Sights and sounds are all around us. We grow and learn from them starting the day we are born. They not only teach us how to function; they also trigger us to take action. A few visual triggers are red stop signs, flashing police lights and seeing lightning that forewarns stormy weather. Common sound triggers […]
Sight, Sound, and Rhythm Training for Tennis Read More »
Tennis TrainingIn pickleball and tennis, coaches commonly say “Follow through in the direction you want to hit the ball.” This may sound sensible, but it is misleading and can open players up to problems, including too much grip tension which slows down your paddle speed (and therefore the ball speed). Why am I complaining about this
The 3 Parts of Every Tennis and Pickleball Swing Read More »
Pickleball Training, Tennis TrainingGoogle “bad line calls and tennis” and John McEnroe is in the second listing. When John McEnroe was playing the pro tour, it was electrifying, and not just because of his tennis talent. He regularly created the kind of drama that also made the “Jerry Springer Show” so popular. People like controversy, and McEnroe created
Line Calls in Tennis – Who Can You Trust? Read More »
Tennis TrainingPickleball is fast. Tennis is fast. We know that. Both sports test every fiber of our eye-brain reaction skills. But how do they compare to one another? First let’s compare the court length. Baseline to baseline in tennis is 78 feet. Pickleball is 44 feet, almost half the distance. How does this affect reaction time?
Pickleball & Tennis Ball Speed and Reaction Time Read More »
Pickleball Training, Tennis TrainingThe good. The bad. The ugly. And the solution. If you’ve ever gotten in a car accident, most of the time you know the cause. If the accident was your fault, you took your eye off the road. It’s that simple. In tennis, taking your eye off the ball has less serious consequences, but causes
Science is a good thing. But the almost endless amount of opinions on the ever-growing worldwide web can easily create confusion and over-analysis for the average tennis player. Slow motion cameras allow us to identify patterns in top players and enthusiastic coaches share that information freely all over the internet, of course with their own
Tennis Footwork Made Simple Read More »
Tennis TrainingOne of the fundamental exercises in Tim Gallwey’s best-selling tennis book “The Inner Game of Tennis” is to listen to the ball contacting the racquet on both sides of the net as well as the bounce and audibly say, “Hit. Bounce. Hit.” as each occurs. Rhythm and timing skills are essential to playing good tennis
Counting Your Way to Better Tennis Read More »
Tennis TrainingIt’s always fun to see juniors spread out and active on a number of tennis courts. But it becomes magical when practically all of them are so young they measure their growth by seeing if they are as tall as the net. One week the net is taller than them and the next week they
Serve the Kids, Serve the Parents Read More »
Coaching Tips, Tennis TrainingTennis Balls Are Full of Hot Air! Tennis balls are unique in the world of ball sports. No other balls lose air pressure and become unusable. All other balls are either hard like golf balls, baseballs, softballs, etc. OR they are inflatable like footballs, volleyballs, etc. This uniqueness creates challenges that plague all players and
Understanding Tennis Ball Pressure Read More »
Tennis TrainingGo to almost any local junior tournament and you’ll probably see an 80-pound 12-year-old girl cracking forehands with so much power that you’ll shake your head and ask yourself, “How the heck can she hit so hard?” You wonder because you can’t do it. As if to add insult to injury, you’re over six feet
Relaxation Equals Power Read More »
Tennis Training