Junior...9 years old...what do you think?

[Rten10]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zoO-xvUWb0

Hey...just wanted to get a general consensus on her groundstrokes. Any advice? Tips?

[Rten10]

She's 8 in this video BTW

[baseline08thrasher]

That is one awesome looking 8 year old tennis player.

She's got smooth technique.
This is probably the best technique you could get an 8 year old to do.

Trust me, I've seen a lot of juniors at top clubs.


One thing I'd get your child to do at an early age is to get her racquet prepared and get her used to doing that.
Also, make sure she sets up and get to the ball on time.

Have her develop positive habits.
And don't overwhelm her with too many tips, because I've seen some coaches do that before, and this really confuses the children.

Be simple and be to the point.

Those two things though are very good habits to have, and in junior tennis today, you will see balls hit too late due to bad preperation.

She has pretty good preperation though.
I'd say she looks excellent.
Keep working. =]

And some advice that will help you:
-Don't have her change to those extreme grips, this will not allow you to hit through the ball when you get older.
Robert Landsdorp preaches this.
-And remember to tell her to hit through the ball, and not be too cautious when she is playing, THIS might not help you win now, because other juniors have the ability to keep the ball in forever, but LATER down the road, if she can hit through the ball, and hit aggressively, everything will come into place.
If you have her developing a good aggressive game, then she will be a really tough cookie when she gets older.

Hope my advice helps you.

[TennisCoachFLA]

I am assuming you posted this to get honest reactions, pro and con? If so, to be 100% frank....for an 8-9 year old, she hits okay. Nothing stands out either great nor awful as far as her footwork, set up, strokes, power. She definately needs balance work, seems to hit leaning backwards a tad. The elite kids explode into the ball with consistent balance.

Compared to elite Florida 8-9 year olds that I see daily, she would not be in the conversation. Compared to kids just playing tennis twice a week for fun and exercise, she would be considered very, very good.

Advice? Balance work, Bosu, etc...programs are all over the internet. Get her to explode into each stroke, ending up a few feet inside the baseline...then scrambling back to her position for the next ball.

[Rten10]

Originally Posted by TennisCoachFLA

I am assuming you posted this to get honest reactions, pro and con? If so, to be 100% frank....for an 8-9 year old, she hits okay. Nothing stands out either great nor awful as far as her footwork, set up, strokes, power. She definately needs balance work, seems to hit leaning backwards a tad. The elite kids explode into the ball with consistent balance.

Compared to elite Florida 8-9 year olds that I see daily, she would not be in the conversation. Compared to kids just playing tennis twice a week for fun and exercise, she would be considered very, very good.

Advice? Balance work, Bosu, etc...programs are all over the internet. Get her to explode into each stroke, ending up a few feet inside the baseline...then scrambling back to her position for the next ball.

Yes, any comments/advice are welcome. I live in upstate NY and as you might already know there aren't a whole lot of top juniors up this way so just wanted to get an idea of where she might stand among kids her age. The video was taken about a year ago, so she has improved, but I totally agree with you about her falling back and needing to step into the shot more. Thanks for the honest advice.

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by Rten10

Yes, any comments/advice are welcome. I live in upstate NY and as you might already know there aren't a whole lot of top juniors up this way so just wanted to get an idea of where she might stand among kids her age. The video was taken about a year ago, so she has improved, but I totally agree with you about her falling back and needing to step into the shot more. Thanks for the honest advice.

Don't get me wrong, she looks athletic and hits a very nice ball. At her age just let her have fun and develop solid fundamentals.

If she is still into tennis in a few years, take her to week long camp in FL. and see how she stacks up with the top kids.

Remember, being the best tennis kid at 8-9 is not important. We have lots of girls down here that hit better than she does, but many will burn out or simply have matured earlier than other kids. The best players at 8-9 are not always the best players at 15-20.

Your girl is enjoying a sport that she can play her entire life. Enjoy, encourage, and see what happens. Good luck.

[LSStringing]

She is very smooth. Biomechanics are good off the baseline. It will be tough to become a great player in that area of the world. Not many big hitters have come out of the NY/Western region...especially girls! It is truly a different world than down in FL. In Florida, if you are good, you get to hit with good players...a huge advantage. In Western NY, if you are good, then you are probably the ONE kid everyone talks about. You had better be willing to travel alot.

If you really feel that you have a junior that is extremely talented that is under 11, have them enter a Little Mo regional event. It will give you a chance to see what the other juniors in her appropriate age division look like.

You can enter the Eastern sections Little Mo on May 1-3, 2009 at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco, NY (914) 241-0797 (914) 241-0683 (F). Hope this helped.

[rozy888]

i was top 10 in great britain for under 10's. trust me it meant nothing. what you want to do is try and build her game up so she will peak when its important.

[Rten10]

Originally Posted by TennisCoachFLA

Don't get me wrong, she looks athletic and hits a very nice ball. At her age just let her have fun and develop solid fundamentals.

If she is still into tennis in a few years, take her to week long camp in FL. and see how she stacks up with the top kids.

Remember, being the best tennis kid at 8-9 is not important. We have lots of girls down here that hit better than she does, but many will burn out or simply have matured earlier than other kids. The best players at 8-9 are not always the best players at 15-20.

Your girl is enjoying a sport that she can play her entire life. Enjoy, encourage, and see what happens. Good luck.

You make a good point about how being the best when you are 8-9 doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to be the best 10 or so years later. She has fun with it for now, obviously when she gets a little older she is ultimately going to decide for herself whether or not she wants to seriously continue with it. We put the video up just to get some honest feedback and you have helped us a lot. Thanks!

[Rten10]

Originally Posted by LSStringing

She is very smooth. Biomechanics are good off the baseline. It will be tough to become a great player in that area of the world. Not many big hitters have come out of the NY/Western region...especially girls! It is truly a different world than down in FL. In Florida, if you are good, you get to hit with good players...a huge advantage. In Western NY, if you are good, then you are probably the ONE kid everyone talks about. You had better be willing to travel alot.

If you really feel that you have a junior that is extremely talented that is under 11, have them enter a Little Mo regional event. It will give you a chance to see what the other juniors in her appropriate age division look like.

You can enter the Eastern sections Little Mo on May 1-3, 2009 at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco, NY (914) 241-0797 (914) 241-0683 (F). Hope this helped.

Thanks for the feedback and the info on the Little Mo tournament. We were already considering making the trip down there this year so we will see...and you are definitely right about kids in Florida having a huge advantage by being able to hit with other high level kids. As you probably already know, most girls in the area around her age basically slice, dice, lob, etc. the ball. But we're hoping to enter her in some L1 tournaments so she can at least get the experience of playing some girls from downstate (providing they enter the tournaments up here).

[Rten10]

Originally Posted by baseline08thrasher

That is one awesome looking 8 year old tennis player.

She's got smooth technique.
This is probably the best technique you could get an 8 year old to do.

Trust me, I've seen a lot of juniors at top clubs.


One thing I'd get your child to do at an early age is to get her racquet prepared and get her used to doing that.
Also, make sure she sets up and get to the ball on time.

Have her develop positive habits.
And don't overwhelm her with too many tips, because I've seen some coaches do that before, and this really confuses the children.

Be simple and be to the point.

Those two things though are very good habits to have, and in junior tennis today, you will see balls hit too late due to bad preperation.

She has pretty good preperation though.
I'd say she looks excellent.
Keep working. =]

And some advice that will help you:
-Don't have her change to those extreme grips, this will not allow you to hit through the ball when you get older.
Robert Landsdorp preaches this.
-And remember to tell her to hit through the ball, and not be too cautious when she is playing, THIS might not help you win now, because other juniors have the ability to keep the ball in forever, but LATER down the road, if she can hit through the ball, and hit aggressively, everything will come into place.
If you have her developing a good aggressive game, then she will be a really tough cookie when she gets older.

Hope my advice helps you.

Thanks, she is ok for now because we taught her to be aggressive. We tell her to keep the balls in play is very good, but we are interested in a long term goal. She needs to hit the balls, she needs to be very aggressive. I mean she does hit top spins so she has an advantage of allowing her to hit the ball very hard and deep. We don't have her video of serving yet, but she does serve with very good spins and some pace to them also.

I don't know if you a coach, but if you are then you are a very good coach. You have similiar design as me when come to teaching kids. I don't bother to give too much informations to kids, because it is not good for kids to fill their heads with all the info. I make it very simple for now. I would have her hitting backhand down the line and she does it because she doesn't understand that it is difficult, she just does it. We hoped to start her full time starting this summer, but living in upstates New York, it is very difficult to do an all year round tennis. Indoor tennis are very expensive here. Anyway, thanks so much for your inputs.

[mctennis]

Looks like every other 8,9, 10 year old at my club. Same stance, hitting, follow through, etc.. Cookie cutter teaching anymore in the Jr's. IMHO

[pandal3oy]

the most amazing 8 year old i ever saw was at the bollettieri academy. i was there in october and i saw the supposed next "maria sharapova." i believe her name was marie. well i watched her in a practice match against one of the boys. he was either 10 or 12 i dont remember. i remember i had watched him a few days earlier and i thought the boy had an impressive all around game.

well this little girl was amazing! i dont impress easy either! i could not stop laughing at how good she was. i laugh when im impressed hahaha. she was a pint size compared to him but she could beat the stuffing out of the ball. as with most at the academy, the kids really try to smack the ball but she did not miss once. i watched up until she said called out the score 5-0 and i had to go somewhere else.

she was not much taller than her racquet. i heard one of the academy coaches tell me she was coached by bollettieri himself in those indoor courts during the day. im sure she had a whole team behind her. i did go up to her mom and told her that her daughter was amazing. she let out a polite "thank you" and went back to watching her daughter. i think they were from Bulgaria. well her mom looked like a model and she didnt even look like she belonged outside in the heat with her chanel glasses and nice clothes. im sure the academy takes very good care of the family since she is the next prodigy.

i left that weekend as they held a USTA tournament at the academy. i looked at the draw for girls 10s later on and saw she won the whole event. she was unseeded and she beat the #6, #3, and the #1 seed in the finals. she beat the the #1 seed 6-4 6-1. she is definitely someone to keep an eye on later. get your earplugs ready though. sharapova has some grunting competition from this pint size lol.

[predrag]

Originally Posted by TennisCoachFLA

I am assuming you posted this to get honest reactions, pro and con? If so, to be 100% frank....for an 8-9 year old, she hits okay. Nothing stands out either great nor awful as far as her footwork, set up, strokes, power. She definately needs balance work, seems to hit leaning backwards a tad. The elite kids explode into the ball with consistent balance.

Compared to elite Florida 8-9 year olds that I see daily, she would not be in the conversation. Compared to kids just playing tennis twice a week for fun and exercise, she would be considered very, very good.

Advice? Balance work, Bosu, etc...programs are all over the internet. Get her to explode into each stroke, ending up a few feet inside the baseline...then scrambling back to her position for the next ball.

I agree with this assessment.
She is pretty decent, but there is a lots of work ahead of her.

Regards, Predrag

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by pandal3oy

the most amazing 8 year old i ever saw was at the bollettieri academy. i was there in october and i saw the supposed next "maria sharapova." i believe her name was marie. well i watched her in a practice match against one of the boys. he was either 10 or 12 i dont remember. i remember i had watched him a few days earlier and i thought the boy had an impressive all around game.

well this little girl was amazing! i dont impress easy either! i could not stop laughing at how good she was. i laugh when im impressed hahaha. she was a pint size compared to him but she could beat the stuffing out of the ball. as with most at the academy, the kids really try to smack the ball but she did not miss once. i watched up until she said called out the score 5-0 and i had to go somewhere else.

she was not much taller than her racquet. i heard one of the academy coaches tell me she was coached by bollettieri himself in those indoor courts during the day. im sure she had a whole team behind her. i did go up to her mom and told her that her daughter was amazing. she let out a polite "thank you" and went back to watching her daughter. i think they were from Bulgaria. well her mom looked like a model and she didnt even look like she belonged outside in the heat with her chanel glasses and nice clothes. im sure the academy takes very good care of the family since she is the next prodigy.

i left that weekend as they held a USTA tournament at the academy. i looked at the draw for girls 10s later on and saw she won the whole event. she was unseeded and she beat the #6, #3, and the #1 seed in the finals. she beat the the #1 seed 6-4 6-1. she is definitely someone to keep an eye on later. get your earplugs ready though. sharapova has some grunting competition from this pint size lol.

You must be talking about Victoria Tomova. She just turned 9 and is from Bulgaria. She is amazing for her age and Nick B. pays her lots of attention.

[hunter]

he may be talking about mariya shishkina (sp)...sounds like the correct description of the mom too... i think she is 10 though...

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by hunter

he may be talking about mariya shishkina (sp)...sounds like the correct description of the mom too... i think she is 10 though...

Mariya is from Kazakhstan and is 10. He said this girl was 8 and from Bulgaria. But he did say the first name was "Maria" so somehow he has the two of them mixed in there.

My guess is he saw Victoria, she is kicking some butt over at Nick's.

[beckstennis]

Originally Posted by TennisCoachFLA

You must be talking about Victoria Tomova. She just turned 9 and is from Bulgaria. She is amazing for her age and Nick B. pays her lots of attention.

Well it has been mentioned that she is very small , if indeed she is not much bigger than her racket then she may have the talent now but will she have the physical strengths in the future ???
I,ve seen plenty of kids 8-10 years old playing well and winning tournys , but they are small and physicaly slight , then kids with the size and strength come through as there technquie catches up .
Surley Nick B & his team take this into account ?
I would imagine that the kids parents heights / physicality etc would be screened ?

[TennisCoachFLA]

Originally Posted by beckstennis

Well it has been mentioned that she is very small , if indeed she is not much bigger than her racket then she may have the talent now but will she have the physical strengths in the future ???
I,ve seen plenty of kids 8-10 years old playing well and winning tournys , but they are small and physicaly slight , then kids with the size and strength come through as there technquie catches up .
Surley Nick B & his team take this into account ?
I would imagine that the kids parents heights / physicality etc would be screened ?

Great point. Nick has said many times he would rather roll the dice with a tall girl than a shorter one. And that he considers the parents athletic accomplishments.

But Nick is hard to pin down. Married 8 times, changes his mind often. If a kid is small but has a hot mom who knows! Maybe he just likes having the mom around the place and if the kid turns out great despite her size, thats fantastic. With Nick, you get what you get. He is a stone cold business man one minute and a salty old horndog the next!

[robertg06]

At that age I could still barely hit topspin. She's very very good.