Is it a flaw or just a mistake?
I was a national champion swimmer as a junior and technique was very important as in swimming which is closed skill sport, your success as an athlete hinges on how efficiently you can move through the water. Air is 784 times less dense than water and requires an entirely different set of technical skills than any
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
If we want people to smile, and we want their eyes to sparkle for our photos, it makes sense to have them think about something passionate and sweet instead of something stinky and smelly. Forming the “Ch” and “ee” sounds of “cheese” can pull your cheeks up into a smile. But saying “chocolate!!” meets much more.
My daughter is a bit of a numbers wizard
I say this not to brag (well maybe a little bit!), but to illustrate an interesting point. NB. She gets that from her mother, definitely not me! She is 4.5 years old (going on 15) and numbers have always come fairly easily to her. She very quickly learned to count to 100, to count up in 2's
The New Improved Normal!
Many people are actually reporting increase in demand for tennis as we move tentatively out of lock down. It is THE sport for safe distancing and because we have a managed environment (coaches and staff) we can position tennis firmly in the driving seat. But what if we can also build a better car! Month before the
IS MARY ATTACKING MY BRAIN CELLS?
Ok, I am that age where you start to name things, my car is called Doris and my GPS has always, always been Mary! Of course she is now on my phone not in the dash (that is Mary Mark I, still there but rarely gets used) but Mary is the one I pull for when
Schooled by a Pipe Smoking Yoda
There are some tennis memories that are burned on my mind, branded and permanent and they will never leave me. One for example, is watching a Borg McEnroe Wimbledon final, one saving up to buy my first second hand Donnay Borg Pro and then one is Susan Molyneux's legs (sorry for that one but it was
I HAD TO SCREAM AT SOMEONE!
Her face was red and eyes watering. After 15 minutes of yelling at me she took a pause, a breath and said. “Thanks so much, you have been great about this!” I was in a state of shock and nearly fell over. I knew Mary, she was a good parent, although a little too attentive; her
Why play we all know who is gonna win anyway!
That was his response when I asked Mark to sign up for the tournament! "Mark, it's a round robin you will get to play lots of matches!" "Great more opportunities to lose!" came his response and he went back to watching the TV in the clubhouse! Some kids are just not competitive I guess but I didn't get
THE NUMBERS
In a past life I was the world’s worst trainee accountant. I apologize now if I ever did your books when I spent three tortuous years looking at only figures. Luckily, Looking at number alone was a big challenge for me, my creative brain didn’t naturally gravitate to numbers, but like most things if you can
Avoid Idle match practice!!
Tennis is an open skilled sport, however many younger juniors are often drawn into playing in a closed environment. This often places them as the centre of the match situation opposed to a balance between them and their opponent. The more quality of information a player can collect from the opponents game the more likely they will
WHY TENNIS IS THE HEALTHY INTELLIGENT CHOICE FOR YOUR CHILD!
Of course we are biased. We love tennis, but every once in a while it is worth reminding ourselves that those that don’t yet play may not see tennis as we do. As we move into a new era of sports it is worth reminding ourselves why tennis is the among the healthiest ways to get
The Crying Game
Am I weird that I like the noise of babies crying? I know for some it's like nails on a chalk board and others with look at me like I am the devil incarnate for saying this but I love kids and unless it's 3am in the morning, a baby crying is just a child asking
Eric Made Me!
She was seven and fast! I mean so fast your hair flew up when she ran by and I am sure I heard a whooshing noise. Her legs were a whirl like a roadrunner cartoon and no one got anywhere close to her! So I wasn't surprised when on sports day they made her race with
JOHN’S WISH!
John arrived to be greeted by the smiling face of his coach, in fact everyone was excited to see him. He was given a cool lanyard with his official player pass and put it around his neck with pride. Next he reached into a box and pulled out a colored wrist band. Blue! John was on
DONT ARGUE WITH A LINEBACKER
So this is an issue we get asked about a lot and actually has a really simple answer. It starts like all puzzles with the key question. Why! Why do organisers feel that they should give trophies for participating, and the common response is that they don't want some kids to feel left out or upset. First
RUNNING THE NUMBERS
Here are the maths of packaging your program. Based on GB Coaches and traditional club so obviously it needs tweaking for each scenario and some of you may be shocked at how cheap it is but rates are typically low in the UK.. Lets assume its a 12 week term and you charge 8 per hour for
THEY ARE JUST NOT GETTING IT!
A few posts online around learning today! Learning and teaching of course are not ying and yang and much is learned without being taught consciously but there are also principles of readiness that we should all understand. When a child is read they learn quickly and fluently, learning is both effective and efficient, and it sticks!
WANTS, NEEDS AND DREAMS!
To what degree are you coaching based on the motivation of your players? Kids today are more involved in the decision making of what to do than ever before and so may opt for the short term gain and social credit more than what they actually need. How are you balancing teaching tennis over athletic skills
ARE YOU STOPPING YOU?
I watched a presentation today with a video clip of a "great example drill". Although there was fun and action in the drill and it was organised there was zero teaching and no opportunity to either! As long as I can remember I have been taught not to have lines and if the pro hits more
WINNER OF THE BEST TROPHY!
Has anyone arrived at the club and given you a present you were not expecting? The proverbial apple for the teacher! How did it feel to think that just for doing your job and doing it well someone gave you something special? It may have been small but it was valuable. You didn't enter a competition,