Friday, 19 February 2010

No such thing as a free lunch...

Wow it seems like a while ago since i last blogged but it times have been hectic. In one week i managed to fill the car with the wrong fuel by putting  unleaded into the diesel, however for those you of you out there who commit such a school boy error there is something to learn from this. The trick is to put some engine oil to mix it up with said diesel and then you are good to go, all dependant on how much unleaded you have put in. Seemed to have make things run smoother and quicker! The computer crashed big time and had to go into the menders. I was super amazed how i managed to get so many worms and viruses on the system when i had norton antivirus! Seemed the instigator was a BT upgrade software that didnt help. However, a new hard drive here and some man hours there we are back to normality. Avast it seems is the best software for viruses over any others on the market and seems good enough and whats more its free once you have registered.

On the brighter side, whom ever said there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world lied, i managed to get a free sports massage and one of the biggest tuna jacket potatoes one afternoon for free this week. Seems they were only throwing it away anyway and i happen to be there at the right time.

Since my last blog i have been court and office bound (coaches who just think its all court work are only doing half a job). Basingstoke was Arctic cold conditions and saw two students cry off due to the extreme cold weather playing havoc with there back conditions. Perhaps they were just to be part time coaches of the future. All the same i look forward to seeing them again.

For the first time ever i managed to accumulate and calculate all my tax receipts for the coming year whilst staying away. I think i will do an article on what you can claim as a self employed coach as many of you maybe a little green in this area. Anyone who wishes to add to this article feel free.

The course went well and from there i plied straight into yet another week long coaching course. Learning never stops and the opportunity to write new articles on everyday coaching aspects always present themselves. So for all my tennis related followers here is what i will do in the next few weeks/months....

Planning the ultimate Junior and Adult programme for your club (this is one i recently completed for a club in Essex)
Efficient Power Tennis (Based on the course i am running in Dartford on 25th Feb)
Working with large groups of kids (how you truly can work with 12 mini orange kids on your own)
How to rotate players effectively and efficiently in drills
A 20 Week programme of how to get in and stay in the zone
Some sort of tax article before April arrives

Hope this will tie you over for now, i will get the club programming up today and the power tennis article will be up on the andytennis website by Monday. Remainder to follow soon.

This week was spent catching up on last weeks office work unbelievable that this took nearly two days!

Wednesday and today (Friday) i take charge of the advanced squad. This is the squad for coaches and players, everyone who attends plays on the veterans tour and predominately has a world ranking of some sort. The last programme went a bit like this to give you an idea

Service box warm up (7-Minutes)
Long line hitting (7-Minutes)
Cross court hitting (5-Minutes Forehands 5-Minutes Backhands)
The idea here is to push your opponent behind the baseline with your shots whilst understanding you have gears to work through, rallying strokes, pressing shots and winners. Even though it is co-operative rallying if you have the chance to press then do so, if you have the chance to hit a winner then likewise!
Cross court hitting (10-Minutes)
As above but combating the pressing shots when forced back
Cross Court Rallying with the added drop shot after the press (10-Minutes)
Many players on the tour are good at this nowadays when was the last time you practiced this with purpose?
Serve and Return work (20-Minutes)
If you are going to spend time on Serves then don't miss out on the opportunity to work on this either
Point Play
With 5 on one court 3 people serving 2 returning. The remainder of the 2-Hours was continuous point playing, as server if you won 3 points in a row then you took the place of the returner. Continuous score keeping and winner takes all!

If you want me to look at your sessions then email them to me and i will see what we can do together. Remember though each session must have a 'teaching point' and the sessions must be progressive in nature as that above.

If you are interested and playing to a good standard then i can get you into this squad just call. Every coach should work on their own game too!

For coaching courses check out http://www.ptruk.com/ and have a look at the courses available even if you wish to attend one of the one day courses to improve your game like Effective Power Tennis running at David Lloyd Dartford Feb 25th then email ptr@ptruk.com and we can help you along.

Right time to hit the court and run the next squad. As the Italians would say CIAO

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