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
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
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
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
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
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
DON’T RUN A KIDS TOURNAMENT!
It may sound like a weird statement but let me explain! There are multiple posts on the value of competition in this group, so of course we think kids tournaments are important (in fact I would venture it's the most under developed and greatest need in kids programming today!) but look at the headline again! It's
WHAT SHOULD I WORK ON WITH MY KID BETWEEN LESSONS!
Ok so you have have enthusiastic parent! Great! But he wants to "work" on things? Hmmm maybe not so great! But the kid gets to practice and they are committed! Great or not? It's a dilemna most of us have faced and of course there is no perfect answer but here are a few things to consider!
What your child should learn from an Olympic Tennis Champion!
Andy Murray shouts, he cries, he may seem moody, some love him and some are just not fans. He does not fly, shoot webs from his wrists or save the world, but he is the greatest British Tennis Player ever. He is a pretty normal guy who gets frustrated sometimes, doesn’t court the camera but hits
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
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
Maximising Engagement
Some thoughts on Gamifying Your Lessons Kids can focus on iPad and video games endlessly (take my word for it!). If only we could get our kids to focus that hard, and learn this fast on the tennis court (or classroom or anywhere for that matter.) Using some of the principles of Gamification we can achieve a
The Imitation Game – Watch what you do and say
My 5 year old son has reached a deep and wonderful obsession with tennis this UK summer. Fuelled by the blanket coverage of Wimbledon he is enthralled by an environment where interest in tennis is at an all-time high. He will watch 2 points (3 at most) and then bound out into the garden to commence play.
“Tennis is like my Church Mum”
Maddie is an 8 year old member of our program. She has been having some problems, her health wasn't great, she was being bullied at school and had to see a child psychiatrist to deal with all these problems. She decided to pull out of tennis as she was falling behind her friends skills and she was
Getting it wrong…
Tears streamed down Christopher’s face, ‘Mum I didn’t win a trophy!” he managed to explain. Earlier that day a mother had demanded to see the coaches score sheet – she had been keeping score and was adamant her 8 year old child and his partner should have won the runners up TROPHY!!! Oh dear, I had