Going to Weil Academy!

[Tikiman53]

Hi! This summer, I'm spending a week at Weil Academy for their summer camp. Has anyone been there? Can I expect to improve a lot? This summer, my goal is to improve a lot. Hopefully, Weil Academy will be excellent as one of my friends told me... Do any of you know if it's really great?

 

[tennis4losers]

Nope but take pictures and post the facility here

 

[Tikiman53]

I'll definitely take pics of the place. My friend told me that it's blazing hot, and you play 6-7 hours of tennis per day, as well as a lot of running.

 

[Lee]

One of the guys from the forum spent a semester at Weil this year. You should talk to him.

 

[GRANITECHIEF]

My 10-year old has been going to the full time academy for about 6 months now. He just won a small tournament in the 12's. He also just did a couple lessons with his old coach up in Sac and he said that he noticed a significant improvment in many areas. I'd recommend Weil..

 

[Yondan]

Who was your son?? I trained at Weil Tennis Academy since November of 2005 in the Full Time Semester program. My opinion is that it is an amazing way to get better. I made tremendous friends from all over the world, the coaches are unbelievable, very nice and look out for the well being of the students. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask.

 

[GRANITECHIEF]

My (step) sons name is C Alta.... The coach, Takeshi (sp?) is awesome.

 

[Yondan]

Oh wow!! I know Collin, he's not bad. I've watched some of his lessons with Ozaki-san (well i was serving on the next court usually). Yes he is a very, very good coach. He has an extreme emphasis on hard work and his coaching group (mostly younger boys and girls) is quite disciplined, because if they aren't you can hear Takeshi screaming from ten courts away haha. He also puts an emphasis on consistency and playing one more ball back. He has had many top players under him and he was very nice to me and offered me a lot of good advice. Collin should remember me haha! my name's john games, tall, dark, handsome(eh okay maybe not) black hair, usually laughing/joking.

 

[LN_Dad]

My (step) sons name is Collin Altamirano. The coach, Takeshi (sp?) is awesome.

I saw your son play at Los Cab last year in a sectional event. Very consistent player; I wish my son was that consistent.

 

[migjam]

Hi! This summer, I'm spending a week at Weil Academy for their summer camp. Has anyone been there? Can I expect to improve a lot? This summer, my goal is to improve a lot. Hopefully, Weil Academy will be excellent as one of my friends told me... Do any of you know if it's really great?

My younger son did a week at the Weil Academy summer camp last year. All I can say is, don't expect much. It is probably different if you are a full time student, which would mean that you are a pretty good player. I remember one day during the camp (Wednesday), they spent the entire morning playing soccer and other things over at a field near by, which really bugged me since I spent close to $500 for the camp to work on my sons game. The first day of the camp, Mark Weil had each and every kid stand, introduce themselves and say what they wanted to work on and get better at that week. My son said that he wanted to work on his serve. Well guess how much time they worked on serves other than during match play (which they do a ton of), ZERO. There was hardly any fed ball drills, which I would have expected more of. The week my son was there, the did a lot of court games such as king of the court.

My suggestion to you would be, if you aren't signing up for both weeks, sign up for the first week of the 2 week camp. When you arrive there, I would also suggest that you sign up for some privates (which we didn't do but wish we had) with Takeshi or Dimitar right from the beginning so that you get noticed and aren't lost amongst the other 60 kids. I found that the kids that were taking privates, got more attention than the kids who didn't.

Ojai is a great town and the club is awesome. My son enjoyed himself and made some friends, he just didn't get the tennis experience that we were looking for.

 

[Tikiman53]

Soccer??? What on earth does soccer have to do with tennis? Are you serious? They make you play soccer???? Dang, that makes a bad first impression. I didn't sign up for private lessons though... Man, maybe I should have signed up for the Nike camp...

So what do you do at Weil? Can you ask your son what the schedule was like?

 

[nickybol]

Soccer is for your overall athleticism, conditioning and it is good for your footwork.

 

[migjam]

Soccer is for your overall athleticism, conditioning and it is good for your footwork.

I could see maybe doing soccer when you are a full time student but not during a week long camp. That's a waste of time.


Here is the Weil Acadmeny schedule;

Sunday
12:00-1:45 Check-in @ Boy's Dorm
2:00 - 6:00 On-Court Training
6:00 BBQ Dinner & Orientation (housing rules, etc.)
6:30 Activities
10:30 Lights Out

Monday-Thursday
7:45 - 8:30 Breakfast
9a.m. Fitness Groups
10:00 - 10:30 Mental Drills
10:30 - 12:00 Training on Court
12:00 Lunch
1:30 On-Court Trainining & Match Play (singles & doubles)
4:00 Free Time for Rest, Private Lessons or Activities (swimming, basketball, etc.)
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Activities (movies, minature golf, bowling, etc.)
10:30 Lights Out

Friday
8:00 - 10:00 Breakfast, Packing & Room Inspections, Fitness Evaluations
10:00 Fitness (Meet on the Grass in front of the Boy's Dorm)
11:00 - 12:00 Activation, Training & Games
12:00 Lunch
1:00 On-Court training, survey & pick teams
4:00 Camp Ends- Player Pick up

 

[migjam]

So what do you do at Weil? Can you ask your son what the schedule was like?

Here is what the actual schedule my son had. Overall there is very little coaching/instruction and mostly just hitting and playing matches. Having it to do over again, I would spend the money on private lessons for a week.

Sunday - Mark Weil introduces the staff and has each player standup, say where they are from, how long they have been playing and what it is they would like to improve on while at camp. Then the new players (my son came the second week) are broken up onto 3 courts. Some basic stretching is done and then stations are setup on each of the 3 courts, to evaluate (serves, forehands, backhands, quickness) each player. After the evaluations, the players were broken out into groups of 8 and led off to one of the many courts for some king of the court games. After the games the players were brought back together and led off to a BBQ dinner.

Monday - The players meet in back of the boy's dorm, next to the club. From there they were assigned to a group, which they are with for the entire week. The players were led off in their groups to do conditioning until 10:30 (they did this every day). After conditioning, the players were led back to the courts and broken out onto 4 courts where they played mini tennis and alley tennis. The players were then broken out onto several courts for the first ball fed drill, working on forehands and backhands, but mostly forehands. Lunch was at noon and after lunch the players were brought back to the courts for some court games. They played one game called Jail and then played team singles.

Tuesday – Same routine in the morning, conditioning and then the players were broken out onto several courts and played team singles until lunch. After lunch the players were broken up by level for some singles and doubles matches.

 

[migjam]

Nope but take pictures and post the facility here

Wednesday – The players went to a park and played soccer. A few of the players (10-12) had the opportunity to come back to the courts and workout. But unless you were fast in raising your hand, you were stuck playing soccer. After lunch the players met back on the court for stretching. Once again the players are broken out based on ability. The players hit and then finish up the day playing matches.

Thursday – This day was match day. Players were broken up into groups for singles and doubles match play. Some of the players went over to Thatch private school, some went to Libby Park and the rest stayed at the club.

Friday – The players met a little later in back of the boys dorm to allow for those players to pack and get ready to head home. Similar to Sunday, the players are run through fitness evaluations to see if there has been any improvement. The players are then headed back to the courts for stroke evaluations. After the evaluations, the players played some group games like Around the World. After lunch, the players were divided into teams for Davis Cup play. The players were then brought back together at the end of the day, where awards were handed out and camp t-shirts were given.

 

[migjam]

So what do you do at Weil? Can you ask your son what the schedule was like?

The staff

 

[migjam]

So what do you do at Weil? Can you ask your son what the schedule was like?

I know the pictures don't look like there are that many players but I would guess that there were probably 60 players at the camp my son went to. I don't want to discourage you, but if you are looking for big improvements to your game from this camp, you won't get it. If you are looking for fun and and nice place to be at camp, Ojai is great. The staff was great and the kids had fun. Honestly, I don't think there is really any week long camp that is going to dramatically help your game in that short of period. Which is why I say that private lessons for a week would benefit you more.

 

[Tikiman53]

Are you allowed to play tennis while other people are playing around in the dorms? Do you have to be supervised at all times? Because I'm going to play tennis, and only tennis. I'm going to make sure I force some improvement out. I mean, sure, I want to have fun, but I don't want to be in some dorm at 6:30 at night playing charades and card games...

 

[migjam]

Are you allowed to play tennis while other people are playing around in the dorms? Do you have to be supervised at all times? Because I'm going to play tennis, and only tennis. I'm going to make sure I force some improvement out. I mean, sure, I want to have fun, but I don't want to be in some dorm at 6:30 at night playing charades and card games...

I'm pretty sure that you are not required to go do the activites. However, because the facility is a private club, I don't know that you can just get on any court and start hitting, the members have first rights for the courts after the camp is done for the day.

 

[Tikiman53]

So Weil was very disappointing compared to Nike?

 

[migjam]

So Weil was very disappointing compared to Nike?

My son has never been to the Nike camp. We were going to go to the BYU tennis camp, which I heard was pretty good, but decided on the Weil camp based on the ratings I saw on the web. Brad Pierce (a former ATP player) is the coach at BYU and both his younger sons are ranked pretty high, and he runs two of the four weeks the camp is held. I also ran into a father at the Weil camp and he said that the BYU camp was excellent.

The lesson that I learned about summer camps, no matter if it is Weil, Nike, BYU etc., is what I have already mentioned. Don't go expecting to come home with big improvements. Go to have fun, and play a lot of matches. And, if you can squeeze in some privates while at the camp, you'll be better off.

 

[Yondan]

Those pictures must be from last year correct?? I recognize some friends, but the coaches are different. Honestly, you can't expect much from these camps. I've stayed for a few camps and many parents send their kids off and the coaches just babysit. Seriously, no very young girl or boy unless they are extremely disciplined and have a strong desire to learn isn't going to improve by leaps and bounds. If you are mature enough to pay attention to what the coaches say then you could leave with a little better understanding of your game. However, many of the coaches that are full-time semester coaches go home for the summer. The summer coaches are usually quite young and lack experience, but are great players, including the ones right now.
The training at the camps are made for young kids, they are not very demanding. Very different from the full-time academy.

 

[migjam]

Yes, those are last years pictures. And you are right on with your thoughts about the camp. Many of the younger coaches, all though very good players, just seemed like they didn't even care to be there. Babysitters, that's exactly what I thought while the kids were just playing court games all day, because there was no instruction being given at all.

 

[Tikiman53]

Oh well, I guess I can stop hoping for that little boost up. I'm looking for a private teacher right now, as well. I have one, but I think I won't get any farther with him because he has so many students that I don't get as much support as I can... Thanks for the info, you guys. I'm going to Weil in a few weeks. I'll provide feedback.

 

[migjam]

Yeah, I mean I hope you aren't totally discouraged. You will have fun and like I said, the facility and Ojai are great.

Just remember, if you can set up some privates at check-in, that will help. And if they play soccer on Wednesday, be ready to raise your hand when they ask if there are any players who want to go back and hit, because apparently they limit that, so be one of the first to raise your hand.

Have fun and let us know how it goes when you get back.

 

[Tikiman53]

Sure. Thanks for the help. I'm not leaving until Aug. 13, so I still have time.

 

[GRANITECHIEF]

I went to Weil Academy last nite. Well, specifically to Ojai Athletic Club for a match in our summer doubles league - Interclub. The format is 6 matches, our #1 team vs their #1 team and so on down the line. The Ojai team is made up of many of the Weil Academy coaches.

I played at #2, partner Hugh Stratman, against Rodrigo and Cesar.

We beat them 10-4 in a super tiebreak. Rock on!

 

[migjam]

I went to Weil Academy last nite. Well, specifically to Ojai Athletic Club for a match in our summer doubles league - Interclub. The format is 6 matches, our #1 team vs their #1 team and so on down the line. The Ojai team is made up of many of the Weil Academy coaches.

I played at #2, partner Hugh Stratman, against Rodrigo and Cesar.

We beat them 10-4 in a super tiebreak. Rock on!

Good job on your win.

I also remember Cesar from the camp. He is a good guy and one of the few coaches that would spend time and talk with the kids and parents.

 

[Tikiman53]

I just got back from Weil. Well, I think I got more out of it that I thought I would. I took 2 private lessons there for and hour apiece, and I think that the lessons helped A LOT. I had one with Cesar and one with Ogi. They helped me with everything, and helped me correct the things I was doing wrong. Honestly, I don't think the actual camp has helped that much, besides lots of physical conditioning. Most of the time we played tennis, we were playing matches, except in the beginning.

I was using a very extreme western grip, and the teachers there helped me try and change it to western or semi. I'm still getting used to the new grip, but with it, I can hit a lot deeper consistently.

So overall, if anyone else goes to weil, you should sign up for at least 2 private lessons, or you won't get much out of the whole thing.

 

[migjam]

I'm glad you did the privates. I learned from my son going there that it is an absolute must to do a least a private so that the staff gets to know you better. Otherwise you become lost in the group.

So tell us more about your experience. How did you like Ojai? Did they do soccer on Wednesday.

 

[Tikiman53]

I liked Ojai. It wasn't the type of area I would like to live in, I think, but it was still nice. It was also really hot. About the serves, you were right. We didn't work on them at all. The only time I worked on my serves was during private lessons. Basically, if I didn't have lessons, I wouldn't have learned much at all. I would have just been slaughtered by all the kids there.

The food there wasn't that great. The first day, and the last two days, had good food. Other than that, you had to make your own breakfast of bagels or cereal or oatmeal, and eat lunch and dinner at the girl's dorm.

We had lots of activities, like going to the movies and eating icecream. When we played soccer, no one had the chance to go back to hit. Unless you were good at soccer, you didn't play much. Basically, there were two teams of about 25-30, and most of them wandered around the field aimlessly, while a couple people ran around and scored goals.

Oh, and the coaches there were really nice. I took two private lessons, and the coaches did seem nicer to me than people who didn't. They always asked me about how I was doing with changing my forehand grip.

A big factor of how much you improve is how good you are at the start. If you are not that great, like me, you are just sorta pushed off into a group of little kids, and kids my age that weren't ranked. If you were good, however, you were put into a group of really good, serious, and competitive kids that want to win no matter what.

I liked the experience, and I plan on going again during the winter and the summer, if my parents allow me to do so. . Until then, I'm gonna start playing more seriously, so I can stand more of a chance to the competition there.

 

[migjam]

Did they have you stand on the first day, introduce yourself and say what you wanted to improve on during the camp? Also, did you take any pictures?? If so, post them up.

 

[Tikiman53]

Yeah, I had to stand and say what I wanted to improve on. I said I wanted to be more consistent. The camp didn't actually help me with that. I just gained it through matches and my lessons.

 

[migjam]

How many kids were there at the camp this year?

 

[Tikiman53]

I went at the last week, so about maybe 50.

 

[migjam]

Sounds like you went at the same time period that my son went last year.

 

[drsports]

Weil

My son is nine years old and spent two weeks at Weil this past summer as well as President's Week. He is probably the top junior tennis prospect in Hawaii.

He loves Weil, as do I.

The setting is gorgeous, the competition is top notch, and the coaches are excellent.

Dimitar, the head coach is fabulous and very accessible. I highly recommend Weil if you have an emerging young player who is motivated to improve and excel.

 

[migjam]

My son is nine years old and spent two weeks at Weil this past summer as well as President's Week. He is probably the top junior tennis prospect in Hawaii.

He loves Weil, as do I.

The setting is gorgeous, the competition is top notch, and the coaches are excellent.

Dimitar, the head coach is fabulous and very accessible. I highly recommend Weil if you have an emerging young player who is motivated to improve and excel.

Sounds like your son had a good experience at Weil, and thats great. However, if your son wasn't the top junior tennis prospect in Hawaii, I can guarantee you that his experience would have been different. The top kids got the most work with the pro's and groups while the kids that weren't the top prospects got shuffled to outer courts and played king of the court type games the whole day, with very little, if any, instruction. Ojai is awesome, most of the pros at Weil were great, the others appeared to just not care vary much, which believe me, the kids pick up on.

 

[tennismike33]

I'm pretty sure that you are not required to go do the activites. However, because the facility is a private club, I don't know that you can just get on any court and start hitting, the members have first rights for the courts after the camp is done for the day.

MIGJAM, you really need to work on your expressiveness. You really hide your feelings about this academy well.

 

[Jr.]

how good are kids at this camp?

man, i would love to go to a summer camp, but not sure if my parents would pay for it.

 

[migjam]

how good are kids at this camp?

man, i would love to go to a summer camp, but not sure if my parents would pay for it.

The camp has a mixture of levels. Some of the kids are very good and some are just intermediate.
I'm going to say this again, if you are looking for a good time and a nice environment, then head off to a camp. If you are looking at improving your game, spend your money on taking some privates and play in some tournaments. If the camp is a week long camp, you really can't expect much in the way of improvements.

 

[drsports]

Ability level of kids

My experience with the younger kids at Weil(9-11) is that most are quite good. Most are ranked in Southern California. I do not think I would send a beginner or a novice type player there, but there were some players who were not as advanced who seemed to have a good time.

 

[migjam]

You can definatley have a good time. Its a camp and you have all levels of players there. Ojai is an awesome place. Just don't expect to come back with major improvements.

 

[xtennisloverx]

how much for the privates?

 

[migjam]

I can't remember the amount now, but I believe it was around $90

 

[baseline08thrasher]

the amount is $110.00 for a private lesson with a head coach.
80.00 for an assistant coach.