On March 6, 2011, I spoke at the Long Island Tennis Magazine Expo covering the subject, "The Road to College Tennis" from a coaches’ perspective. Here is an outline of that talk. The Road to College Tennis: Developing a long-term plan for competitive players. I. Consider your tennis plan. â–ºStockpile tournament success equity so that a…
Usta.com reports that "six of the brightest products of the QuickStart play format shined on center court inside Madison Square Garden" on Monday, February 28. I agree that these kids are absolutely great. The level of younger players is astounding; age 8 is the new age 10 in playing level. They are not "products of…
Each year, Yankee Stadium hosts an Old Timer’s exhibition before the real game and it’s a lot of fun to watch the stars of yesterday for a few innings. On Feb. 28, Madison Square Garden is hosting an Old Timer’s tennis exhibition and it’s the main event. John McEnroe (52) will play Ivan Lendl (50)…
A brief check of USTA.com reveals that 20 tournaments have been held in the boy’s and girl’s 10-and-Under, and 8-and-Under in the East, using the QuickStart format thus far this year. Sixty-six entries were tallied in total for all 20 tournaments! That doesn’t sound like a very quick start to me.
The new crop of young American players has not been looking too impressive at the 2011 Australian Open, in fact, they look as weak as any upcoming group of rising Americans I have seen. Charles Bricker of World Tennis Magazine said several days ago that, "The American women’s game is in shambles." The men’s side isn’t…
While I admire and agree in many ways with Ricky Becker’s idealistic viewpoint that the integrity of the tournament ranking system is the priority, in his blog, "Some Major Junior Tournament Rule Changes in 2011 for National Tournament," I ultimately disagree with his conclusions. Ricky believes that the rule to reduce the opportunities for entry…
If someone asks you to play tennis wearing ankle weights, run away as fast as you can while you are still able. Remarkably, some tennis coaches have their young students use external weights, such as ankle weights, weighted vests and weighted rackets. This dangerous practice will undermine performance, as well as often permanently harm the growing…
I think it’s important to disclaim here that as always, this blog is my singular candid viewpoint and I am neither encouraged nor censored by the editors. The Mission of the USTA is to "Promote and Develop the Game of Tennis." The first Strategic Priority they list to achieve this goal is "Community Tennis Development."…
The term "coach" refers to "the direction, instruction and training of an athlete." Most tennis players have many coaches who have participated in various capacities throughout their career, but all coaches are not equal. A coach may provide lessons and advice many hours a week, for many years, to players who also participate on drill…
I am told that some Eastern Tournament hosts have a reputation for "fixing" their draws. Players who regularly participate at these host clubs seem to have favorable draws more often than simple luck and chance would dictate. If these suspicions are true, then this is regrettably dishonest behavior. While many players, parents and coaches are…