What do you think of Heath Waters and his academy?
- Thread starter TheCanadian
- Start date
Tight Lines
Professional
I think Heath is a great coach based on the teaching videos on his other website virtualtennisacademy. If he were in the NY area, I would love to have him teach my son.
Harry
Harry
..................................
newpball
Legend
Don't know the place.
However the video on the front page comparing Federer's stroke and that of a six year old is beyond silly in my opinion:
http://strivetennisacademy.com/
Why anyone would let a child grab a racket so high up is beyond me. If the kid cannot handle the racket give him a smaller racket.
You have to see it to believed it. He is my daughters coach and he has totally transformed her game.There is nothing like it that I have ever seen!! WWW.strivetennisacademy.com
onehandbh
G.O.A.T.
It's hard to come up with a good company name.
You just have to keep striving until you get what you
want.
5263
G.O.A.T.
funny how this sounds exactly like something he would say, lol :???:
Wonder how much it is to "try out" ? For a chance to be deemed "Special"
http://strivetennisacademy.com/waiting-list/
"We carry a maximum of 10 players for our two coaches to mentor and develop."
Wow that is very few students. And there seems to be a waiting list!
5263
G.O.A.T.
A waiting list stated, but several open spots at the same time...last I read.
Sort of odd, but sounds more like hype.
I guess it takes some hype to sell and he is a strong coach in several respects.
He may be close to as good as he will say he is. I'm not saying gatennis is him,
but that would not surprise me at all.
Imo he is better with the girls than boys.
T
TCF
Guest
Gatennis is not Heath. I have met Heath before at a conference and am getting together with Ga and his daughter later this summer.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
I heard he doesn't believe in progressive tennis, so maybe that's why he asks kids to play with normal length racquets?
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
If he selects only the best and most talented, how much does he charge the parents for a year in the academy? Usually, the best of the best get a scholarship.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
It looks to me like they only have girls in their academy. Can he train boys, too?
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
The video in the portfolio looks promising, but it would be great to see more. Display their game in the "after" using that technique under pressure off high balls, wide balls, low, fast, etc. Basically under movement and pressure. Pretty much what they'd see in a match. I'm sure thats taught but it would be nice to expose that in a video.
I see it every weekend at the tournaments we play. He really is AMAZING!!!!! I have been around tennis 30+ years and have never seen ANYTHING close to what he is doing at STRIVE.
arche3
Banned
Yes. He has his students emulate the goat. The greatest player of all time in the know galaxy. The swiss beast. Greater than laver, mac, sampras combined.
The one and only FEDERER! DUM DUM DUM DUM......
Including the girls?
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
On the FH it makes sense. Is he also teaching kids the 1HB? You could say that kids could model the FH on Federer; the 2HB on Agassi; the serve on Roddick; the volley on Edberg.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Why Roddick on the serve?
arche3
Banned
I dont know. I just saw the video of the kid.
arche3
Banned
Good plan actually lol.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
The analyses I have seen say that his serve motion works only for him, and puts extreme demands on the shoulders.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
At least Monfils and Brands have the same motion. My serve and shoulder have never felt better since I started imitating that motion. There's a great deal to be said about a minimalistic motion. The more you do on the serve, the more there's room for things to break down.
Velvet Ga el
Rookie
Given your intended target, I'd say this post isn't going to go too well for you.
As an aside, I've noticed a couple of things about Waters and his acolytes. The first is that he appears to be a very good coach and also a very good recruiter of good youth players. Combine those two and you get a lot of trophies.
Second, his followers seem to both be almost over-the-top with their enthusiasm for his academy and widely bellicose when it comes to dealing with tennis theory espoused by all others not named Heath Waters.
JMHO, but Heath's academy would be much better if his followers toned it down a bit. His credentials say enough about his quality methods without the followers' delivery method deflecting attention from them.
arche3
Banned
There are some subtle things in rodicks motion that are not present in others with the abbreviated motion.
He drops his trophy elbow much lower for one. It is not optimal for smooth delivery. But out of that pose he does the rest perfectly so for him it works. You can use the abbreviation of the motion with a smoother transition into and out of trophy I believe and achieve a better serve for someone learning to serve like junior kids.
In fact I did the exact same for my son. The same rodick motion without the elbow dip on trophy. It works wonderfully. The exact identical roddick motion adds the extra elbow dip on trophy that adds an extra step for a kid learning to serve.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I'll pass on this one.
Tight Lines
Professional
Au contraire! Tennis_balla knows his stuff. Before you accuse him of ignorance, may be you should think about what he is trying to say. Sheeesh!
I actually agree with Tennis_balla. I don't think I would want to emulate Roddick's abbreviated serve motion. He can serve really fast because of his flexible body including his ability to bend his forearm 130 degrees to vertical whereas most pros can do only about 90 degrees, not necessarily because of his abbreviated motion. For me, Sampras would be the one to emulate. JMHO.
Harry
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I just wanted to know a reason why Roddick over others. If he chose Edberg for volley's, why not Sampras on the serve since he already went back to a different era in tennis. Could of chosen Rafter for volleys for example.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
You might be right, but I'm not a psychic.
Roddick had the best serve in men's tennis for many years, so that makes it worthy of careful study and imitation. I obviously didn't mean to offend anyone, if I did I take it back.
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
I like its simplicity, power, and effectiveness. Any list can be arbitrary to an extent. Was Sampras's serve better? Maybe or maybe not. It was my list, your list is probably different from mine.
Tight Lines
Professional
Well, on a lighter note and getting back to the OP's question, as good as I think he is, Heath Waters talks, talks and talks on his videos.....
Oh my, often, he will take 20 minutes on a topic that should take no more than 3 minutes IMO. I hope he doesn't talk as much when teaching live LOL...
Harry
Oh my, often, he will take 20 minutes on a topic that should take no more than 3 minutes IMO. I hope he doesn't talk as much when teaching live LOL...
Harry
newpball
Legend
I think that talking on and on to kids does not help, the same with concepts. Show them something and ask them to imitate it, kids are good at that.
Worse that can happen: dad paying top dollar, kids that start to zone out, dad getting mad, kids turning off, dad is getting madder, mom gets involved, crying, "OK no more tennis", on to violin lessons ..........
TheCanadian
Semi-Pro
I also think he talks too much. I mean he drones on and on and on and on repeating himself again and again. If he does that with kids, that's awful.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I'm not offended don't worry.
Roddick has a great serve that needs to be broken down into sections and teach whats appropriate. As a whole and viewed on video at regular speed, it might not always be the best example. The same goes for Nadal's forehand. Everyone talks about Roger's forehand and as you can see Water's uses it as his gold standard. I dunno. For me Nadal's forehand is in a lot of cases a better forehand to study. Slow it down on video and there are some amazing things happening there that needs to be looked at more, especially when he's not buggy whipping all the time. Watching his on court practice videos, amazing stuff. Everyone has analyzed Roger's forehand to the smallest detail, but I think they missed out on Rafa. It's gotten its fair share for sure, but not as much.
An abbreviated serve motion is a good idea to teach to juniors, especially if they are struggling with their serve. It helps with balance and the toss. Its a tool, idea that can be used if appropriate but not black and white. However, I wouldn't go as short as what Roddick does and making sure the elbow is up and out. Almagro is a good example of a simple, shorter take back on the serve going straight up, no none sense style. His elbow is in the perfect throwing position. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eFRf5kO_dI
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
I would not necessarily attribute Roddick's shoulder injury to his service motion. It may be simply an overuse injury...
What specifically in Roddick's motion would make it an inappropriate one to emulate?
http://tennismd.com/TennisMD_Articles/id/107.aspx
Andy Roddick “Preventing Shoulder Problems"
Robert Donatelli PhD PT
Feb 07, 2011
After an evaluation of his shoulder and elbow I explained to his coach, Terick that the real problem was muscle imbalances surrounding Andy’s shoulder. The muscle imbalances resulted in structural changes caused by muscle weakness and muscle tightness. This imbalance caused joint restrictions and the need to compensated during specific movement patterns such as the serve and ground strokes. In this case Andy’s elbow was hurting because of the above problems. I then proceeded to treat some of the joint restrictions by with soft tissue mobilization techniques and developed a specific strengthening program to improve performance.
Athletes overuse muscles with high velocities repetitive movements, such as throwing a baseball or the tennis serve. Some muscles respond to this trauma by becoming tight and others respond by becoming weak. This is referred to as a muscle “imbalance”. Muscles work in pairs while one is contracting the other needs to relax or slow down the movement. (Agonist vs. Antagonist) The treatment approach must include a combination of stretching techniques and specific strengthening exercises to get the athlete back to the high level of performance that is necessary to compete.
I have heard coaches, athletes, trainers, and medical practitioners over emphasize the need to stretch. There are two basic reasons to stretch, increase range of motion of the joint and/or to increase the flexibility of muscle and other soft tissues, attempting to prevent injuries. The literature shows us that raising the core body temperature prior to athletic activities can be just as effective in preventing certain muscle strains then if we stretched prior to the activity.
In rehabilitation we use several different kinds of stretching techniques such as, low load prolonged stretch, continuous passive stretch, stretch relaxation techniques, and manual therapy which is a very specific method of stretching soft tissues, in order to over come shortened muscles and other soft tissues surrounding joints. In Andy’s case the rotators of the shoulder, which include the rotator cuff and the shoulder blade rotators were asymmetrical causing instability of the shoulder and trauma to the elbow. Some of the muscles were tight causing structural asymmetries and others were weak causing inefficient movement patterns. My job was to mobilize the restricted tissues and strengthen the weak muscles, in order to re-establish a symmetrical and stable shoulder.
After working with Andy and his coach we have eliminated his shoulder pain for the past year. Last season he won the most matches on the ATP tour, without shoulder pain. Andy has worked hard at maintaining the strength and flexibility of his shoulder. He has been pain free for the past 3 years and increased his velocity from 139mph to 155mph. He broke the serve velocity record by 8 mph, 3 years ago.
Robert Donatelli PhD PT
Feb 07, 2011
After an evaluation of his shoulder and elbow I explained to his coach, Terick that the real problem was muscle imbalances surrounding Andy’s shoulder. The muscle imbalances resulted in structural changes caused by muscle weakness and muscle tightness. This imbalance caused joint restrictions and the need to compensated during specific movement patterns such as the serve and ground strokes. In this case Andy’s elbow was hurting because of the above problems. I then proceeded to treat some of the joint restrictions by with soft tissue mobilization techniques and developed a specific strengthening program to improve performance.
Athletes overuse muscles with high velocities repetitive movements, such as throwing a baseball or the tennis serve. Some muscles respond to this trauma by becoming tight and others respond by becoming weak. This is referred to as a muscle “imbalance”. Muscles work in pairs while one is contracting the other needs to relax or slow down the movement. (Agonist vs. Antagonist) The treatment approach must include a combination of stretching techniques and specific strengthening exercises to get the athlete back to the high level of performance that is necessary to compete.
I have heard coaches, athletes, trainers, and medical practitioners over emphasize the need to stretch. There are two basic reasons to stretch, increase range of motion of the joint and/or to increase the flexibility of muscle and other soft tissues, attempting to prevent injuries. The literature shows us that raising the core body temperature prior to athletic activities can be just as effective in preventing certain muscle strains then if we stretched prior to the activity.
In rehabilitation we use several different kinds of stretching techniques such as, low load prolonged stretch, continuous passive stretch, stretch relaxation techniques, and manual therapy which is a very specific method of stretching soft tissues, in order to over come shortened muscles and other soft tissues surrounding joints. In Andy’s case the rotators of the shoulder, which include the rotator cuff and the shoulder blade rotators were asymmetrical causing instability of the shoulder and trauma to the elbow. Some of the muscles were tight causing structural asymmetries and others were weak causing inefficient movement patterns. My job was to mobilize the restricted tissues and strengthen the weak muscles, in order to re-establish a symmetrical and stable shoulder.
After working with Andy and his coach we have eliminated his shoulder pain for the past year. Last season he won the most matches on the ATP tour, without shoulder pain. Andy has worked hard at maintaining the strength and flexibility of his shoulder. He has been pain free for the past 3 years and increased his velocity from 139mph to 155mph. He broke the serve velocity record by 8 mph, 3 years ago.
Last edited:
BirdieLane
New User
I think he's trying to teach ambidextrous/two forehands also. Wonder if that will ever get traction?
