Do i have a college future

[Kick Serve 14]

My fault. For some reason I was thinking you were wanting to play D1. In that case there's definitely D3 colleges that would love to have you if you keep your grades up. A guy at Eyad's level could most likely play at D2 or better D3's.

thanks, i was definately looking more towards DII than DIII, what do you think my chances are? Also, would some colleges look down at me because i serve and volley? should i change that about my game?

 

[drupha]

thanks, i was definately looking more towards DII than DIII, what do you think my chances are? Also, would some colleges look down at me because i serve and volley? should i change that about my game?

How tall are you and how many serves do you average in a match against someone of Eyad's ability? Ideally those numbers will be 6'3 and 10+. S&V games are going by the wayside, because it's easier to hit passing shots with today's tech. If you really want to improve, you might want to consider altering your style unless you have a very menacing serve and are tall enough to make passing shots extremely difficult. The problem with S&V is that your room for growth if not exceptionally tall or with a gifted serve is limited because as you move up the ranks you'll meet more guys who can reliably top spin lob, hit nasty passing shots, and won't be phased by your serve. With a baseline/all court game, you can incrementally improve, but if you S&V, if someone has your serve down, no matter how good of a volleyer you are, you're probably screwed.

Will a coach not recruit you because you S&V? Nope (in most situations). Tennis coaches are all about wins. That being said, if there's two guys of equal ability and one has maxed out his potential at S&V and the other person is an all court guy who has more chances to improve, he'd probably take the other guy.

So essentially, I wouldn't tell you to switch, but S&V can be limiting as far as development goes. I don't see why you wouldn't develop your all court game while picking your spots to charge the net.

As far as colleges go, as has been mentioned by many people, they vary widely. If I were you, I'd look into Tiffin. One of my friends went there and she told me they jumped from NAIA to D2 like a year or two ago. They seem kind of heavy on foreign flavor, so you'd have to be ready to compete. There are some D3 teams that you could start on now, and some like Denison or Kenyon where you'd need to develop to crack the starting roster.

 

[Kick Serve 14]

How tall are you and how many serves do you average in a match against someone of Eyad's ability? Ideally those numbers will be 6'3 and 10+. S&V games are going by the wayside, because it's easier to hit passing shots with today's tech. If you really want to improve, you might want to consider altering your style unless you have a very menacing serve and are tall enough to make passing shots extremely difficult. The problem with S&V is that your room for growth if not exceptionally tall or with a gifted serve is limited because as you move up the ranks you'll meet more guys who can reliably top spin lob, hit nasty passing shots, and won't be phased by your serve. With a baseline/all court game, you can incrementally improve, but if you S&V, if someone has your serve down, no matter how good of a volleyer you are, you're probably screwed.

Will a coach not recruit you because you S&V? Nope (in most situations). Tennis coaches are all about wins. That being said, if there's two guys of equal ability and one has maxed out his potential at S&V and the other person is an all court guy who has more chances to improve, he'd probably take the other guy.

So essentially, I wouldn't tell you to switch, but S&V can be limiting as far as development goes. I don't see why you wouldn't develop your all court game while picking your spots to charge the net.

As far as colleges go, as has been mentioned by many people, they vary widely. If I were you, I'd look into Tiffin. One of my friends went there and she told me they jumped from NAIA to D2 like a year or two ago. They seem kind of heavy on foreign flavor, so you'd have to be ready to compete. There are some D3 teams that you could start on now, and some like Denison or Kenyon where you'd need to develop to crack the starting roster.

im only 5'10" however, after playing s&v style, i have gotten used to that style of movement, and i can cover the court from baseline to net in roughly 3 seconds. Also, i have very good reflexes, and when at the net, i am rarely passed. As for my serve, i can easily top 100 on the flat, and my spin serves hover consistently between 80-90, which all have devestating bounces. For my game style, i can play all-court, and im not bad at it, but my first weapon is always s&v, if that doesn't work, i can bash from the baseline, and i can win, its just not my first choice...

 

[drupha]

If you're 5'10, you don't have the wingspan to cover the entire court. I'm 5'9/5'10, and was always a doubles specialist because my volleys were excellent, and in high school you played singles and doubles in every match. I had some degree of success playing S&V, but the problem is that you'll inevitably come across the player who can hit the shots and hit the angles, and you'll be toast. Therefore a strict S&V player who doesn't have adequate wingspan to effectively cover a huge area of space has a limited amount of ability to beat someone who can hit the lines and angles. There's also the possibility that you run into the dinker who hits amazing lobs. A good topspin lob can neutralize an S&V game if your serve isn't getting winners consistently.

The fact that your serve is that fast actually is part of the argument against sticking with a S&V game. You won't be able to get more than marginal improvement on a serve already going that fast, so you likely have, or will shortly, plateau and not be able to beat the next level of players above you.

The better question right now is, Why are you losing matches? If you're really going cannon on your serve like that, you should be winning more matches than you appear to have been. Are you prone to double faults? Unforced Errors? Weak backhand? You've been speaking in hyperbole about all of your strengths, but haven't addressed any shortcomings. It's in closing those mental and performance gaps that growing your game will be realized.

 

[advantagetennis1]

im only 5'10" however, after playing s&v style, i have gotten used to that style of movement, and i can cover the court from baseline to net in roughly 3 seconds. Also, i have very good reflexes, and when at the net, i am rarely passed. As for my serve, i can easily top 100 on the flat, and my spin serves hover consistently between 80-90, which all have devestating bounces. For my game style, i can play all-court, and im not bad at it, but my first weapon is always s&v, if that doesn't work, i can bash from the baseline, and i can win, its just not my first choice...

bro eyad will struggle with college tennis and your nowhere near beating him. Be realistic. you should be out practicing all day everyday and watching videos online and running and conditioning. you have a long way to go. you struggle with 1400 juniors and lose to them. there are thousands of kids going to college the year you are better then you look at it that way. your serves dont hve devestating bounces..... you cant bash from the baseline and win.... your head needs to shrink a little and you need to realise how competitive tennis is. kids have been playing there whole lives from the the age of 5 with the best coaching traveling week in week out... there are tons of these kids.

 

[johnkidd]

advantagetennis....you are sorely mistaken about Eyad Jaara struggling at the college level. If he tries playing at a top 50 DI program...then yeah. But if he looks at a DIII program with academic standards he's looking for, he'll play. Most of the kids who attend MVCDS make their college choices based on academics not athletics. My old doctor's son played #1 there in the mid to late '90's and he ended up not even playing tennis in college, he went to Michigan to be a doctor and played club tennis. But my point is if you select the right program you'll be able to play, you just need to be realistic about your ability and expectations.

As for Kick Serve staying with S&V, I'd ask are you expected to grow anymore? 5' 10" as a sophomore is not bad if you are going to grow another couple inches. But my suggestion is to develop a good all court game. I like to serve and volley as much as anyone (although I play little singles now) but there are times when someone is all over your serve and you're well advised to stay back. Likewise if someone is just bunting back your serve because you are hanging on the baseline, the ability to move forward is beneficial. Just my .02

 

[DownTheLine]

I still have a little trouble believing kick serve about his serves. I'm on ad tennis or w.e his name is side. I am a 6'1 sophmore and the strongest on my team by far and my flat bomb goes around 110 at the consistency of 30-40% on a normal day. My slice serves at around 85-93 at about 60-65%. my kick serves are at about 50 so I have a very hard time believing that yours is hovering in the 80s-90s.


Sorry for all the miss spelled words.

 

[Kick Serve 14]

advantagetennis....you are sorely mistaken about Eyad Jaara struggling at the college level. If he tries playing at a top 50 DI program...then yeah. But if he looks at a DIII program with academic standards he's looking for, he'll play. Most of the kids who attend MVCDS make their college choices based on academics not athletics. My old doctor's son played #1 there in the mid to late '90's and he ended up not even playing tennis in college, he went to Michigan to be a doctor and played club tennis. But my point is if you select the right program you'll be able to play, you just need to be realistic about your ability and expectations.

As for Kick Serve staying with S&V, I'd ask are you expected to grow anymore? 5' 10" as a sophomore is not bad if you are going to grow another couple inches. But my suggestion is to develop a good all court game. I like to serve and volley as much as anyone (although I play little singles now) but there are times when someone is all over your serve and you're well advised to stay back. Likewise if someone is just bunting back your serve because you are hanging on the baseline, the ability to move forward is beneficial. Just my .02

i am expected to grow more, i should be about 6'1". my baseline game is always improving, and today i played karan and beat him 6-1 6-1 without ever coming up to the net.
It was quite odd because karan was on today. He only hit one second serve the whole match. i simply hit with plenty of spin and didn't try to murder the ball. I made him play my game, and in doing so i won.
Afterwards, eyad came down to the court and we hit for 15 mins. before his match. i played just as well as before, however, none of my tactics worked against him. as of now, i have winning records against every player at my school, except for him...

 

[goran_ace]

thanks, i was definately looking more towards DII than DIII, what do you think my chances are? Also, would some colleges look down at me because i serve and volley? should i change that about my game?

S&V will help you to get recruited as a doubles specialist. As for singles, unless you S&V exceptionally well (and have the tournament results/rankings to show forth) it will be a liability. Most likely you will be seen as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type player with a low ceiling.

 

[Kick Serve 14]

S&V will help you to get recruited as a doubles specialist. As for singles, unless you S&V exceptionally well (and have the tournament results/rankings to show forth) it will be a liability. Most likely you will be seen as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type player with a low ceiling.

i am a doubles specialist, but i like to play singles. i supose i have no choice but to improve my baseline game. but thats okay, its another excuse for me to stay on court longer

 

[goran_ace]

Don't feel like you need to abandon your S&V game to improve as a singles player and camp out on the baselline. It might just be a matter of working on your transition game so you can get to the net a couple different ways.

 

[Kick Serve 14]

Don't feel like you need to abandon your S&V game to improve as a singles player and camp out on the baselline. It might just be a matter of working on your transition game so you can get to the net a couple different ways.

im not going to abandon it by anymeans, its my bread and butter... im just gonna work on the baseline for now and see what happens

 

[johnkidd]

im not going to abandon it by anymeans, its my bread and butter... im just gonna work on the baseline for now and see what happens

So how has your season gone? What number are you playing