tennisdad13
New User
My son attended all day sessions for a week at Evert Tennis Academy during 2015 Spring. He is an intermediate-advance level player who frequently competes in USTA tournaments with moderate success. He was very excited about attending the academy.
The academy has pretty good facilities, and a friendly front office. The daily schedule consisted of fitness and tennis drills in the morning session, followed by match play during the afternoon session. After the initial sessions, the players are grouped by their skill level. My son had about 3 or 4 kids in his group.
For the rest of the week, he went through drills in similar groups. This was no different from how he trained back home. The pros would give some tips during these sessions, but nothing major. During one of the group sessions, Drew Evert, who runs this academy, observed his game and yelled at him for an incorrect hitting technique, before shifting his attention to a better player. Unfortunately Evert never came back to offer any tips to correct it.
When my son told me about this, I closely observed other advanced kids' forehand technique, and could identify his mistake (flat forehand). This actually helped me correct his technique later, the single biggest gain from this trip.
I believe private sessions might have been better than group lessons. Travelling to Florida from North East during spring, the heat was a bit too much for him, and so I didn't opt for private lessons during the lunch break period. The trip was a waste of money and time, as I saw kids lost in the groups getting no special attention, doing same old drills. There was nothing that would differentiate Evert academy from any small tennis school in New York. But I also happened to see some kids playing at very advanced levels, which could be the ideal level to be here. We also ran into Chris Evert, and it was a pleasure to meet a legend with a friendly smile.
The academy has pretty good facilities, and a friendly front office. The daily schedule consisted of fitness and tennis drills in the morning session, followed by match play during the afternoon session. After the initial sessions, the players are grouped by their skill level. My son had about 3 or 4 kids in his group.
For the rest of the week, he went through drills in similar groups. This was no different from how he trained back home. The pros would give some tips during these sessions, but nothing major. During one of the group sessions, Drew Evert, who runs this academy, observed his game and yelled at him for an incorrect hitting technique, before shifting his attention to a better player. Unfortunately Evert never came back to offer any tips to correct it.
When my son told me about this, I closely observed other advanced kids' forehand technique, and could identify his mistake (flat forehand). This actually helped me correct his technique later, the single biggest gain from this trip.
I believe private sessions might have been better than group lessons. Travelling to Florida from North East during spring, the heat was a bit too much for him, and so I didn't opt for private lessons during the lunch break period. The trip was a waste of money and time, as I saw kids lost in the groups getting no special attention, doing same old drills. There was nothing that would differentiate Evert academy from any small tennis school in New York. But I also happened to see some kids playing at very advanced levels, which could be the ideal level to be here. We also ran into Chris Evert, and it was a pleasure to meet a legend with a friendly smile.
