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!!

Week 5

Can we only have two weeks till half term. How quickly has that gone. All the groups are settling in well, so now is the time for the coaches to start pushing them to achieve the objectives that each group has been set.

Unfortunately there is always a challenging child somewhere in the program. Mums and Dads please note that we tell children off for a reason. One disruptive child ruins the group for everyone, and I won’t allow this. If your child gets sent off the court by the coach two weeks in succession, they will not be allowed to come back for the rest of term.

Our objective is to coach in a fun environment, but we all believe in progress not just keeping the children occupied in each lesson. Not so easy but much more satisfying.

Second week of Term

I spent this afternoon partly at Elstead and partly at Grayshott with our performance under 9′s and under 12′s. We are still having children asking to join our programme even though the term has already started.

I really enjoy seeing the improvement in all the players. We have had some very good 6 and 7 year olds join this term, so it will be interesting to see if they can progress as much as some of the children already in the programme.

It’s incredible to see how 8 year old players can almost look like the finished product. Not that there’s not plenty of work to be done, but when you see the power and guile that the youngsters use when playing mini orange tennis, it gives you that warm glow that maybe you are doing something right.