Doping-Tennis

It has been interesting to me to follow the conversation that is taking place on the tennis scene regarding doping and its prevalence in tennis. This conversation is taking place in other sports as well, including golf, but my interest and occupation over the years has been tennis.

Some years ago, I was tennis director at Orange Lawn Tennis Club. Gene Scott held a lower level professional tennis event at the club. One of the players that year was John McEnroe. His manager at the time commented to me about one of the up and coming players on the tour-something to the affect this player had blown up physically in a very short period of time.

Over the years there has been ‘talk’ about different players showing signs of ‘doping’. Back in the day Jimmy Connors and Ilie (Nasty) Nastase held a tour managed by Bill Reardon where there was ‘talk’ of trading matches and possible drugs. There have been other players, some deceased now, with the same ‘doping’ attachment, but nothing solid to the public. Recently the drug ‘meldonium’ has been highlighted not only in tennis but in other sports. The athletes are fighting back saying there is no proof how long meldonium stays in their system, wanting to buy some time (no immediate suspension). In light of Sharapova’s 30 million dollar a year company and the on coming 2016 Summer Olympics ‘dollars’ are definitely at the forefront (hidden) of this publicity, with promoters hoping this will all blow over.

Dick Pound, the founding president of the World Anti-doping Agency, has some pointed remarks to say about why this hasn’t come to the forefront before this. Read his remarks-they are insightful.

I remember a track star, Edwin Moses, many years back gave an interview in which he made a statement on doping. One of the things I remember most specifically was he said no matter what drug testing they came up with the athletes would always stay one step ahead in the manner of ‘fooling/masking’ the tests.

I found the remark by Dick Pound regarding the sponsors attaching ‘values’ to their sponsorships revealing. The promoters do not want doping to be linked to high profile athletes due to the promotion of ‘values’ being linked to their sponsor’s product.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days. In this day and age what would you do to be ‘successful’. Would you succumb to the ‘doping’ world to increase your chances of success or to ‘stay on top’ as an athlete, if you could be assured it would be masked or covered up by promoters? If you did would you accept, in your character, that you were ‘successful’. What is your world view?

Rules-Injured Player-Line-up

You are the coach and your team is playing in a NCAA- DI dual in a year ending fight for the top position in your conference. Your number two player has an abdominal injury and you know if you take him/her out of the line-up it weakens your whole team as each player below has to move up one position. What do you do?

Scenario 1

You have talked with your player and he/she has agreed to play three games and retire. You do not inform the rest of the team, even though they are aware of the injury. This will allow the rest of your team to play their normal positions and you have a good opportunity to win the dual and place first in your conference. The other coach protests (one of my players has quietly informed one of the oppositions players-which is passed on to the coach). You over ride their coaches reasons by saying, “My player played yesterday. They are going to play today.”

Scenario 2

You have talked with your player and agreed for their own physical well being they cannot play. It means the rest of the team moves up and the team has less of an opportunity to win the dual. You bring the rest of the team together and explain the situation. Everyone has to ‘step up’ and play hard, play smart, but enjoy the competition.

Under Scenario 1 the whole team stands to benefit, but do they? Even though the coach doesn’t tell the team, the team knows what is going on. The think about it. If they were the injured player and the coach asked them would they agree to play three games and retire? If so how do they feel about it? Everyone is relieved about not playing up, but is it fair to the other team? Would they want to be treated that way from the other team if the situation was reversed. What do the rules say? The rules state not to play the injured player.

Under Scenario 2 the team has been told by the coach the injured player will not play. Each player will play up in their individual positions. The team knows the rule. Putting a winning record together is also built on the timing of the situations that go into the schedule. You can’t predict who will be injured ‘when’ and who will be out sick ‘when’. However, character plays a big part in everything ‘coming together’ and this is what a coach should want each player to take forward into life. The team could still come out with a win. You don’t know how the other team is going to play that day. An upset could happen and it could not.

What would be your approach? Your job is on the line. The university likes winners. Which Scenario would you choose?

My Way or The Highway?

There are three basic styles of teaching: 1. my way or the highway, 2. your way, 3. together.

‘My way or the highway’.

We have all come in contact with a coach who teaches this way. Some years ago I had a famous tennis player come teach on my staff. I will never forget the first time we shook hands. Her hand engulfed mine and the strength of her handshake, even at age 58, was formidable.  She was former Wimbledon champion, Althea Gibson. Althea had won Wimbledon in 1956. She became the first the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title. Living in East Orange and having fallen on bad times financially, Althea came to West Orange Tennis Club looking to teach some junior players-perhaps looking for the prodigy. However, her teaching style proved to be too strict and unyielding. She moved on to other endeavors after a short time teaching, as it did not produce the results she was looking for.

Your Way

This type of teaching allows the student to guide the teacher in their lesson plans. I won’t spend much time on this style of teaching.  I have not encountered it directly in my coaching experience, either as a player, or in contracting teaching professionals to teach for me. However,I have observed this style of teaching in other venues, i.e. high school team coaching, parks and recreation tennis lessons, etc. In this type of teaching the teacher lets the student guide the lesson by asking the player what they want to work on, then looks for positive reactions from the player in their endeavor to improve. When the student gets discouraged and wants to change the lesson plan or drill, the pro follows theirs requests.

Together

The professional and the student work together in this positive blend of achievement. The professional is astute in combining his own playing and teaching experience with the personality and skills of his student. Together, they talk and work at achieving goals in performance. It takes skill and confidence to teach ‘together’. It is also immensely satisfying. Trust is an outcome of this type of teaching. Discipline, hard work, respect for each other – all this and more can develop out of this type of teaching relationship.

In reviewing your teachers, or your teaching experiences, which of these would you fit them, or yourself into?

Coaching-Integrity-Tennis

Whether you are a professional, high school or college coach/player, integrity should be at the top of a coaches/players credentials.

In or Out?

Reasons why integrity should  be first:

1. Integrity means calling a ball in when it touches any part of the line on a tennis court.
2. Integrity means calling the correct score when your opponent asks you, because they have gotten mixed up.
3. Integrity means NOT calling a let on a serve that is an ace.
4. Integrity means not blaming the chair official for overruling your out call with a: “Correction, the ball was good.” There is honest human error at least 2 or 3 times a match.
5. Integrity means NOT blaming your coach when you lose.

Players are afraid of losing their scholarship at a collegiate level, their ranking in the junior standings, or the way their peers see them on their high school team. Coaches are afraid of losing their jobs if the team they are coaching doesn’t do well. These are a few of the reasons why integrity isn’t high on a players or coaches list these days. Players find it easy to call a ball out on a key point rather than believe in their ability to win by the rules. Coaches find it easier to support their players bad sportsmanship, or calls, rather than teach integrity and belief in the players ability to overcome adversity.

The bottom line is winning is only winning when it follows a set of rules that are fairly set down in a sport for both players to abide by. Then it comes down to the integrity of the players/coaches work ethic to see which one wins-by the rules, using their work ethic and talent. Winning isn’t really winning when it is done ‘outside’ the rules: i.e. players calling a ball out on game/set point, when it is in, or a coach teaching his players the chair umpire can’t really tell if a ball is on the back/side of the line, because of their position on the court, so call it out.

How do you play the game of integrity? We all have the choice. How does integrity play into your choice of friends and work partners and tennis?

Style vs Basics

What is the difference between style and basics.

A basic is defined as: the essential facts or principles of a subject or skill. i.e. learning the                                            basics of a business.

A style is defined as: a manner of doing something. i.e. he has a different style of                                                         management.

How do these two terms apply to tennis technique?

A basic is what the former three blogs dealt with: 1) racket back, 2) rotate or turn sideways to the incoming ball and 3) make contact with the ball to the side and front of the body position whenever possible.

Style is how each person, over time, adapts, through repetition, a specific way of movement in contacting the ball. An easy example would be to examine a forehand swing. Let’s look at a beginning junior player in the age range of 5 to 8. In taking the racket back (basic one) do they take the racket straight back, or take it back in a loop manner? What grip are they holding the racket with, an eastern, a western or a modified western grip? Does this affect the way they take the racket back? If they are shorter or taller, does this affect the grip and style of their backswing? Are they ready and able to grasp the concept of top spin or under spin? Does this affect their choice of grip and backswing?

Let’s examine some of the qualities in the older, higher level player. What is their personality like? Are they aggressive, or passive? If aggressive are they trying to hit a flatter ball due to their straight back swing using an eastern grip? If passive are they trying to hit with a lot of top spin with a western grip? Are they taller of shorter? Are they quick in their movement or slow footed?

All these, and more, have much to do with style. In teaching I have developed a philosophy that favors basics over style. I have centered my focus, in teaching, on the basics and have allowed the style to develop to the personality of the player.

Have you given thought to your ‘style’ of hitting versus the ‘basics’ of preparation?

Playing Tennis – Reaction Time

Let’s talk about how reaction time influences the three basics.

The three basics are: 1) racket back, 2) rotate your body to a sideways position to the incoming tennis ball, and 3) make contact (racket to ball) to the side and front of your body.

Let’s take an example of hitting a ball against a back board. I am a beginner. I take the racket back, turn sideways to the backboard, then drop the ball a rackets length away from my body and off  to the side of my front foot. As the ball bounces up off the court and reaches waist level,  I swing my racket forward across my body making contact in an upward and forward motion (low to high) finishing with racket over my shoulder.  If all has been  done correctly technically, the ball should go straight to the backboard and bounce off it back to the same side of my body ready to be struck again in the same manner. However, I realize, too late, my racket isn’t back for the repetetive hit and, trying quickly to get it back in time, the ball is past me before I can swing. I have not done what I thought I was ready to do. That is not using my reaction time correctly. What I should have done is, as the ball makes contact with the backboard, I begin taking the racket back in anticipation of the ball coming back to my ‘hitting zone’. When it arrives my preparation (reaction time) will allow me to be ready for a second, third contact(hopefully many more).

Take each basic in order: 1)racket back, 2)side position to the ball and 3) contact to the front and side of your body position. You can not do all three at once. There has to be a progression. It doesn’t work as efficiently if you run to the ball, then take your racket back. It works much better in the prior sequence. The more you practice and watch the pros, it is almost as if all three are working simultaneously, but there is still a start and end sequence. They have just done it so much, it seems effortless and you don’t notice until you mentally break it down.

The reaction time in preparation for making contact with the ball directly influences two important functions: 1) the earlier you prepare, the more control you have over your chosen shot and 2) the earlier you achieve a good hitting position on the incoming ball, the more choices you have in your shot selection.

Reaction time is how long does it take to prepare to the trajectory of the incoming ball. Another part of this has to do with your reaction to the stimulus of the ball coming off the opponents racket. This affects your preparation timing – my next blog.

In the mean time spend some time analyzing your timing sequence in  preparation for ball contact using these three basics as a guideline.

We have talked in cursory detail about; 1. racket preparation and 2. positioning your body in relation to the incoming ball. Basic number 3 is to make contact with the tennis ball to the side and front of your body position.

While it is not always possible to do this, it should be on the high end of probability that you make contact with the ball in this manner. This allows the leverage of the arm and racket to achieve full advantage along with the shifting of your weight adding velocity and increased spin on the shot selected.

This all sounds pretty fundamental, which is the point. All mechanical functions in any sport revolve around basics. It is the combination of leverage and weight shift that allows the mechanics to evolve to increasingly more effective productiveness.

These are the basics in tennis: 1. racket preparation, 2. positioning of your body to the incoming ball, and 3. striking the ball to the side and front of your body.

Without getting into the open stance, I would encourage the beginning tennis player to start their preparation sequence in this progression. To those who are past the beginning stage I would encourage you to focus first on the racket preparation. If the racket isn’t in a position to start your forward swing as the ball arrives at the point of contact, you will find it difficult, if not impossible to achieve any momentum and you will execute a ‘weak’ shot.

Another benefit of early racket preparation is you now have clearer judgement of where to position your body (before the ball arrives). This allows you to be in a comfortable spatial arrangement to the ball, where your leverage and weight shift can combine to offer you the best advantage in executing your shot selection.

That’s it for a cursory examination of the three basics. Next I will cover the timing involved with executing the three basics – how it will benefit your game.

Are you aware of how important it is to make contact with ball to the side and front of your body?

Tennis basic number two is positioning your body to the incoming tennis ball. Leverage and weight shift are the two mechanics directly relating to this.

To the beginning tennis player, young or old, it is difficult, for most, to understand the importance of aligning your body correctly, combining your  weight shifting from back to front foot while swinging your arm and racket forward to contact the moving tennis ball.

While the kinesiology of largely open stance hitting by the professionals of today is highly effective, I have found the basic side-to-the-ball stance to be most teachable. It would include the following in an instructive sequence(starting with our first basic):

Basic #1  Racket back – pointing  the head of the racket to the back of the court. You                              will note as your racket goes back your shoulders naturally turn as well.

Basic #2 Step with your foot (left for right handers-right for left handers) so you are                              now sideways to the net.

This sets up the body for a natural mechanical swing, combining both leverage and weight shifting while putting the stress on the large muscle groups, not the small. The tennis racket and tennis ball have weight associated with them, unlike badminton, which uses a light bird and racket. In tennis, the heavier racket and ball promotes using the larger muscle groups as much as possible. This can greatly reduce the possibility of injury (pulled ligaments,tendonitis,etc.). As we get older the tendons, ligaments, muscles lose much of their flexibility and strength, which also supports the use of these mechanics for the normal parks or club player.

The third basic, that of where, in relation to my body position, I will contact the ball, will be my next blog.

While this may appear so basic it doesn’t warrant being talked about, racket preparation, leverage and weight shift (movement) is indicative of the mental control a tennis player is exhibiting. A prime example of this in today’s market of players is, of course, Roger Federer. The application of movement on the tennis court he exhibits comes from not only natural athleticism, but from hours and hours of training with his ‘movement’ coach.

One year at the US Open, I asked a top junior player I was working with to pick out the top junior players (they play in their own tournament), not by looking at the seeds on the posted draw, but by watching their footwork. After making the rounds of all the courts we had picked the numbers 1,3 and 4 seeds, simply by watching their footwork and movement on the court.

How much thought and work have you put into your footwork and movement?

What are tennis basics?

In any sport there are basic physical movements that are required to perform. That is what I am being specific about in this blog. Style I will deal with at another time.

Tennis basics

When playing what would be a basic? For example you are teaching a first time student how to hit a forehand. What do you think would be the first thing you would emphasize? Let’s pretend you have just put the racket in their hand. You have positioned them at the service line on the other side of the net from yourself (assuming you have told them the name of the service line). You haven’t instructed them at all. Just put a racket in the hand and told them to stand on the service line. Now you tell them you are going to toss a tennis ball to them from just on the other side of the net.

You toss the ball. What is their reaction? Depending on the age and athletic background of the student, I have experienced many different approaches.  They run at the ball and try to hit it before it bounces (younger players-children mostly, although some adults have tried this-lol). The student runs at the ball and tries to hit it with ball directly in front of their body – windshield wiper like. The student continues to stand still and simply watches the ball bounce by them. Yes that has happened on numerous occasions – mostly with younger children, but also with adults with no athletic background experience. There are other examples, but let’s get to the basics.

With the ball moving toward them, preparation to hit the ball has to take place. That sounds pretty basic and it is. What happens? There is the factor of time as the ball moves toward the student. In order to be ready, what do you think is the first basic in preparation? – moving the feet? setting up in front or to the side of  approaching ball?, or racket preparation?

As you analyze I would hope you would arrive at the racket preparation. We are talking about a beginner, not an experienced player, in which many things might happen seemingly simultaneously-racket back, shoulder turn, feet moving,etc.

There is a time factor involved here. The ball is approaching at a moving pace. Once it is ‘on’ you, it is time to hit. Therefore, the racket has to be the first stage in preparation. As the student sees the ball approaching, the instruction,”Racket back” is to be heard from the instructor. The question arises. What do you mean by taking it back? Oh, to the side back. How far back? Ok, so it pointing to the  back of the court. Is the racket head below my wrist or above my wrist on the way back. Do I take it straight back or loop  it back. What grip do I hold the racket with? Actually, to a beginning student, again dependent on age and athletic experience,  they aren’t aware of many of these aspects. They are just thinking about hitting the ball.

Sound too basic? Well that is what my ‘virtual tennis’ category of my blog will deal with. Tennis basics that apply to the ‘parks’ or ‘club’ player who is not going to achieve pro status. In truth, having worked with players on the pro level who are continually looking for ways to improve technically, improvement can always be traced back to improving these basics.

Have you ever thought about racket preparation as the first basic?