Tennis for young players can be extremely frustrating once a player reaches a certain age. Having coached this sport and worked with competitive juniors for more than 17 years, while also being father to a now Division 1 tennis player, I have learned the importance of early match development for young players. I used to be of the believe that developing proper technique BEFORE a player goes into competition was most important. My belief was that a player needed to have proper stroke mechanics prior to starting their first match and that would carry them into early wins later on in their tennis career. I was only partially correct in my belief. I now am of the sound belief that you need to not only focus on the technical side, developing solid stroke mechanics, but also competing at the appropriate level for a player’s current state. Early participation in national rankings is generally what creates a top national player due to the time in developing not only their technique, but their experience in playing various types of opponents.

Clay court tennis is extremely fun for developing young players.  Our players immediately wanted to learn to slide on the clay, which gave them a fun goal.  Towards the end of the training, all of them were sliding, with one (not going to mention who :D) sliding at the very end.  The environment of clay court is exciting for players who have never been on a clay surface before.  Entering the court for the first time, I saw our players faces light up with this excitement and their eyes gleaming with the possibilities.  

Tournament results let me as a coach know how each player is doing.  It also gives me a better understanding of whether or not what I am teaching them is relevant.  Training juniors to compete against a variety of play styles, conditions and situations is extremely complicated and demanding.  Getting direct feedback from our juniors based on how they played the previous weekend is extremely important to our clinics and helps me to improve them. 

Getting juniors involved into playing USTA tournaments is in my opinion the most important step in their development.  For the juniors in Gripspin Tennis Academy, it is a requirement in order to be involved and here is why.

Now that summer is here and our kids are in a best opportunity to improve their game through tournament play, I would like to write this blog to help our kids prepare for upcoming tournaments the right way.

In my time working with juniors, running tournaments, coaching USTA National Teams and being the dad of a top 50 junior, there is one thing that I have noticed.  The kids who seem most prepared, normally go on to either win the tournament, or to do exceptionally well in the later rounds.

I have watched kids jump rope and sprint before their matches, practice swing and volley with a partner in the parking lot.  I have even seen players rally with their dad over a guard rail at a random high school because the tennis courts were not available for player warm up.  cough....Stockton Sectionals Championships 2016.  These kids are putting in every opportunity to prepare mentally and physically for the match ahead.  

The summer is now here!

For most kids, summer is a time to take a nice long break from school books and school deadlines.  Not having to worry about homework and extra credit grades and make up work makes any grade school kid happy to see the month of June.

For those kids looking to improve their tennis game however, summer is a time  to increase their training regimen and gain some ranking points though weekly tournament play.  Since most of the school year, kids normally have to sacrifice an important upcoming tournament or training session for a school event, summer is the perfect time to try and catch up.

Of course summer is supposed to be vacation time as well, so finding the time to get in that extra training time or etching in a tournament or two a week can be tough at times.