Week 10

Hello Everyone,

So over the past few weeks we have started playing more points from the baseline, while having to hit a certain amount of balls in the court before the point is open. The kids are starting to show progress in terms of the quality of shots, and maintaining longer rallies. We have also continued working on volleys and overheads, grips and arm position, and we will stick to it until all the kids start showing progress in this area.

This week we will continue playing more points but we will introduce starting the point at the net, and coming to the net, to get the kids more comfortable with volleys and overheads from the actual point. We will also continue to work on recovery after hitting a shot, and getting back to our ready position every time after we hit a shot. There is way too much standing and waiting in the same spot where the previous shot was hit, and doing this will get us in trouble for the next shot. Therefore we need to recover after every shot that we hit, to a neutral position behind the baseline. 

Drago

Week 9

Hello everybody,

So this past week the kids have spent a little more time playing points than the previous few weeks. Some of the kids are doing a really nice job of setting up early and looking to get their feet set before they hit the ball, while others still need to continue to improve in that area.

One common thing for almost everybody from playing points is the lack of recovery and getting back to the ready position after every shot. So we will continue to stress the need to recover and get back to the ready position immediately after the shot. This will give us more time to prepare for the next shot and to get set faster, which increases the chances of hitting a better shot, without being rushed. Hitting on the run is obviously more challenging for everyone, so early preparation and getting back to the ready position and recovery are crucial if we want the kids to be able to stay in the point.

Once again we will continue working on early preparation, but making it more challenging and doing it while on the run. 

Also we will be getting back to working on overheads, and making sure the grip and arm positions are right. 

Drago

Week 8

Hello to everyone,

So this week we had spent some time from the beginning of the practice working on the cross-court shot, which is the most common shot hit in tennis, and hitting on the run. We had let kids play points through cross-court rallies, and this was the first week where kids had played more than 10-15 minutes of points. 

As we have told the kids in practice, the basic idea is to get everyone to be able to rally for a longer period of time, keeping the ball in play and not going for too many big shots and trying to hit winners extremely early in the rallies. In the coming weeks, we will continue working on the most basic stuff such as early preparation and trying to be balanced when we hit, while maintaining a rally for as long as possible. Cross-court rallying will be the focus of the practice, as well as finally playing more points with serves. 

The grip changes, arm and racquet position on the serve, overheads and volleys, are starting to show improvement and all the coaches will continue to stay on the kids to make sure that everybody sticks with it.

Drago

Week 7

Hello to everyone,

Over the past few weeks we have stressed the importance of turning and getting the racquet back early, and looking to get in the best position to try to be as balanced as possible when hitting the ball. The kids are starting to show progress and we will continue to remind them about early preparation and making sure that their feet keep moving non stop.

We will be letting the kids play more points from the baseline, right from the start as a warm-up, to get them moving and warming up faster. We find that this keeps them more engaged as opposed to just doing a simple counting drill. We will however put certain requirements, such as the amount of balls needed to be hit in the court for the point to count. The idea here will be to try to encourage the kids to stay more patient and keep the ball in play for a longer period. Right now, most of the kids like to go for a big shot to try to win point very early in the point, regardless if they are set up to go for that big shot or not.

We have also worked hard on volleys and overheads, making sure that the right grips are being used, as well as the arm and racquet are in the right position. We will continue to do this in the coming weeks, as the grip and arm position are corrections that will take a little longer, due to a higher amount of repetitions needed for them to be memorized.

See you guys in practice,

Drago

ORC Academy Newsletter

Hi guys,

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Drago