Please critique this 7-years old

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by TeflonTom

say that looks like fun. let me try.

fact 4: the majority of great tennis players grew up with wooden racquets

conclusion: all players should learn to play with dunlop maxplys

If they go back to grass with low skidding bounces as the primary surface, that might actually help.

[carnaval09]

Originally Posted by TeflonTom

black screen-printed tshirts r for metalheads

That's not quite the advice I was looking for

[carnaval09]

Thanks everybody for the comments.
For the last 2 days we worked on his FH and changed a lot of things.
Tomorrow I want to post another video of our homework when he rallied to see if we are going in the right direction.
Being new here I'm not sure if I need to create another thread or just add another video link in the initial post. ???

[carnaval09]

Originally Posted by gunnd5000

He's pretty decent! Is the net lowered there I take it if as you say he is playing mini tennis However it does not look like it has been? If not I would do so or try using a mini red net? Using appropraite equpiment will aid his developement. Obviously you are using a red ball as you can see it slow up off the court which is perfect for his size and ability. What we all hate seeing is our standard tennis dad uploading a video of their 7 year old girl hitting over a 3ft net with a solid yellow ball, that kinda stuff leads to bad technique.

At this stage in terms of how much he should be playing competition wise is debateable, some say only doubles, some say as much competiton as you can find him which I personally disagree with. Just play as many tournamnets as he enjoys and you can afford both singles and doubles as at 7 the skills he'll learn in doubles will not only aid his tennis but his social skills, his team work and many other transferable skills which he will need later in life.

Interms of how much he should play, again as much as he enjoys at this stage, although I would encourage you to try get him down and play outside of the times he has coaching squads or individual lessons. This can either be with you or with his friends of a similar standard to him, again if you're playing with him, always play red untill he's moving into orange. Of the players I coach in sqauds its the ones who go away and hit even just once a week, implementing what I've told them in our class that improve, its obvious the following week whos played and who hasnt. Make sure your kid is always the one that has.

This is all very general as there is little I can tell you from a 2min 30second video however his footwork often lacks intensity on the forehand side, the camera angles makes it hard to see anything on the backhand. And again unless you're wanting to practice your hieght over the net lower it, mini red and orange nets should be 80 cm in the middle, The UKs lta site has all you need to know about this

http://www.lta.org.uk/LTA-Mini-Tenni...ni-Tennis-Red/

and thats what a mini red net should look like although if you're club doesnt have one of these available use the full net lowered to 80cm.

Any more questions please feel free to ask.

Would you please take another look at him rallying with orange ball in the second video where we did some adjustments based on the comments here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-s25...hannel&list=UL
Thanks in advance.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by gunnd5000

they have been tested pretty rigorously now although maybe a couple years ago it was more questionable.

I'm not convinced that's true. There hasn't been enough time to evaluate. All the original research came from Belgium and hinged on Clijsters, Henin and Malisse, two of who didn't play mini-tennis and the other had nothing to do with the Belgian Federation at all!

Personally, I don't have a problem with the equipment and modified courts etc (in fact I love it!), but I do have a problem with the competition mandate. Tennis is an individual sport, played by individual athletes, not all under 8's are alike, nor are under 9's etc etc. Coaches should be able to choose how their athletes compete based on their needs - maybe a 9 year old needs to play a Red match to practice a new technique, maybe a 7 year old is physically developed enough to compete on an Orange court. Implement this flexibility and scrap ratings and rankings for under 10's and you'd be spot on (actually, you'd be in Spain!!!)

To be fair it doesn't matter as all countries are adopting the competition mandate so whether it is better or not is immaterial as all countries will be in the same boat...except Spain, who may well continue to dominate!

Cheers

[gplracer]

I think it is a good improvement. The backswing is shorter. See if you can get him to shorten the follow through as well so it does not almost hit him in the back each time. Also be sure he recovers to a ready position with the left hand on the throat of the racket. This will help with recovery time and readiness for the next shot.

[carnaval09]

Originally Posted by gplracer

I think it is a good improvement. The backswing is shorter. See if you can get him to shorten the follow through as well so it does not almost hit him in the back each time. Also be sure he recovers to a ready position with the left hand on the throat of the racket. This will help with recovery time and readiness for the next shot.

Thanks, we keep progressing which is encouraging.