That is a question/subject that constantly comes up between parents, coaches, and students (in all sports for that matter).

While I was teaching some of my students on the tennis courts near by a football/soccer field during the practice session of a local peewee football team (for kids ages 8-10), we could hear the football coaches yelling at their students with motivational but sometimes harsh remarks to spark a fire of energy in them, in order to get that drill or sprint done with a higher intensity. My students commented on the football coaches’ behaviors, assessing them as “mean;” my response was: “maybe their behaviors are a little mean, but they are trying to prepare their students for the tough situations ahead that they will face in their football games and life-like situations in general.”

Depending on my students’ goals the level of the intensity I ask of them in practice will vary; for the most part I try to make sure all my students experience some sort of level of discomfort and most of the time it’s a mental challenge of focus to achieve a muscle movement right. The ability to be able to endure some discomfort until a goal is accomplished is one very important lesson that I try to instill in all my students. As many great athletes – from Muhammad Ali to Rafael Nadal – explain, one has to accept that practice is not always “fun” and that sometimes it is very hard work. The sooner one accepts that they have to learn to suffer at times while they are committed to their goal to become great, the more tangible of a chance they have at being successful at what ever it is that they are trying to accomplish.

Mostly the thought process of parents who put their kids into tennis is that it’s a nice, safe, and classy sport. And frankly, tennis is a safer (in terms of physical contact/impact) sport than football, but it is just as intense as football is…and sometimes even more as one gets into the competition stages of the game. So how do we prepare students that want to be competitive players and possibly gain an opportunity for a College Scholarship, without exposing them to training under some of these harsh experiences from time to time? From my humble experience, it is not possible…just like the cliché “you are what you eat,” one will compete the same way they practice. We are creatures of habit and what we do on a regular basis is what will take over under pressure or in a quick decision-making moment.

So, when parents pick a sport for their children, it is imperative to think about what they would like for the children to get out of it. Moreover, after the decision is made, honesty and straight-forwardness are instrumental components in the relationship with the coach; alignment between the parents’ objectives (for their children) and the coaches’ is necessary in order to ensure the attainment of the same common goal. The expectation of hard work and dedication is a constant; practices are not always fun. But we practice in order to appreciate and enjoy competitions where we have the opportunity to leverage and show off the learning accumulated and the progress made that ultimately are a result of all that hard work!

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• First of you need to learn the limits of the swing…where is the furthest point to which you can take your racquet back?
• How far do you need to turn your body on the last step before you begin to unwind in order to strike the ball?
• How much can you open up your body on contact and where should your racquet be on contact with the ball?

Typically, when I teach (regardless of the tennis level of the individual who I work with), I break it down the process to three main parts of the forehand:

• The side on position
• The take back
• The drop of the racquet

Here are some examples of the positions by some of the best players of all time. Keep in mind these are not exact positions that you would start in to learn the swing; the pictures are here to give everyone a general idea of the concept.

Please keep in mind there are a few other steps that need to happen before the side on position (step takes place) in an actually rally, but in order to learn proper technique, one needs to start at an abbreviated level. Furthermore, once that step is perfected, the next step is having live feeds (instead of hand feeds) and quick racquet feeds.

One starts at the very last step, which is the drop of the racquet…once that segment is comprehended, the next step is the follow trough…from there the take back needs to be practiced…followed by the side on position and subsequently the ready position.

There are a lot little things that need to be constantly adjusted when practicing a new forehand (from these positions) and it is imperative that the coach truly understands all the mechanics of the forehand and why things happen in the swing so that he/she can quickly adjust the stroke to the appropriate position in that transition of the swing. I have often seen forehands (and other tennis swings) that have parts of the swings done appropriately but then they break down somewhere in the process of the stroke. A coach needs to be competent and capable of understand that the swing has its limits and guidelines and if the student stays within those boundaries he/she will have a great swing!

I look forward to replying to questions, hearing your comments, and learning about your experiences!

The end depends on the beginning…
Start your tennis lessons today, start the right way!

The post Tennis Lesson: Learning a Forehand appeared first on Serious Tennis Behavior offers private & group Tennis Lessons in Land O Laks, Tampa FL.

The changes are much more visible at the junior level… travelling with a lot of juniors to tournaments over the last several years, it been evident that since the innovations of new equipment, they are able to be more consistent and create effortless power, while using inadequate technique; furthermore, based on my experience this has been even more visible at girls junior tennis and younger divisions.

The impression or illusion in feeling like you are good because you are able to be consistent and hit winners at times, makes it difficult to convince young players that they need to make changes in order to succeed in the years to come in order to play at a college level or a have a chance to be a professional tennis player. Things change a bit as you watch the 16s and 18s boys and girls competitions…the better players clearly stick out with good technique, particularly in the boys divisions.

Based on my experience with juniors, girls (generally speaking) do not exhibit as good technique as the boys…and that is also prevalent at the professional level. Men’s technique is on average superior to that of women tennis players. To explore or elaborate on that further, there could be different reasons for that in my opinion:

• Women are not able to swing as fast at the opposite sex (strength); that leads to less power on their shots, more time to respond to their opponents shots, and it allows for easier timing (of hitting the ball). Consequently, great technique is not as imperative when one has a good amount of time to respond to a shot. However, when the pace picks us, windy conditions transpire, and/or fatigue or mental difficulties occur, the timing breaks down and subsequently an array of errors can happen. A great example is the 2012 men’s semi-final of Indian Wells – Nadal vs Federer. Federer has amazing strokes (technically) and very natural grips (more eastern); as a result he was barely bothered by the brutally windy conditions. Nadal on the other hand has technically fantastic strokes as well, but given the way he likes to strike the ball and his footwork, which requires greater physicality (when compared to Federer’s), he could not produce his usual shots under the weather conditions experienced that day. Furthermore, his grips being western create great spin on the ball and did not penetrate the court the same way that Federer’s flatter ball did through the wind. Please keep in mind that the comparison here is between two of the greatest players of all time. The take-away is that one can learn a lot about an individual’s game and ability to adjust to volatile environments…a player’s ability to adapt well to difficult conditions and perform consistently regardless of the precarious circumstances encountered, proves his/her core technical skills and mental strength. (If only the three surfaces used in the game – Grass, Clay, and Hard – were as different as they used to be, then things would be even more interesting on the tour…but that is whole different topic… ☺)
• Another reason could be that good coaches inherently focus their efforts more on the men at the inception of their young tennis careers than on women (for many potential reasons) leading to imbalanced exposure to good technique and tactic. A pertinent example is the 2013 Indian Wells women’s semifinal between Kerber and Wozniacki. Wozniacki was losing the match and being handled quite comfortably by Kerber…but when she started hitting “moon balls” she was able to work her way back in the match (moon balls are clearly not effective in men’s tennis). Kerber’s lack of aggressiveness and coming forward to take some of these balls out of the air, primarily led to her loss. Moreover, she did not feel comfortable with this strategy and let Wozniacki take her out of her comfort zone to ultimately steal the match from her. I often hear commentators say (regarding Wozniacki and other women players) that they need to be more aggressive, to come forward (to the net), and take more risk. In my opinion, if they could they probably would…technically these players have a limit to how hard they can hit the ball and consistently get it in, which is why they struggle greatly when playing against players who can be more aggressive than them on a more regular basis. Example, Saharapova having an effortless time with defeating Wozniacki in the 2012 Indian Wells women’s final.

This all leads back to the beginning of this blog on the tremendous importance of correct technique learned early in tennis players’ careers, particularly as it pertains to and affects their progression and development. Moreover, those tennis players who were once good or even the best in the younger age divisions slowly but surely are replaced in the older division rankings by players who have superior technique, have learned to control their game, and are able to hit the ball in specific/targeted directions with different spins and various paces. And because we discussed tennis equipment one last important take-away…it is helpful not to buy the most powerful racquet or get the string that creates the most spin as you learn to play tennis; you need to learn to feel and control the ball and this is difficult if done with equipment that does not provide you with accurate results when you make poor contact (with the ball) or hit the ball too hard and it still goes in. An adequate assessment, attainment, and utilization of proper equipment (specifically tennis racquets and strings) is instrumental in learning and applying the right technique in addition to getting a good “feel” for the game of tennis.

I look forward to replying to questions, hearing your comments, and learning about your experiences!

More to come…also, check out my Facebook and Twitter pages.

The end depends on the beginning…
Start your tennis lessons today, start the right way!

The post Evolution of Tennis appeared first on Serious Tennis Behavior offers private & group Tennis Lessons in Land O Laks, Tampa FL.

Sometimes I would have the opportunity to hit a foam tennis ball back and forth with him…that is one of my favorite memories from my childhood. From that experience, a passion for the game and all it has to offer formed inside my heart and mind. I always tried to put all my effort into anything related to tennis; it has taught me many life lessons and brought me many great opportunities in life…I will discuss those as I blog more in the future.

I hope to make as much positive of an impact in my future students’ lives as tennis has made for me. Whether you are a seasoned tennis player looking for some technical feedback on a stroke that you just never felt confident with, a junior tennis player who just keeps losing to the same group of players and just cannot figure out why, a beginner who is looking to start on a journey of being a great tennis player, a league player who wants to finally beat his arch nemesis at the club, or someone who just wants to simply learn the basics to enjoy this beautiful game on occasion for fun… You Have Come to the Right Place!

Now, to tell you a little bit about my self…I (Aleksey Bubis) was born in Odessa, Ukraine. My parents and my brother immigrated to America when I was 9 years old…we lived in Brooklyn, NY, Columbus, OH, and finally Tarpon Springs, FL. I’ve been living in Florida for the past 19 years and now have a family of my own…my beautiful wife Simona and my kids Michelle (5) and Tristan (2). I enjoy spending time with my kids and wife, playing tennis, working out at the gym, cross fitting, playing disc golf, and riding my motorcycle.

More to come…also, check out my Facebook and Twitter pages.

The end depends on the beginning…
Start your tennis lessons today, start the right way!

The post Serious Tennis Behavior appeared first on Serious Tennis Behavior offers private & group Tennis Lessons in Land O Laks, Tampa FL.