Help for Your Tennis Courts; Repairs and more

SportMaster is a worldwide brand of acrylic sport surfaces for tennis, basketball, and other multipurpose applications.  With product distribution and representatives throughout the United States, SportMaster can assist high school tennis coaches, at no charge, with the following:

• Implement a tennis court maintenance program to meet any budget
• Diagnose tennis court problems from cracks and birdbaths, to surfacing issues
• Recommend cost effective repair solutions (some that can be performed by maintenance crews)
• SportMaster has a nationwide network of authorized installers that can provide free estimates or bid on tennis court repair, resurfacing, and construction projects.
• We can create a free, customized specification for repair and resurfacing of tennis courts.  This ensures “apples to apples” bidding from multiple contractors.

If you have any questions or would like our help with any of these items, please contact us:

Phone: (800) 326-1994 – Email: info@sportmaster.net

 http://www.youtube.com/user/sportmastercourt#p/u/7/ZUIvhdo9k44

 

GC136 Topspin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SafN-cVdYk

Start with your players standing sideways to the net. For forehands place their opposite hand on the net and their front foot at the bottom of the net. For one-handed backhand players stand about a foot away from the net and for a two-handed backhand the front foot is at the bottom of the net. Have the players take a few easy swings hitting the net and brushing up. On their forehands occasionally have them finish over their hitting shoulder for more topspin. Then have the players place a ball between their rackets and the net. Have the players brush up on the ball and spin it over. Eventually the players will move back and drop and hit topspin. Let the players start to alternate finishes on the forehand with one finish over their hitting shoulder and one in front of them. Then move the players to the baseline to practice topspin. The same procedure can be used for backhands. For the one-handed backhand players will finish in front and remain more sideways to the net.

 

Summer Tennis Camps

Hope you are enjoying the summer; it’s a fun time and the opportunity for a lot of tennis.  If you are in the middle of your tennis camps be sure to take advantage of the resources on www.highschooltenniscoach.com. 

 The Camp and Event Manager will set up your staff schedules and you can easily create handouts using the Daily Sheet function.  Speaking of handouts there are over 100 on the site including some new camp handouts;

• H174 Pre-camp Form
• H175 Think Like a Parent for Your Tennis Camp
• H176 Tennis Camp Completion Certificate
• H177 Tennis Camp Performance Certificate

Here are some of the highlights of H175 Think Like a Parent for Your Tennis Camp

#1 Concern of Parents is Safety

• Promote your safety record and safety procedures such as;
  • Staff background checks
  • Staff training in CPR, etc.
  • Written plan for emergencies
  • Staff/camper ratios
  • Emphasize your expertise and camp programming to handle each child’s needs from those outgoing kids to shy or socially awkward to tournament level as well as beginners.  A camp goal may be for each child to leave camp feeling better about him/her than when they arrived.
  • Associate your camp with other experts such as a professional dietician to help design lunch menus and snacks and or a professional sports trainer (possibly from a local university) for tennis specific exercises and training routines.

 As a subscriber you have access to all the handouts, drills, camp plans and much more.  Visit www.highschooltenniscoach.com to join today!

Indoor/Outdoor Practice

Here’s another fitness/conditioning drill you can use inside or out.  Use the search function on www.highschooltenniscoach.com  under Drills/Conditioning for more samples!

Here are two variations for this drill. In the first situation have your players’ pair up and start in the push-up position with the hands of one player on the singles side line and the hands of the other player on the doubles side line. Place a ball in the middle of the alley between the two players. When the coach says “go” the player who grabs the ball receives a point. The coach can also say either “right” or “left” and the players must use that hand to grab the ball.

In the other version have your players start in the push-up position on each baseline. The coach can feed to either side and the players have to explode up and play the point out.

 See the video here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVmiPAvOjQw

Spring Tennis Weather (going inside)

Many schools have started tennis practice and often coaches have to deal with the weather.  Going inside to the gym or other indoor space can be a great option.  Here are some ideas to help run a productive and efficient practice inside.

• Have a plan.  Stations can be a great way to organize a large group in a small space.  Some sample stations could be; fitness, tennis simulations exercises, volley, wall hits and games.
• Use transition balls such as low compression balls and foam tennis balls.  These balls will not bounce as high or fast and allow players to gain better control.  You can also incorporate them with your outdoor practices.  College coaches will often use them in some practice drills helping their players hit through the ball.  You can purchase these balls (and same day shipping) from Fromuth.  Here’s the link; https://www.fromuthtennis.com/frm/c-93-tennis-balls.aspx
• Many of the drills, games and handouts on our web site, www.highschooltenniscoach.com can be used indoors.  The drills and games may take some tweaking or variations.  Here’s a sample of a game CF727 Service Box Bump that can be used indoors by marking off a designated area (instead of using the service boxes).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPXSQo5oRYs

Target Adjustments in a Match (learning to self coach)

Target Adjustment in a Match (Self coaching)

 By improving and being aware of shot placement your players will quickly improve their match strategies and be able to make adjustments.  As we all know players must often figure out what they need to do during match play to correct errors, coaches have little opportunity to coach during actual match play?

Certain drills in practice can help your players improve their shot placement and learn to “self coach” in a match.  Here’s a drill (with different progressions) you can use to help your players.

GC236 ABC Target Adjustment

 

Here’s a drill with different progressions to help players improve shot placement and learn to “self coach” in match play.  Start with two players on the court, one on each baseline.  Players start with a courtesy feed and a rally or point can be played with certain ‘add-ons”.   Here are some options;

• Players say aloud what target they are aiming for before the ball bounces on their side of the net. Players receive a point for each target hit (counted by the spotters)
• Remove two targets on each side and players focus on that target area during a rally or point.  Spotters can provide adjustment tips for each player during the rally for example, “aim two feet more to the left”.
• Spotters can feed a ball to the player on their side as a retry after a mistake or for an extra practice shot before or after the rally.
• The spotter can tell the player what target to aim for before the ball bounces on their side (you can move the spotter back behind the hitter).
• Remove or add targets to one side for example you may have three targets on one side and only one target on the other side.
• Targets can be mats, towels, plastic lines, hula hoops, etc.

GaC718 Runners and Hitters

Here’s another large group drill or game that can handle many players and different levels at the same time.  It can be used as a warm up activity or as a fun group game ending a session.  Divide your players into two teams.  Spin the racket and the winner gets to choose whether they want start as runners or hitters.  The hitters will have half their team on one baseline and their other half on the other baseline.  Their objective is to count how many times they rally a ball with players moving to the back of their line after each hit, if they make a mistake they continue adding to their score with the next rally.  The runners start one at a time and run around the outside of the court, when all players have run (either once or twice) they yell “stop”.  Teams then switch areas and the team with the highest rally wins!

Other activities for the runners could include holding two rackets, one in each hand with a ball resting on the strings.  A player then runs the length of the court trying not to drop a ball and places the balls in a basket and then runs back and a teammate then goes. The runners have to place a certain number of balls in the basket.  You could also incorporate other types of movement; shuffling, lunges, etc and or limit the area and strokes for the hitters, for example backhand crosscourts.

 

3 Steps to Help Players Compete Better

You want your players to compete hard and to improve their effort and fight with each match.  Here are some ideas to share with your players when you talk to them through the fence.  There is a lot of information so pick and choice some keys points for each visit and or repeat a key point.

1. Encourage your players to view every point as an opportunity to compete.  A player can wear down an opponent by competing on every point but it can sometimes be tough for your players to compete when they are losing. Offer hope and encouragement with the idea that the next few points can turn a game or match around.  Have your players focus on the process (competing hard) and not the outcome (winning the point).

2.  Educate your players on what points are the swing points (30-15 and 15-30) and the significance of these situations. Emphasize controlling things that are controllable in these situations like staying positive with constructive self talk.

3. Remind your players not to beat themselves on big points.  The focus may be on hitting a larger target, increasing the amount of shots in a point or doing what they do best such as adding more spin or repeating a shot pattern.

Here are some practice drills from www.highschooltenniscoach.com to help players compete better;

• GC129 60% Tennis
• GC234 Practice and Play

 

Your time at the fence is valuable and a coachable moment to help your players compete better, enjoy it and it can help you players learn to like to compete!

Great Practice Drill!

Below is the description of a self run practice drill.  Do you have trouble remembering or finding all your drills?  Do you need new drills?  You will find over 500 drills on www.highschooltenniscoach.com!  You can quickly find specific drills with different attributes like large group, videos, and volley drills, doubles strategy, etc with the easy to use search function.

 GC234 Practice and Play

Here’s a groundstroke drill that can be self run allowing the coach to roam.  The drill can also handle a large group and different levels on the same court (as long as similar ability levels are paired up).  Start by pairing your players with two players starting on each half of the court.  Players will stay in for a series of two points.  The first “point” is cooperative and players count the number of successful shots in the rally, stopping once a mistake is made or when they reach seven successful hits.  The next “point” is then played and is worth the number of successful shots in the previous rally, never worth more than seven.  Score is kept until a certain number is reached for example, “77”.  In this drill players will practice both consistency and trying to win the point.

DoC570 Crosscourt and Away II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4FAXQhDVYA

Here’s a doubles drill emphasizing playing crosscourt to keep the ball from the net players when in the one up and one back position. The coach starts at the net in the ad court with a player as his partner on the baseline on the deuce side.  Another player is at the net post in the “batter’s box” position. The other players are in a line on the opposite side of the net near the service line on the ad side.  The coach feeds a ball to the open court and the first player in line runs it down and hits it back crosscourt to the baseline player.  The second player in line moves in to play the net position on that side. The point is played out mainly crosscourt with the net players “moving with the ball” and looking for the opportunity to play aggressive or poach.  Once the point is over the baseline player can move to the net post as that player rotates to the coach’s side to start a new point (the player from the coach’s side goes to the back of the volley line).  The net player on the opposite side then moves back to start the next point.