tennis is getting soft..

[slice bh compliment]

Originally Posted by Soianka

Thanks for the info. Max's mom's story sounded a little suspect.

Yeah, I have seen some that are 8 game pro sets, some are two sets to 4 with a breaker in lieu of the 3rd.
Maybe Max's tournament director went with regular scoring and there were 18 deuces per game with 60 shot rallies. And the balls were wet. And Max was using his mother's Sledgehammer 2.3 with strings from the mid-1990s.

Me, I'm for the green dot/spot balls or some nice, soft dead soldiers from my hopper.
I'm fine with three short sets per match.

Not sure if tennis is getting soft, but America sure is.

[Dadof10s]

Originally Posted by Soianka

Thanks for the info. Max's mom's story sounded a little suspect.

Thats not fair, the lady was willing to give her name and be interviewed. You do not know the style her son plays, how good the other boy was at getting balls back or the structure of the match he played. Maybe ProTour630's child had a different result. But calling this lady suspect is wrong and you have no reason to say that because you did not see her son's hand or ask him if his shoulder hurt.

[andfor]

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_630

I think I can go on record as having a 9 year old that has been playing green ball the longest in the country in terms of USTA tournaments. And not once did he have arm nor shoulder issues.

The green ball matches are one set to 6 games no ad. I have never seen a match go over one hour, 45 minutes tops at most, most are under 25 minutes. SO if a kid has three matches in one tournament the total amount played is less than 1.5 hours with a rest period of 15 minutes between sets. He has NEVER developed callouses in his hand in over 1.5 years on green.

He is now on yellow and his strokes have improved due to the green ball experience. We have 1.5 years of experience on green alone and it has made him into a better player not WORSE.

Originally Posted by Soianka

Thanks for the info. Max's mom's story sounded a little suspect.

Originally Posted by Dadof10s

Thats not fair, the lady was willing to give her name and be interviewed. You do not know the style her son plays, how good the other boy was at getting balls back or the structure of the match he played. Maybe ProTour630's child had a different result. But calling this lady suspect is wrong and you have no reason to say that because you did not see her son's hand or ask him if his shoulder hurt.

Based on the facts of how QS is structured it's totally fair to say. Just because it's written in the news does not make it fact.

[SoCal10s]

using the 'soft tennis balls'' you should also change the equipment used to hit it.. if the kids are still using the normal size and weight rackets then they would really need to swing harder to generate enough racket head speed to get any kind of decent results.. so thus blistered hand and hurt shoulder is really not over exaggeration ..

[Dadof10s]

Originally Posted by SoCal10s

using the 'soft tennis balls'' you should also change the equipment used to hit it.. if the kids are still using the normal size and weight rackets then they would really need to swing harder to generate enough racket head speed to get any kind of decent results.. so thus blistered hand and hurt shoulder is really not over exaggeration ..

Very true and I have my doubts now about the tennis experiences of the other posters. I have seen people hit foam balls against the wall where they can swing as hard as possible and come away sore. I have seen bad coaches have children swing full racquets in the air for 10 minutes to show racquet head speed and the kids complain they hurt. I have seen some quickstart rallies at our center where kids hit like maniacs for a long time. There is no reason to doubt what that mother said for a minute. Do I also blame her? Yes, her son obviously should have been trained better but anyone who says she must be lying has no idea about kids and tennis. It is common sense that if a child takes a full size racket and swings as hard as he can for several hours that his shoulder might hurt. Like I said the mom and coach should know better but the end result she talked about is very possible.

[andfor]

Where in the article did it say anything about Max using a full sized racquet?

[Dadof10s]

Originally Posted by andfor

Where in the article did it say anything about Max using a full sized racquet?

It didn't but without knowing the details we should not say the mom is lying. It is possible what she said so no need to call her out without knowing for sure. Not a big deal some love quickstart some hate it.

[Pro_Tour_630]

Normal size frame are used with green ball so it is not the racquet. The kid has been playing regulation and three setters with no problem before , all of the sudden he loses with his first green and blames the ball, then plays 12 and gets crushed, very typical, seen it too often. Getting surgery after few hours on green is an over exaggeration. The kid lost because he was not used to green, plain and simple, then mom tries to make excuses.

[Dadof10s]

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_630

Normal size frame are used with green ball so it is not the racquet. The kid has been playing regulation and three setters with no problem before , all of the sudden he loses with his first green and blames the ball, then plays 12 and gets crushed, very typial, seen it too often. Getting surgery after few hours on green is an over exaggeration. The kid lost because he was not used to green, plain and simple, then mom tries to make excuses.

You don't know any of that you just posted. For all you know he showed up with full size and the director and other player said he could use it rather than forfeit. Rules are bent all the time in these local tournaments. Maybe the two of them were amazing and the rallies were long and full speed swings. None of us have a bit of reason to keep calling the lady a liar. If your child has no issues great but you were not at this tournament and have no idea if she is telling the truth.

[Pro_Tour_630]

The results speak for themseleves look them up

[andfor]

Since we are speculating and ignoring the facts maybe the kid played Pee Wee football the day before along with using Pete Sampras full size racquet.

I think it's healthy to believe everything that's reported by the news until proven otherwise or witnessed first hand.

[Pro_Tour_630]

Funny how one would believe the actions/results of one green ball match vs someone who have witnessed 100 green ball matchs over 1.5 years.

[Dadof10s]

No one said softer balls are bad or causes these problems wide spread. All I said is that without knowing the details of this one specific thing we should not call this lady a liar. Strangers tall tales have been told than the possibility a child hurting his shoulder swinging a racquet too hard so I don't get what the big deal is. Her story sounds like it might have happened, who knows. I like the green dotted balls and me and my son sometimes use them.

[ClarkC]

Originally Posted by andfor

Where in the article did it say anything about Max using a full sized racquet?

Where did it say that he did not use a full size racquet? We are talking about what is possible. When someone says, over the internet from 1000 miles away, that someone's story is suspect, there had better not be any reasonable way for the story to be true. In this case, there is a reasonable way for the story to be true. Unprepared for the tournament, bringing a full size racket, small court, low compression balls, two kids who are backboards, match goes on for more than 2 hours, at least one kid has a sore shoulder. Nothing really hard to believe about that scenario.

[Pro_Tour_630]

Sam is clueless in the video "green ball is smaller than regulation", notice when the arm issue was addressed by WSJ, Tom did not reply, enough said. Like I said the results of the kid speak volume, look them up on tennis link. What mom should have said, the green ball leveled the playing fields where her kid should have won the match had it been regulation, then it would have been believable.

I have been talking green on these boards for over two years when most were clueless now after one match that happened last week all of the sudden we have experts.

I am an expert on gear and arm issues. I have been since 2000 when I started posting on these boards more than 10 years ago. I would not let my son play green for 1.5 years in tournaments if it were going to give him arm issues.

[andfor]

Originally Posted by ClarkC

Where did it say that he did not use a full size racquet? We are talking about what is possible. When someone says, over the internet from 1000 miles away, that someone's story is suspect, there had better not be any reasonable way for the story to be true. In this case, there is a reasonable way for the story to be true. Unprepared for the tournament, bringing a full size racket, small court, low compression balls, two kids who are backboards, match goes on for more than 2 hours, at least one kid has a sore shoulder. Nothing really hard to believe about that scenario.

Fair enough. Since anything is possible, along with the full sized racquet theory he could have also played Pee Wee football the day before and already had an arm injury.

My position is far from unreasonable.

I'm not saying I totally disbelieve the story about the 2 hour 45 minute match between little kids. I think there's something more and we are not getting the entire story.

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_360

Sam is clueless in the video "green ball is smaller than regulation", notice when the arm issue was addressed by WSJ, Tom did not reply, enough said. Like I said the results of the kid speak volume, look them up on tennis link. What mom should have said, the green ball leveled the playing fields where her kid should have won the match had it been regulation, then it would have been believable.

I have been talking green on these boards for over two years when most were clueless now after one match that happened last week all of the sudden we have experts.

Pro Tour is on to something here.

[Soianka]

Originally Posted by SoCal10s

using the 'soft tennis balls'' you should also change the equipment used to hit it.. if the kids are still using the normal size and weight rackets then they would really need to swing harder to generate enough racket head speed to get any kind of decent results.. so thus blistered hand and hurt shoulder is really not over exaggeration ..

I'm talking about the 2 hour, 45 minute match.

If QS matches are really abbreviated scoring, how in the world could the match last that long?

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_630

I think I can go on record as having a 9 year old that has been playing green ball the longest in the country in terms of USTA tournaments. And not once did he have arm nor shoulder issues.

The green ball matches are one set to 6 games no ad. I have never seen a match go over one hour, 45 minutes tops at most, most are under 25 minutes. SO if a kid has three matches in one tournament the total amount played is less than 1.5 hours with a rest period of 15 minutes between sets. He has NEVER developed callouses in his hand in over 1.5 years on green.

He is now on yellow and his strokes have improved due to the green ball experience. We have 1.5 years of experience on green alone and it has made him into a better player not WORSE.

You obviously know nothing about tennis and are totally damaging your child by letting a 9-year old hit with yellow balls! You are breaking the rules. HORRORS!!! Don't you know that the USTA knows best and that no child under 11 years old can use yellow balls or they will be damaged for life. They will come and find you and prosecute you for being an abusive parent and a negligent coach! It is far beyond any child's capability to use yellow balls below the age of 11!

Seriously, though, I know you are very knowlegeable about tennis and I am sure you have done an excellent job with your kid. I don't even have a stake in this game as I don't expect my youngest to be a top junior tennis player and the older two have passed this stage. It just irks me about the heavy-handed way that USTA has gone about this - it's as if they believe that there has never been a good US tennis player before the USTA mandated this and that there is no other way for anyone to be a good player who doesn't follow their way.

[ga tennis]

I was upset about them mandating all 10s and level 4 and 5 tournaments to green dot.I got over it and just trained her hard and worked on her technique and feet.She just turned 10 and now it doesnt really matter anymore because now she can compete with the good 12s.I know I said she wasnt playing tournaments till she was eleven but im changing my mind again.This year she will play level 3s or better because SHE told me daddy I wanna play tournaments.Her coach also told me he wants her to play so we can see her compete.NONE of the top 10 year old girls in Georgia are playin green dot.

[HIGH-TECH TENNIS]

Exactly, ga tennis. NONE of the top 10 year old girls in Georgia are playin green dot.