Varsity Tennis Team, Possible or Not?

LightningZI said:

Firstly I'd like to say I know there are many threads on this specific subject, Sorry if there's any inconvenience. I just want to know where I stand.

Recently I took up Tennis Lessons.. Around 3 weeks ago starting tommorow. I played a Round Robin today since my Head pro told me to do it to gauge my own level, I've played Table Tennis in the USATT and am ranked pretty decently. So I've been getting the hang of Tennis pretty fast. When I played in the Round Robin, I won 1 game off everyone I played except one person I won two games off of, There were a few deuces (It was a no adv game). Most of these players are Singles Varsity/Junior Varsity from my talk with them. I came in last place as I expected, But had a score of 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1

My School's Tennis Team isn't all that great. Out of our county, We mainly always come last place. If not 2nd or third to last. I'm not sure if there's a no-cut policy, There probably is. But I'm trying to make Varsity as a goal. There are really no "good" players except Singles 1. I'm doing a winter training session for 11 weeks till Feb. Then a Varsity Tune-Up at my athletic club. This will give me a good 13 more weeks of practice.

With 13 weeks left, Is it possible for me to make Varsity, Taking lessons and going to the training session. At my current level I'm doing alright from what I'd say. My service really killed my whole Round Robin experience. Probably 5% of ALL my serves went in, Other than that, My forehand and backhand are good, A varsity player there commented on how my forehand is basically Topspin and not flat like most other people play.

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TennisCoachFLA said:

Find out who the varsity coach is and include him in the next 13 weeks. No use guessing and hoping. Let the coach see you hit and ask him/her for a brutally honest opinion on where you stand now....do it again in 6 weeks...and again a few weeks before tryouts. He/she may volunteer to come watch or maybe you will have to pay his/her gas or hourly fee.
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This is against the rules in most states. Coaches generally can not work with players out of season except for in very limited, controlled conditions.

My advice to the OP is to hit as many balls as you can and devote much of your attention to your serve and returns. If you live somewhere warm, try to go out by yourself or with a coach and hit 50-100 serves a day after school.
At the lower levels of high school tennis, probably 30-50% of points are won on the serve between double faults and return errors. You don't need to hit big or with a lot of action to get good results, you just need to get it in every time.

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tennisguy5 said:

You sound like you want it pretty bad (or you wouldnt have posted this, right?).

First, it depends on how bad this team actually is, and how many will be expected to make it. I dont think that table tennis is going to help you out a whole lot in this situation, but you never know. Im just saying that IMO table tennis strokes and tennis strokes aren't very comperable.

Also, it depends on how many people are trying out for the team. You will have a much better chance of making the team if there are 10 kids trying out, compared to 100. Anthor thing is, if you only get 5% of all serves in (just kidding I assume),there really is no chance for you unless you get that straightened out. The serve is the most important shot in tennis, afterall. I suspect that in 13 weeks you will have improved significantly, if you do indeed learn things as fast as you say you do. I just dont know if you will be good enough then.

To answer your question, I would say that you have a very good chance if you keep working for it. Good Luck. DB

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