Shot Selection-Senior vs Junior!
I have the luxury of working with several up and coming players. As my junior players start to play open, one thing stands out and that is shot selection. Case in point: This morning I am going over a video vs a national level age division player. My junior athlete is getting schooled. My junior […]
Get Better, Faster!
Things to help you win more. Lately I have been very busy because the players who come to me are moving up in the world at all levels and their improvement has been noticed. When I take on a new player, I work as hard as I can to get them sizeable skill improvement because […]
Coach Helping Coaches
Some time ago I was asked by a parent to write five things to say to a junior player during a time out. That is hard to do but I will attempt it. 1. Calm him or her–winning or losing-calming remarks. 2. Calming remarks are different things to different people. What might be a […]
Happy Feet
An old friend of mine was working on their PHD and rapidly became an expert on athletic movement. Since I used to coach this athlete, they knew I’d be excited about the knowledge they were picking up. So this person calls me and immediately we launch into an in-depth conversation about court movement and athletic […]
Build Your Mission Statement
Want to get mentally tougher? Why not build your own acronym? An acronym is a collection of letters that stands for something but forms a word. PUP-I put this on my shoe and folks thought I was an animal lover. I am, but PUP stood for Poise under pressure. Often in tight matches I would […]
Get Better Faster!
These days with fewer tournaments, how do you know if you are improving. Well, if you are killing every ball in practice you might be improving but remember these things….. 1. Almost impossible to simulate tournament conditions, especially the mental pressure. 2. There is practice tough and there is tournament tough. The latter means […]
Want to be A Tournament Director?
So you want to be a tournament director?? I always tried to have one event per year to bring in top players. This promotes our sport and that is the only reason I attempt such an undertaking. As I have stated before it is like running a big party and you want to make sure […]
Coach or Cheerleader?
“Coach, You have to change because so and so (an athlete I coach) does not like the way you coach. You never say anything nice!” “You need to be more positive.” This one has floated across my radar a few times over the years and forgive me if I am redoing a similar post […]
Can’t Hit the Front Wall? Drop the Racquet!
OMG!! I cannot hit the front wall! My backhand is ruined! My timing is off–let me try harder! Harder! Let me hit 100 of these–getting worse-my backhand stinks! The above thought process was being played out in my athlete’s head. The more they analyzed and tried the worse it got. All players experience this and […]
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving day in the USA is a time for the three F’s; football, family and friends. What are we thankful for? I will never forget a memorable Thanksgiving at my sister’s house in North Carolina. She had like 25 people seated around a huge table and we all had to be thankful for something so […]