5 Creative Ways To Plan a US Open Event
The tennis world descends on Flushing Meadow this month to celebrate the final grand slam of the year. Described by Forbes magazine as the "world's most popular sporting event," the US Open is a great chance for tennis coaches all over the world to take advantage of that popularity to give their own program a boost. Planning
Go Team…or Go Nowhere
Ever notice that the main competition to your kids tennis coaching business is not the other tennis club down the street, but other sporting codes like football, cricket, baseball or basketball? What have these sports got in common
How to Return a 147mph Serve
Watching the Andy Murray returning master class while dismantling Milos Raonic during the 2016 Wimbledon Final it is tempting to think he must be a freak of nature. That he has the reaction speeds of a superhero to return serves approaching 150mph. This is the common belief, that the elites of the game have special genetic gifts
5 Great Ideas for Running a Wimbledon Themed Event
We are competing in a brutal marketplace. Never before have kids had so many options. Team sports are proving increasingly popular. Non-traditional sports are emerging from all corners. Established boys sports like football are making a concerted push to steal our tennis girls. Not to mention the dark spectre of too much screen time. Happily we have
3 Essential Steps to Build the Confidence of Your Tennis Girls
“Get out. Get out. I’m serious. Just get out!” Nick Kyrgios bellows at his coaches box after losing 8 points in a row at Wimbledon. When I hear Kyrgios yell at his coaches box; or the umpire; or the crowd, I am reminded of the research we encountered in developing the Girls Tennis Network. When a girl makes
IGNITING THE FLAME
The fascinating book “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle raises the issue of “ignition” as a key part of the development of elite performers. One of our key jobs as tennis coaches is too spark a flame of passion for the sport in our students. Whether we are aiming to develop pro players or building a program
What’s Your Pre – Game Coach
Our job is one of the most demanding there is! We need the patience of a school teacher; the endurance to coach for hours on end; the concentration to be “with it” for all our tennis kids; the discipline to do our office work and the enthusiasm to motivate our students lesson after lesson. When the weather
Surviving the Disengaged
One of my coaching leaders sent me a dejected email yesterday. “Monday and Tuesday were pretty tough days given the lack of response from a lot of my kids.” Andrew is an intense coach, committed to learning and giving his absolute best on the court. He is constantly searching for ways to be a better coach with players
25 reasons why we like tennis more than gaming
We are sure that you have read some things about gaming and how much fun it is for kids. And we know that kids can learn a lot from gaming, but we think that our game, provides kids even more opportunities to develop as a person then computer games. Here are 25 reasons why we love
On Becoming a Court Warrior
“We are going to have a mini competition today,” I announced. My class of five 6-year olds met my plans with various states of glee. Except for Joshua. When we talk about overachievers and underachievers, Joshua slots into the underachievers. He is more likely to say “I can’t”; is very aware if he can’t perform a skill; and is
You’ve been selected!
Does that sound like a positive opener? Being chosen!? Is that something that a parent wants to hear? Maybe it's not for the top team or as the winner of something but every parent wants to know that their child is being thought about individually. I remember when my daughter started Elementary (Infants) school. Even at the
What’s on the menu?
Travelling the globe helping clubs with their programs always sounds glamorous (it's not what it seems) but there are certain constants that the tennis industry brings. The baseline is always in the same place and the net the same height, (well usually), coaches all want to know the same type of things like "How do you
World’s Best U10 Club – The Place To Play Award!
We often get asked where can a coach or owner go to see the world's best practice in under 10 tennis. So we decided to try to reach beyond the evolve9 network and go global on this one. We are really excited to announce that we are launching The Place to Play Award. An annual award that will
Do you want to be a superhero? We can make it happen!
Virtual reality is coming closer and closer to being mainstream and now you can stick on a pair of glasses and watch yourself jump tall buildings in a single bound, you can fly and bullets just bounce of your chest. Finally you get to be a real life superhero. But for those of us that love and
Help, I’m a parent!
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
Summer’s Over!
If you are managing a junior program it's that time of year again! No you didn't get kidnapped by Dr Who and transported through time, or get jetted down to Australia, oh how I wish. But April is the month when you should have your preparations in place for the fall (September) session (term) and, although
243 Little Big Guys with horned helmets!
Original Post 2016 Last month 243 red kids played in the tournament and in this month's event it will be around 270. In orange this month's entry had to be closed off at 168. If you asked where one of the best U10 tournament series in the world is you might be surprised by the answer! More
Countdown, time is ticking!
In the clubhouse hangs a countdown clock. Fifteen days, ten hours and 12 minutes. The clock ticks second by second down to zero. Why is it there and what happens when the time runs out? All red, orange and green kids from the kids program know. In the time left they have to play as many tie
Hangman is Dead! Long Live Hangman!
Sat across from the breakfast table this week I was watching a parent play a game of hangman with her son. If you don’t know the game you have to guess the letters in the mystery word and fill in the spaces. Each time you guess wrong a part of the hangman’s gallows, rope and body
Is there really such a thing as a FREE Lunch?
Did you ever get something for free? Something which came your way even though you didn't do anything to earn it? Maybe you were just in the right time at the right place? That felt good right? Of course children need to learn that you can’t get something for nothing in this world. Through hard work you