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MONTHLY NEWSLETTER MAY 05
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Welcome to the May Newsletter and to all new subscribers. Please introduce your tennis, colleagues, students, club
members etc to: to sign up for their free email newsletter.
In This Issue As a thank you for subscribing to the monthly newsletter, there is a FREE BONUS of 100 drills. See below.
HOW
TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL CLUB or IMPROVE YOUR EXISTING CLUB. Every club wants
to be more successful and the question is ‘What is more success?’ My new website
will help and advise on improving your club, with lots of ideas to put into practice. Your committee and members may need
a change of mind, but progress often entails radical thinking. The website can be accessed
via the website: http://www.tennisatthenet.com A CHAMPIONS ATTRIBUTES. CHARACTER. 1/. Commitment - A Champion is focused on his.her goals They dream of becoming a Champion. 2/. Independence - A
Champion takes responsibility. A Champion doesn’t blame the coach or others
for losses. The ultimate responsibility lies with the
champion and they know it. 3/. Confidence & Champions
have a great sense of Self-belief
- themselves;
They believe they can
do it. 4/. Determination & Champions
are very committed and Will
have great will power. Champions do not give in. 5/. Competitive Spirit - Champions
have a competitive spirit
in everything they do. 6/. Work Ethic - Champions prepare & plan well, They are organised, They know where they are going and
how to get there,
They are very concerned about their
schedule and peak for big events. SEE FURTHER DETAILS ON THE WEBSITE.
HUMAN KINETICS A must for every serious coach
or sports leaders. Human Kinetics are dedicated to
providing a range of quality resources designed to help teachers, recreation leaders, coaches and parents get children involved
in physical activity. ukpe.humankinetics.com is a collaboration between the Youth Sport Trust
and Human Kinetics, packed with a wide range of resources, special offers, lesson plans and practical tips for teachers and
coaches. Visitors can sign up to receive the free UKPE monthly e-mail newsletter, covering all the latest news, resources
and advice in PE, youth sport and recreation. The website also features a great
selection of tennis titles for players of all ability levels and resources for coaching and doubles play. Individuals interested in finding out more can request a FREE copy of the UKPE catalogue by either visiting
www.ukpe.humankinetics.com or by calling Human Kinetics on 0113 255
5665.
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Serious Drill / Game –. DON’T
WANT THE SERVE. Pressure
on the server. Can be singles or doubles – spin for the
serve – however as you will see later, it is better to pass the serve to your opponents. Servers start the 1st
game 0 – 40 down - if they lose they retain the serve and commence the next game 0 – 30 down - then
the next game 0 – 15 and 0 – 0 until they win a game ( by which time
the opponents might be 4 games to 0. When they win they hand
the serve over and the new servers start 0 – 40 etc., The same player keeps
serving until serve handed over. Play a complete set.
 Fun Game - CATCH THEM OUT - To teach players to hit away from opponent. Two equal teams one team with rackets at the far end from the coach, the second
team space themselves out on the coaches side (bearing in mind that once set, they cannot move). The coach feeds the ball and the players must hit into the court to score.
Team plays until everyone is out. Scoring: If ball is caught out of the air, the whole team is out (this can
be varied if coach decides) If ball is caught after one bounce that player who hit it is out. If a player touches the ball
but does not catch it the hitting team score one point, if no player touches the ball, hitting team get two points. Alternatives: Can have different scores for where the ball lands: service boxes – tram-lines – back court
etc. New
Item. Playing
Successful Doubles. THE BASIC POSITIONS IN DOUBLES. What is your job! We have now covered the three most important
shots in the game of doubles. Doubles is entirely different to singles and should be considered as a separate game. With four people on court, covering an area slightly bigger than the singles court, doubles pairs
rely more heavily on their positioning on court, instead of shot-making. The probable ratio of court positioning over shot-making
in doubles is 65% to 35%, whereas with singles it is reversed. Additionally in doubles there is far more repetition than in singles and it seams as though the same
type of point is played over and over. The players thus need to make subtle changes now and again as is required to win a
point. We are therefore going to look, this week, at the court positions and the job of the person in that
position. The picture following shows the basic court positions for the four players.
Server and Receiver Basics. The positions of the server
and the receiver have to be played well for a doubles team to be able to win points. It is critical that the server has a
good solid and reliable first serve and an equally good second serve. The receiver must equally have a good cross court return. The Server’s Jobs. The first priority is to
make the first serve as providing the percentage is high, it puts the opponent receiver on the defensive. The second priority is to be able to place the ball where you want it to go, the
task is to serve to the middle of the court on the deuce side and to the opponents body on the Ad. side. By this means you
will be making the returners’ job more difficult and set up the second shot for you or your partner to put away. Serves
that go wide give the opponent a wider angle to open up the court. That been said, it is a good idea to mix up the serve pattern
to keep your opponents guessing. The next priority is to put the first volley down the middle. The angled volley
should only be used for a winning hit. The server should endeavour to close in to the net as quickly as possible and should
take responsibility for the first volley. The servers partner is responsible for the cutoff and can be aggressive on a floating
ball, but it must be a winner. We will look at advanced doubles tactics later. The Receiver’s Job. The first priority is to
ensure that you do not hit wide and do not hit the ball into the net. The receiver
should eliminate the possibility of a poach and hit the ball back across court, it is easier to hit the ball back from where
it came, don’t try to do too much. If the serve is a weak shot, hit the ball back deep and move into the net. If you can take the advantage of the net away from the serving team, you are in
with a better chance of breaking the serve. At the same time the receiver’s partner should also move in. The next option is to return the ball low and to the server’s feet, in all
probability the server will have no option but to put the ball up in to the air, and this will allow the returner’s
partner to cross and poach the ball. The last alternative is for both receiver and returner to stay back and to try
to take over the net on the first weak ball. In this way the pressure is taken
off the returner having to make a good return every time and will eliminate the serving team putting the first volley away. It should however, be remembered that the strongest position in doubles is both
players at the net, the second strongest is both players back and the worst scenario is one up and one back. Top doubles is
won at the net. The server’s Partners Job. The server’s partner,
together with the server should decide where the ball is placed, in many pairings, the partner indicates where the serve should
go by the use of a signal. This enables the partner to make a winning poach as they will have a good isea where the return
is likely to be. I always teach my players to stand about a foot inside the service line when they
are the server’s partner. They listen to the strike of the ball by the server and start to move forward, doing a split
step as the returner takes their racquet back. This enables them to react quickly and their body is already in motion. An important point to holding the serve is for the net man to be able to move
quickly on any floating ball. We have already said that the server’s responsibility is to take the first volley and
this allows the partner greater freedom to take the floating ball. In the next lesson we will look at both vertical and lateral movement as it relates
to all four players. The Receiver’s Partner’s Job. The job of the receiver’s
partner can make all the difference in breaking the opponent’s serve and is an essential part of a good doubles team. The partner should start on the service line in what we call ‘The Hotspot’
see the court diagram.
This enables the partner to: A/. Help make the
line calls. B/. Place them out
of the way of the serve. C/. Give them the opportunity
to react quickly to any shot the opposing net player makes. The receive’s partner should be facing the opposing net player as this will
alert them to where their partner is returning the ball. If the opposing net player does not move then they will know the
ball has been returned deep to the server. This gives fractions of a second advantage in reaction time. As the ball is returned past the net player, they should move in to close off
the net, this puts pressure on the server and their first volley. There a couple of rules to assist the play in doubles: 1., Deep to
Deep, Close to close.
In other words if you are at the back of the court, you should return the ball to the opponent at the back (if you return to the
net player, they have
a simple put-away volley. Likewise, if you receive a ball close to the net then the ball should be returned towards the opposing net player (obviously, trying to win the point). 2/. Outside
to Outside – Inside to Inside. When
at the net and taking up a volley/volley situation, if the ball comes to your outside, you should put it to the opponent’s
outside, and similarly
inside to opponents inside. Naturally,
if the volley is a simple one, then you should put it away. In relation to the above guides, a player should equally be aware of their own
positioning to cover the possibilities of the above shots, and to back up their partner in the best way possible. I will also cover, in the next article, where each player should be at any given
time. That’s all for this month.
TO VIEW GO TO: HTTP://WWW.TENNISATTHENET.COM I.T.F approved pressurised Tennis balls – can of four only £2.60 plus postage. See on website -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--= Tennis Racquets and Stringing. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Top Quality racquets and excellent junior racquets at competitive prices. Until next month, John Hoskins – Coach. BEWARE ! Please feel free to pass this tip on to your family and friends, however, before doing this, please delete the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email, otherwise they may accidentally unsubscribe you. You are subscribed to ‘’Tennis
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