Bethpage Park Holds Annual High School Coaches Workshop

The High School Coaches Workshop returned to Bethpage Park Tennis Center as Steve Kaplan and his team provided instruction and advice to high school tennis coaches from across Long Island. This event is a collaborative effort between Serve & Return, the charitable arm of Bethpage Park Tennis Center, and Grow Tennis New York,  the charitable arm of New York Tennis Magazine, two non-profits dedicated to growing the sport of tennis in our community.

The Workshop brought together local high school tennis coaches, both junior varsity and varsity, as well as high school players to learn from Kaplan as well as other guest speakers including Suffolk County Tennis Coaches Association President Jackie Clark, who spoke about new high school initiatives, and Long Island Tennis Magazine Publisher David Sickmen, who explained how high school teams can be included in the publication’s coverage. Stony Brook head coach Thiago Dualiby was in attendance to explain what college coaches are looking for, and how they prepare their practices.

Strength and conditioning coach Frank Dolan spoke to the coaches about how to properly warm-up their team prior to both practices and matches, and put the coaches through a variety of drills and exercises to demonstrate, as many times in high school competition, the visiting team gets off the bus and doesn’t have a lot of time to warm-up before the match begins. That puts a great deal of importance on how your team warms-up to ensure it’s an effective way to prepare for the upcoming match.

“A lot of high school tennis programs get out there and just start hitting. But what we wanted to emphasize is having an understanding of not just warming up to get a sweat going or get loose, but it’s also to change athleticism and improve movements if done the right way,” explained Dolan. “What we discussed was doing things with intent, going through the full range of motions, thinking of keeping things in alignment, the right posture, and all those little details that help you avoid just going through the motions. I think I was able to provide something simple that the coaches can quickly take with them and apply it to their teams right away.”

Kaplan discussed many different drills that coaches can use with their proper serve toss and grip, as well as how to generate power on the forehand and backhand strokes. His expertise on the underlying science of tennis helps to understand how to properly teach and coach to maximize a player’s potential. 

All of this created a well-rounded event that provided a number of local high school coaches with valuable information they can bring to their teams.

One of the primary goals of the workshop is to bring attention to just how important high school tennis is as Kaplan is a strong believer that top junior players should play for their high school teams rather than sit out to strictly focus on private training, and wants to provide the necessary resources for high school coaches.

“My goal is to combine the resources of my not-for-profit, Serve and Return, with those supporters of tennis to recognize and value two things. First, when you have more, you have more to give. Second, school tennis is a wonderful and all too often undervalued part of a young person’s tennis education at every level. I hope the coaches, volunteers, athletes and leaders of the tennis community are as inspired to do more for these worthy goals as much as I am inspired by them.”

David Sickmen, Publisher of Long Island Tennis Magazine, added:

“We have been collaborating on this event for years because we think it’s an important one. I’ve seen the divide between high school and private tennis grow larger throughout the years, and as we do in most situations, we try to use our platform, resources and partnerships to bring people together. At this year’s Workshop, we did just that and we look forward to continue doing that in the future.”