Snow doesn’ t stop us

I came back from a weeks holiday skiing wondering what impact the snow had on our programme at Elstead. The answer nothing. The coaches all went out on the first day it snowed and cleared the courts. What a fantastic job, as I have now heard that many of the local clubs had one to two weeks where there courts were unusable because of the snow and the very low tempratures not allowing any thaw. Well done guys!!

Courage in Sport

So one of our good under 12 girls plays in a tournament.  First match is against the number 25 in the UK.  She goes in fighting and wins the first set 6 – 4 and is winning the second set 2 -0 when the other girl withdraws injured.  Why am I suspicious?  Yes it goes down as a win for our player but how many times do we see this in junior tennis.  Do the LTA keep track of this in the same way they keep track of withdrawals and bad behaviour?  It would make an interesting survey.

WE teach our kids to fight to the end of the match and never give up.  Maybe it’s the Welsh in me that is trying to give them the fight that you are seeing currently from the Welsh rugby team.  Great win today boys against Ireland!! 

 

Shot Selection

I was hitting balls with one of our elite 12 year olds today. The choice of shot is becoming so important at this stage. Mistakes are made because of the incorrect shot selection not because of bad technique. Interestingly enough it’s often the same when you watch the professionals. However watching Nadal play Berdych today, you would have said that Nadal’s shot selection was incorrect and then of course you realise he has just hit a winner. We just need to learn to believe in our shots in the way he believes in his.

Spring Term starts

Two weeks into term and all the groups have settled down and there’s a lot of good tennis being played. Having spent 2 months in Australia, I am staggered to see the improvement in players and why do they all seem to have grown a couple of inches

Aegon Teams

So we are ready to enter a host of junior and senior Aegon teams for next summer. I access the LTA web site to view the documents, only to find our under 9 team from last season starring on the entry information page. Love the publicity!!

End of Term

So the term is nearly finished. How does it go so fast? We always want to fit even more in the term, improve the players further, get more players competing but before you know it the term finishes.

We have all our documents ready for next term and you can find them on www.orbittennis.co.uk or www.elsteadtennis.net I hope everyone has a very enjoyable Christmas break and we look forward to seeing you when the new term starts on 9th January

Frosty Mornings

I’m up and ready for a 7:45 start. It’s a beautiful frosty morning. which means that all the thermals on for the first time this winter. I’m coaching the first year at Prior’s Field, and I wonder how many will turn up in skirts and T shirts!!