competetive experience or training. In his mind it was a waste of his time considering his personal goals.

I do like the idea of conditioning the players-something they can all benefit from. And in tennis, unlike most other sports, you are generally expected to practice on your own. But I can see where many of the players would expect that actually playing tennis would be a part of practice-and it should be.

Bottom line, conditioning is a part of tennis, but just a part. Playing tennis has to account for the majority of tennis practice and if the serious players don't like it then they still have their own coach and USTA tournaments. The more casual players who expect a team enviornment should demand actual tennis practice.

Just my opinion.

[bubbatex]

Pusher - I totally agree with your assessment on HS tennis. My kid just picked up the game about 18 months ago and we are certainly not banking on any college tennis, but she is still competitive and wants to be the best she can for the next 2.5 years. Which, as you pointed out with the two types of players, would be competing for the 3-6 seeds as there are 3 USTA tourney players on the team that have been playing for years - and #1 is a senior. And I also agree that conditioning is important, but it should not be 75%+ of their practice time.

I guess my main point is that to get better, you need to play with better people and they are missing an opportunity to challenge and push each other on a daily basis. I was #1, 2 or 3 during my HS years and we all played with each other - and we made the 5 & 6 guys better for doing so (which greatly increased our chances of a team win). Not that the #1 wants to hit with #6, but if you don't pick up a racket at practice, no one gets a chance to improve.

[Venetian]

My high school practice was usually about 1.5 hrs long and we would play out points and do drills for AT LEAST an hour of that. The 15-30 minutes at the end was for conditioning drills, and that was just sprints and various footwork drills (with a few push-ups and crunches). We never did anything more, such as lifting, during practice time. Most guys wanted to work out on their own to get in better shape anyway.

[Pusher]

Pusher - I totally agree with your assessment on HS tennis. My kid just picked up the game about 18 months ago and we are certainly not banking on any college tennis, but she is still competitive and wants to be the best she can for the next 2.5 years. Which, as you pointed out with the two types of players, would be competing for the 3-6 seeds as there are 3 USTA tourney players on the team that have been playing for years - and #1 is a senior. And I also agree that conditioning is important, but it should not be 75%+ of their practice time.

I guess my main point is that to get better, you need to play with better people and they are missing an opportunity to challenge and push each other on a daily basis. I was #1, 2 or 3 during my HS years and we all played with each other - and we made the 5 & 6 guys better for doing so (which greatly increased our chances of a team win). Not that the #1 wants to hit with #6, but if you don't pick up a racket at practice, no one gets a chance to improve.

Just tell the coach what you expect. If that doesn't work then tell the AD. I doubt the AD wants the hassle of angry parents and he may force a change. It doesn't sound like anything can get any worse.

[bubbatex]

One other thing (particularly to KK) - at this age - 15, 16, 17 - are you trying to teach kids how to do the basics? I mean if a kid has an odd serve toss (that still gets in with a nice slice) or uses a western grip and a coach thinks that an eastern grip would be more effective, do you try to change these kids during a 30 minutes practice 2-3 times a week?

[Kaptain Karl]

One other thing (particularly to KK) - at this age - 15, 16, 17 - are you trying to teach kids how to do the basics?"It depends...." (Sorry, but true.)

We had seven boys who'd never played tennis before this season. With them, of course we worked the basics. One of those seven had a wicked topspin-slice serve ... naturally. I would not let any of the other coaches mess with it. (Now that the season is over, I have suggested he take some lessons ... to learn how to put a bit more "oomph" on it. I don't Teach for money anymore. And as a Coach, there's simply not enough time and there are too many boys. He needs a Teaching Pro.)



Generally speaking, when technique issues arise I assess the Pros & Cons. Then I decide....

a) If the boy is risking injury, I change his technique regardless of the consequences.

b) If I believe "Joe" can adapt to the changes this season, I give the changes a try.

c) If I think the technique change will not happen quickly enough ... or if the benefit may not be worth it ... I abstain.

The toughest event is when "Joe" has been talking with "Bill" and Bill has a super BH. Joe and Bill are friends, so Bill thinks Joe can easily learn the same stroke. (Joe bugs me continuously to teach him how to hit "Bill's BH.") Unfortunately, neither Joe nor Bill know Bill has an unusual amount of natural ability and his especially gifted. Joe doesn't really have a chance of learning to rip a BH like Bill can. The result is ... Joe thinks I hate him; Bill thinks I'm a fake.

(Ah!!! The joys of coaching....)

- KK

[bubbatex]

KK - thanks - LOVE your philosophy! This guy decides that a kid on the team does not serve well because it does not "look good" (when in reality, she has one of the most consistent serves on the team now) and then tries to change it in about 30 total minutes a week. But he does not know how to help - he has no coaching skills.

Anyway - I appreciate all of the feedback here. I think I have a plan of action for my daughter - we are going to work our butts off this winter and then her game will take care of everything else!