Tennis Blog :: Tennis Equipment » Coaching and School

Tennis Lessons For Kids in Singapore

Tera Warner — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:55:27 +0000

Some primary schools have tennis as a CCA. Most primary schools allow kids in primary 1 to start learning tennis as a CCA. In most instances, such group lessons for kids may not be sufficient if your kid wishes to take up tennis seriously or competitively. A typical group lesson for tennis CCA would have at least 8 kids in a class. Given the large number of kids to a tennis coach, it is not possible for your kids to learn much tennis this way. Nevertheless, it would be a good form of exercise and bonding for the kids.

In Singapore, tennis coaching at the national level is conducted by the Singapore Tennis Association (STA). They have a very comprehensive tennis coaching programme for all levels of players, from beginners to advanced players. For kids, there is the SPEX programme. This is conducted islandwide at most of the public tennis courts, namely at Kallang, Yio Chu Kang, Farrer Park and NIE campus. Again, these are group tennis lessons for kids. Each group would usually have 8 players. The tennis coaches are all qualified and screened by the STA. Therefore, you will have a sense of comfort with regards to the quality of the coaches concerned.

If you have the budget and is keen to see your kid improve faster, there is always the option of hiring a tennis coach in Singapore. These are individuals who can visit your condominium tennis courts and train your child in tennis. These are usually 1 hour lessons. You may find such coaches at the Spexprogramme or search online. Always ask for your coach’s credentials i.e. experience, where he or she has been coaching.

Again, you can have a coach come by your condominium tennis courts to train your child and his or her group of friends. Try not to have more than 4 kids to make the training more effective. Such kids group tennis lessons are good as it allows the child to play against other kids of a similar standard of play. Nothing beats match play against an opponent.

It would be ideal if some one in the family also plays tennis. These would usually result in the child getting more tennis play time and encouragement. However, as a matter of experience, most kids do not enjoy their parent coaching them. They tend to rebel. This may constrained their development as a tennis player. Hence, it may be more practical and sane to have some one external to coach your kid.

Improving Your Tennis – Service Play

Agnieszka — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:27:11 +0000

The old idea when people began to learn tennis techniques was that service should never be more than merely the beginning of a rally. With the rise of American tennis and the advent of Dwight Davis and Holcombe Ward, service took on a new significance. These two men originated what is now known as the American Twist delivery. Service is the opening gun of tennis. It is much more than simply putting the ball in play. From the early days when service was a mere formality it became a point winner. Slowly it gained in importance, until Maurice E. M’Loughlin, the wonderful “California Comet,” burst across the tennis sky with the first of those terrific cannon-ball deliveries that revolutionized the game, and caused the old-school players to send out hurry calls for a severe foot fault rule or some way of stopping the threatened destruction of all ground strokes. M’Loughlin made service a great factor in the game. It remained for R. N. Williams to supply the antidote that has again put service in the normal position of mere importance, not omnipotence. Williams stood in on the delivery and took it on the rising bound. Service must be speedy but speed is not the be-all and end-all of serving. Service must be accurate, reliable, and varied. It must be used with discretion and served with brains. When serving any tall player has an advantage over a short one. Given a man about 6 feet and allow him the 3 feet added by his reach, it has been proven by tests that should he deliver a service, perfectly flat, with no variation caused by twist or wind, that just cleared the net at its lowest point (3 feet in the centre), there is only a margin of 8 inches of the service court in which the ball can possibly fall; the remainder is below the net angle. Thus it is easy to see how important it is to use some form of twist to bring the ball into court. Not only must it go into court but also it must be fast enough that the receiver does not have an opportunity of an easy return. It must also be placed so as to allow the server an advantage for his next return, admitting the receiver puts the ball in play. Just as the first law of receiving is to keep the ball in play, so of service it is to cause the receiver to make mistakes. Do not try to simply serve aces, but use your service to upset the groundstrokes of your opponent. Service should be hit from as high a point as the server can COMFORTABLY reach. To stretch unnecessarily is both wearing on the server and unproductive of results. Varied pace and varied speed is the keynote to a good service. The slice service should be hit from a point above the right shoulder and as high as possible. The server should stand at about a forty-five degree angle to the baseline, with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Drop the weight back on the right foot and swing the racquet freely and easily behind the back. Toss the ball high enough into the air to ensure it passing through the desired hitting plane, and then start a slow shift of the weight forward, at the same time increasing the power of the swing forward as the racquet commences its upward flight to the ball. Just as the ball meets the racquet face the weight should be thrown forward and the full power of the swing smashed into the service. Let the ball strike the racquet INSIDE the face of the strings, with the racquet travelling directly towards the court. The angle of the racquet face will impart the twist necessary to bring the ball in court. The wrist should be somewhat flexible in service. If necessary lift the right foot and swing the whole body forward with the arm. Twist slightly to the right, using the left foot as a pivot. The general line of the racquet swing is from RIGHT to LEFT and always forward. At this point let me put in a warning against foot-faulting. I can only say that a foot fault is crossing or touching the line with either foot before the ball is delivered, or it is a jump or step. I am not going into a technical discussion of foot faults. It is unnecessary, and by placing your feet firmly before the service there is no need to foot fault. It is just as unfair to deliberately foot fault as to miscall a ball, and it is wholly unnecessary. The average foot fault is due to carelessness, over-anxiety, or ignorance of the rule. All players are offenders at times, but it can quickly be resolved. When you begin to learn tennis techniques serving consistently will seem to be virtually impossible, but as with all aspects of successful tennis playing it will soon become second nature to be aware of your service techniques at all times.

Coaching: From Frustration to Success

tugboat — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:53:14 +0000

Janet’s career as a software engineer appeared to be stalled. She completed each low level assignment competently, but felt ineffective in team meetings. When Janet asked for more challenging work, she was ignored, while other team members made similar requests and got the choice assignments.

Janet struggled along as best she could and tried hard to support others and be a good team player. She kept wondering why no one took her seriously. She had no idea that her team leader believed that she was always whining, and not really committed to her job.

Frequently, Janet wondered what was wrong with her. Others just seemed to know what to do to get ahead, and she was afraid that she would never discover their secret.

When a friend suggested working with a personal coach, Janet first dismissed the idea: “I’m well trained; I should be able to figure out what to do myself.” However, she was so frustrated that she was considering changing jobs, and finally decided a professionals perspective might help.

Janet quickly learned that being coached in personal skills was similar to being coached in tennis (her favorite sport). Although the coach could not observe her “game” directly, Janet’s reports of her behavior patterns at work and her actual behavior with the coach gave them plenty to go on.

She admitted to the coach that she had experienced similar problems in other situations, and they decided together that changing jobs now wouldn’t solve anything. Janet decided to use the current situation as a laboratory where she could practice new skills.

Their discussions also touched on several seemingly unrelated areas of Janet’s life. How did she manage her other relationships, what did she want to achieve in her life, how did she handle stressful events, how did she manage her personal space and financial affairs?

After Janet completed a series of self-assessment inventories about these issues, they identified several patterns that Janet wanted to modify. In several important areas of her life, including her job, Janet saw that she was doing just enough to get by.

Her coach challenged her to change the pattern. Janet identified three specific “extra” things that she could do at work that would have an impact on the project she was working on, and she did them.

She found it hard to admit that she really had ignored opportunities to polish her performance, until she realized that she was angry that she was not getting the kind of immediate feedback on the job that she could get from her coach.

Assured that her desire for feedback was normal, and recognizing that it really wasn’t available on the job, Janet made agreements with her personal coach to report on her progress at work. She also reported on her progress in reorganizing her apartment so that she could really enjoy the time she spent at home.

As they continued to work together, Janet realized how unsupported she had been feeling in most areas of her life. Her belief that adults aren’t supposed to need help (except in achieving athletic success) gradually shifted to the recognition that high achievers need coaching to attain superior results.

As Janet continued to recognize and do the important little things on her job, her team leader did notice. Three months after starting to work with her coach, she did get a more challenging assignment; the team leader even commented on how much she had changed. When he was promoted several months later, she was offered a better paying position on his new team.