The Playability Scale

The Playability Scale

This was an ‘aha’ moment for me one day in the bath!! How can something so simple not be utilised in a game plan, certainly at low levels however higher level players would do well to do the same when it is all going wrong! Mentality at pro level is totally different but should still be kept simple.

This scale can work at all levels from beginner to touring pro and is a guideline as to what to do in various situations, commonly found in tennis matches. A player must quickly recognise where he is on the following scale, with suggested 'positive action plans' (PAP) for each scenario:

Many Pro Players today try to play and base their games around their own particular strengths. For them this is the most comfortable way to try and win, so in essence they are in their ‘comfort zone’.

The Art of Tactics is to take your opponent out of this comfort zone generally by one of Four ways:-

1. Play your game well and hopefully this will do the job

2. Change what you are doing by using changes of pace or more subtlety like varying spins

3. Playing utilizing  tactical patterns or strategies using certain targets and placements on the court

4. Mentally by breaking your opponent down so that he begins to think too much

Review this only in circumstances of trouble, when playing well the art is not to think too much. With enough practice you will become automated in this area.

1-2          Nightmare scenario, being completely outplayed or playing badly

Two-ball survival kit e.g. serve and next ball or return and next ball. Keep looking and acting the part in order to have a chance of doing better. Clear your mind of negative thoughts using thought changing techniques. Keep your awareness in the now, 1 point at a time by focusing on one part of your body or the ball.

3-4          Playing average, but not well enough to win

Keep your emotions and body language in check, to stand a chance of moving up to the arenas of 5-8. Once again keep yourself in the now and in the job at hand by maintaining focus as above.

5-6          Even situation, no clear winning

Compete with controlled ability, be aware of opportunities, and maybe take a gamble to create one. These are the matches that are won via tiebreaks and the ability to notice ‘opportunity balls’ and ‘opportunity situations’. If a match is consistently going to Deuce, then understand who is doing what to whom and help plan future points. (I.E. are you winning points, losing points or is your oppoenents forcing mistakes?)

7-8          Ahead in the match.

Don't change a winning game - Finish the job, But be aware of tactical switch by opponent.             Remember mindset should not be to protect the lead but to carry out the work that got you to this position. Remember, think in images not words.

9-10        Playing in the zone.

To think too much now will place you back at worst to 7-8, make the most of it by collecting as many points as possible whilst you can.

You will have to let me know how you get on. Good visualisations and the use of anchors throughout the body can take you to a mindset of 7-10 before you even perform. This forms part of your pre-match routine that will be discussed later in the book. However poor emotional control and you can find yourself in the 1-4 area, a loss in the 5-6 of your emotions will also send you spiralling down.

I QUOTE...

ATHLETIC TALENT IS THE ABSENCE OF MENTAL, PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL OBSTRUCTIONS.

12 Week Tennis Psychology E-Programme

Starting on 5th September 2010 i will be starting the first 12-week tennis psychology e-programme.
This will take the form of the following information.....

Week 1 - Knowing your game
Week 2 - Power goalsetting for performance
Week 3 - The Art of Confidence in your game
Week 4 - The ultimate pre training confidence exercise
Week 5 - The importance of crossing the line for a winning mindset
Week 6 - Personalised Serve Routines
Week 7 - Personalised Return of Serve Routines
Week 8 - End of point play and scenarios to keep you on track
Week 9 - Staying activated and towards the zone
Week 10 - Pre match planning and game plans
Week 11 - After match evaluation and never ending improvement
Week 12 - Free Question and Email Session

If you would like to take part in this programme that will ultimately improve your game then email enquiries@andytennis.co.uk. Cost is a mere £30.00!

Best of luck and here's to taking your game to another level!

Tennis is a LARGE ball

Ever since the grass court coaching with the Army team i have been seeing the ball like a beach ball!
How? For me just a great deal of hitting on a fast surface!
I have taken this confidence into the club matches and have managed to make the finals of the mixed doubles and men's doubles. As it stands i am in the semi's of the men's singles and have this scheduled for Monday.

There are many exercises that can be used to help with seeing the ball easier! Take one small sized mini ball ( http://tiny.cc/n8koi ) and hit with this first in the service area then the whole court for upto 5 minutes. From here you will find the normal ball to seem bigger!

I will fill you in on the tournaments when i have done however i am looking to complete the triple this year!

The greatest footwork news ever!

Check this out!

An ATP stat not that long ago stated that up to 70% of unforced errors were down to poor footwork.

That's a lot of points to just throw away!

It's also something that can be avoided.

My great pal Paul Gold has some free videos to help you with just that, including the one drill he tells me that "every single tennis player regardless of their level can do and should do on a regular basis".

I've asked him to share those with you, so before he changes his mind pop along to http://footwork4tennis.com and grab them.

I bought a copy of his footwork report a while ago and I can tell you he knows what he is talking about!

Here's the link again 

http://footwork4tennis.com


Andy Dowsett

A total update

So whats news? Wow so many questions and well wishers!
Okay this is where i am at......
For those that keep asking with suprisement (new word from the andy book of words) i left the PTR due to a many family goings on and the ability to get my kids to and from school. Certainly not  a decision i took lightly but nevertheless had no choice.
I got a job as head coach at a big club in Essex, although this was big in the 90's definitely needs building up again  but therein lies the challenge.

I have great and fond memories of the thousands of coaches i have trained, tested and put through the PTR 5-day courses which will always remain. Don't worry alas i will continue with my job to educate like i did within the PTR whereby i wrote many of the courses and programmes. These will be in the form of e-books and will be posted on my main site andytennis.co.uk

The club i am at is building greatly however a major downfall was the foresight of not realising that because many owned holiday homes, boats and chalets abroad that their would be an exodus throughout the Summer month of August! Onwards we stride however and plot and plan accordingly. The schools programme will be big in September so much so that i have hired another coach and possibly a third that has come to the foreground. I have also managed to gain the job of tutoring school teachers on how to teach tennis. Therein lies the tutoring that i am back into! Along with the scholarship coaching programme sitting in the winds.

SCHOLARSHIP COACHING PROGRAMME....
This starts in March 2011 and consists of 6 months (ending on August 31st) of playing, coaching and gaining experience in every aspect of coaching. Very similar to the Stonebridge Academy before his retirement! Students will gain a qualification and LTA licence by the end of the course and i am sure will obtain a great amount of knowledge that will set you apart from other coaches, this will be via the LTA and the PTRuk although this still has to be confirmed but the price of the courses will be included in the fee. If you are interested then let me know! I will update my site with more information on this soon.

I digress.....
I have had some offers to work indoors a few days a week throughout the winter and am contemplating taking this offer up whilst the club i am at continues to take shape and build.

But as a coach looking to build don't forget to look at all ventures and ideas outside of the box! For instance today i coached 78 young kids from the local Catholic Church. They had a week long bible club that i have to say was well attended and looking at it the attraction was certainly fun and making friends over anything else. Something we need to look at in our coaching programmes when building! At the end of the 3 hours all had a taster session and went home with a flyer explaining the club programme and a ticket for a free session if they take it up. For the adults there was also a invite for an 8 week coaching course funded from Sport Essex.
The next few weeks will see a visit from the Brownies and Beavers, along with a group from Ford the major business 2 minutes down the road. As they say build it and they will come!

I have come across a great wee talent in the form of a young county sprinter. My god can she move, her poise and balance second to none and has an eye for the ball! In 3 sessions she can rally around 20 balls from the baseline and put at least 1 in 4 serves in. Not too dusty! On top of this i am helping her with her psychology work for both sports ready for the Olympics in 2016! So talented, hard working and enthusiastic ability to learn. What more can i ask for?

On top of this i am just finishing a club doubles e-book for you all with more in the pipeline. An advanced serving download is in progress and Tennis 90 coming along.

This just leaves the club doubles, mixed doubles and singles to play and win on bank holiday Monday. I will keep you posted..................

Army Tennis Training Sir!

I had the tremendous job of coaching the Army Ladies, Mens and Vets tennis team at the All England Grass Courts this year at Raynes Park. Mission to prepare the teams for the inter services championship to be held at Wimbledon the following week.
My expectations of the event were - 0. My knowledge of what to expect - 0.
The idea was to learn from the first day and plan and prepare from this day forward for the following week.
The mens team consisted of a rebel band of 16 players headed by the team captain Roger. All great guys and all hard workers. Now if you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them, then maybe you can hire.....oh hold on wrong scenario!
The ladies team as nice as pie and in need of some renovated coaching work. Vets team great bunch but dammit if i could find time to multi-task 3 different groups at the same time and keep them happy whilst differentiating a the same time. I did however mange to find a way but not without much duress!
Day 1 on grass saw me playing ridiculously out of sorts with my timing and managed to get by with hitting with the lower level guys that i soon figured out within the 20 minute warm up. The aim was to get the team used to hitting on grass. In periodisation terms this was the preparation phase.
Day 2 as a coach saw me playing about 8 foot behind the baseline but hitting with anyone. The aim here was to get used to moving on the grass and playing specific tactical scenarios in doubles as well as singles.
Day 3 outstanding, hitting, seeing and feeling the ball better. Confidence of hitting on grass as a whole for all was better and here we have hit the pre-competitive phase of life.
Day 4 again pre-competitive and my version of pressure point tennis to get the players playing under duress.
Day 5 active rest until competition on Monday and Tuesday.

The experience as a coach was outstanding, how many coaches can say they have coached the Army team? I felt privileged and overwhelmed. But at the same time looking back now have a better understanding of how to train the team in the week leading up to the tournament.

At Wimbledon my job was to prepare all players for ensuing matches and hit with them at the penultimate time on the courts they were to play. Matches were dispersed at Aorangi Park and the sacred courts of 14 to 19 on the grounds itself. The other job pick the matches that mean most and sit down for on court coaching between changeovers. Prognosis at the higher levels? Keep it simple with what you do well and not to try anything you don't really own. On the lower levels attack the weaknesses with plays that work and stick to it until such times the opponent changes their game.

Overall results Navy 1st, Army 2nd, Air Force 3rd.

Personally i would like to thank all those that trained and put the effort in and made me feel welcome to the team. I look forward to training the B team for the indoor championships and the A team again next year for Wimbledon.

A world of continuing learning!

Amazing how even at 40 years old i have never stopped learning! and this has to apply to you.
I am currently reading a great book about the Talent Code. This is just an amazing read and as coaches for sure you need to check this out!

I have spent the last month building even more and hiring two assistant coaches. This will prove fruition in September in our ever growing schools programme. I am looking now to do pre-school, lunchtime and after school tennis sessions as well as in school tennis. The target is to reach 27 primary schools and 3 secondary schools. We are 40% of the way there and will get this to 70% in September!

I have been busy with other ventures which means i am back in the tutoring market again and on the way to setting up an academy at the club in Brentwood. I am after some talented young juniors about the age of 7/8 and will utilise the Modern Tennis way of thinking. A great product and run by some great friends of mine.

I have also managed to corner the market for teaching primary school teachers to coach tennis. Funding is amazingly about if you go searching for it! Although admittedly it helps to know the right people and this can only be done via networking! DONT be one of these coaches that turn up for lessons and then walk away again. I believe once you are at the club you are there for the day! Meet and greet people commit to other projects and make the phone calls required!

I had a great skype chat with America which could see some work from that direction via the Tennis Industry Association and writing articles. Many things in the pipeline and the future is looking bright!

Lets hope for a great and easy winter!

Signing out
Andy

Catch up

Wow times flies when you are busy.
Since we last spoke i have been busy with the coaching and continually setting up new ideas and programmes. Adding schools and more importantly preparing schools to continue in September.

Remember this helps to build the club up from the ground up and from here you can start to bring the parents into the tennis equation. I have entered the Frinton Vets Grass Court Tournament and my training began a few months back. 4 Sets a week, 2 on court workouts and 2 five mile bike rides. Not forgetting a Sainsbury look alike trolley load of balls to serve each day.

With over 15 hours of hitting in lessons a week i am feeling confident which is vitally important. This key ingredient is of some importance when playing matches. You have to prepare yourself and know you are not week in any particular area when you enter the arena.

When i practice i try to just zone in on one key aspect of each shot, forehands maybe the footwork, backhands the space between body and racket, Serve the takeback......i think you get the picture.

A few weeks from now i shoot to West London to coach the Army Team ready for the Inter-sevices at Wimbledon. In the meantime, i am on the lookout for another tennis coach to work alongside me in September having built an adequate business already and also on the look out for young talent to work with in my potential performance programme.

Its been a while but........

Okay so since 'moving on' and becoming a trench coach i think this will pretty much be the last blog on how to build a club. I have been answering many of you via email regarding coaching and playing and now i think it is best i get back to blogging some of the questions and answers that i have for you all.

However, as it stands within 3 weeks (cant really count the weeks holiday to Lanzarote!). My work is now 25 hours and growing. The club is about to launch into an extensive schools programme with 4 schools currently attached to the club and a further 8 schools to start in September. I have managed to gain funding for adult coaching and schools coaching so nothing gets accomplished for free although i was going down the route of sowing in the schools with work and reaping the benfits at the club!

The club programme is now set in stone and summer camps ready to go. Leaflets are flying out the door as we speak and this is why school work is important to help fill these up for you.

So within one month, two weeks planning, plotting, printing, negotiating and meeting, one week holiday and one week full time work we have a viable business in the club that now requires another coach to help with the ongoing coaching that is to build from here on in.

If you want me to help set up something similar for your club just ask and i can do a makeover for your business as well.

Doing what needs to be done

Its always difficult to step into a club first off and build it up into a viable business. But stick with it and get yourself known. Join in social sessions, set up invitation mornings and play matches for the club to get people talking about you.
Don't forget to attach schools to the club and bring the kids back again.
I have manage to hit on funding for getting adults back into sport, you can claim upto £40 per person for an 8 week course, the one i have planned already has 17 attendees and growing. Be sure to speak with your local sport funding centre and work your way into the school sports rep book!
Every district within the county has one so ask around.

I have come to the conclusion that many clubs fail to have a set in stone programme for all range of standards and ages. Produce a brochure for existing and also prospective members to take and look at. Before long your programmes will be full and you can be planning how to double up on sessions by hiring another coach.

FINALLY, run some tournaments at the club to let the kids know about your services and club. I have managed to get hold of a yearly schools mini red tournament for our club. Use the time to sell drinks and coffees whilst you are there as well as anything else that kids may eat! Then ensure every kid has a copy of the summer camps programme.

On a personal note, i have managed to acquire the coaching services of the Army Tennis Team. This is only for 6 days whereby they will play the inter-services at wimbledon. I guess my ex-army background has helped but like everything its also helps with who you know. Very similar to all the examples i have given above.

Network, network, network and once you have enough contacts, network some more!

Time waits for no one!

Why put off tomorrow what you can do today?
''Lets just have one lesson on the serve''.....''Sure''......''I must warn you i have had many lessons and no one has managed to sort out my serve!''.....''Oh that was good, i enjoyed that lets do some more''

Once you have someone for there first ever lesson, make sure for certain its not the last! I always say if something cannot be fixed within 2 minutes or 20 serves then its not worth fixing or you don't really know what you are doing!

Make sure at the end of the lesson that your student no matter who has an understanding of what to do and how to do it. Ask them when they will next practice this in a live situation and constantly check. You may have fixed it but its easy to slip back if the practice isn't constant. Set some practice homework for your students to commit to and you will be fine.

Don't forget word of mouth is more powerful than any advertising! Brochures and posters just back up your on court work and skills.

If you have spare time ensure you get the letters out to the more talented students in other groups inviting them back for more sessions at a later date.

On a personal note my book Tennis Psychology made Easy is starting to sell well, eclipsing the famous book Smart Tennis on Wednesday as we write. Although this may be because everyone has got a copy at this stage! My efforts to get the book in to local shops in Wimbledon have paid off i now get to provide them with copies on demand. I want thousands to be sold over Wimbledon infact more. Maybe this can be the start of something new.

After all time waits for no one!

What is talent?

My second Saturday at the club.
Many things are planned for the future and it sounds like the tour coaching series of courses for coaches will be going ahead. I will plan these dates and subjects by the end of the month and all will be run with ex top 50 WTA or ATP players along with myself as host!

Today was good, my old friend and ex student from the late 90's is improving at a great rate and will  be back playing tournaments. The kids sessions were great but have this ingrained need to play silly games! I must remember that tennis is a game and sometimes they want to play for fun not just try and learn all the time. I guess 10 years away and just lecturing has made me realise that not everyone needs to be a champion lol.

However my main aim is to improve everyone to the best of their abilities. You have the workers and grinders, the lazy ones and the ones who just want to learn until they are hooked.

To me talent is when a student enjoys hard work, enjoys improving and learning whilst listening and is athletic. Our job as coaches is to facilitate the improvement of technique and tactics but more importantly and this is a key missing ingredient with alot of coaches, empower the students and players with the ability to problem solve and think.

This week i set up a performance programme which includes 1.5 hours coaching, 1.5 hours drilling and 1.5 hours of pressure point matchplay and psychology. All for £50 per week for a maximum of 8 students. Alongside this the players will get two individual lessons per month and programming and planning for the journey ahead. As coaches this is a great programme and beneficial for all. But for potential players this for sure is not enough, so make sure that set matchplay sessions and practice sessions throughout the week when you have to work with other groups and individuals.

With all plans and programmes now in place, all that is required is to start the school work and add the extra secondary and primary school and we are good to go, full steam ahead and a fill a club that actually loves to have an outstanding junior programme and membership.

Dont forget to email if you want more advice. Right now i still keep in touch with many of you even regarding PTR issues. Just because i have left this part of my life behind me doesn't mean i wont help when needed.

So just holla

More days, more planning and more meetings

So with the passport fiasco behind me and on its way, i can settle back into planning and re-arranging.
Remember when planning your sessions ensure that groups are set for just after school hours so the kids get used to leaving school and coming straight to tennis. Some schools have the ability to take a mini bus of kids from the school to the club which is even better! Parents who work would love this and are willing to pay.

Sometimes, programmes need rearranging along with times to maximise your potential earnings. Work out when the club has quiet times and work out why. Perhaps, this is then key to add in extra coaching sessions. Try not to interfere with social tennis, although to set a group just prior to this will ensure that this also fills quite well.

Now is the time to plan the summer programmes and get them out, the earlier the better. Get them into schools you work in, around the club and anywhere else that maybe fruitful.

Today i had a meeting about funding for schools bar the short deadline to get applications in i can help with this side of life for those interested. After all it all helps and don't forget schools help build the programme and the club. Email me if you want details, the deadlines for primary and secondary schools for next year are October this year.

Now i need to plan the club tournament. Ciao

Well that's another fine mess you got me into Stanley......

So here is an unusual chain of events...
Sunday print tickets for holiday on 22nd well in advance - Good
Notice member of family has extinct passport - not good
Book 7 day super fast passport appointment in london - good
Turn up and forget birth certificate - not good
Worse still walk off train at stop and leave 3 x passports, cheque book, potential already signed other passport for said person of forgotten birth cert and holiday clothes on train - super not good!
Find passports and related stuff after jumping on next train and chasing train in front to Shoeburyness! - Stroke of luck
Get back in time to continue coaching at club for rest of night - Phew
Beat mens team captain to stamp playing authority on club - Job Done

and tomorrow i  get to go upto the passport office again to try again

but.....if you have the ability always stamp your playing standard on a club as soon as possible 'just do it'. With your coaching ability becoming known adding a playing ability makes for a sound grounding and a slight gain of respect has been earn't. But never ever rest on your laurels, remember clients are doing YOU a favour by hiring you, not the other way around.

Next job is to arrange a fun day so everyone gets to 'meet the coach'. I will set out an outline and again post this for you on my web.

Glad this is helping some of you and your emails are always welcome. Even if they are about pathway courses and things that you still need as a PTR member. Always a pleasure, never a chore!

Note to self....

Must stretch more!

Right now Mondays are slower days but with the plan now in place and posters on the wall we shall see what happens. Don't forget to put up a poster about your coaching abilities, details and some business cards underneath! This works great and then the only thing to do is get out there and promote yourself in socials, matches and in your coaching! I will add my current poster to my website for you to copy and use yourself.

Hope this all helps!

Day 5 and first week complete

Okay Saturday at the club is complete two high level individuals and three groups of mini red, orange and green.
The groups are okay the green group however reminds me of the County squad i trained years back. 7 potential county class girls and another i will pull in from mid week. Perfect!

This is what coaching is made for. My years of experience as a tutor and ability for constant and never ending improvement are standing me in good stead! Sometimes you don't realise your abilities until they are used real time.

Posters are up in the club and programmes are set in place, i can't start in ernest until the end of the month but that was always the plan when leaving the PTRuk. Didn't quite turn out that way but i guess there are reasons for this. It seems my life is taking a different direction and my link with my friends seem to be opening doors for me. Plus it also gives me the opportunity to train more for the Vets Tour in earnest, no reason why i can't train every day for this (email me if you are interested in the sessions).

Right now i am working on the Tour Coach book and am adding quotes from Ljubicic and Ivansevic as well. I hope to have the rough draft for just after Wimbledon. Along side this i am planning the Tour Series of courses run by ex WTA players. Keep an eye out for these soon!

My first week has been busy and fulfilling, almost like i have missed this but the simple things in teaching are great and i have decided to start vlogging these for you. The simple games and practices to improve your players. Before long the website will be a wealth of knowledge i have gained over the 16 Years of coaching.

Day 4

Fridays generally used to be my programme writing day for the PTR. This is where i used to get my motivation and inspiration to write the courses that thousands of you over the years attended. Even though i will continue this now to add to my personal website today was spent printing and sorting out the programmes to be.

Plus i have sent free copies of my book to book shops around Wimbledon to see if anyone will sell them and buy more later. I want a 10,000 book order please!

Now must finish the last bits and then to work on the 'Tour Coaching' book, i will send out a rough cut pre-release to those who are interested with the permission of the Author of course.

Building Building Building

Okay so day 3 more networking and to add to the secondary school I now have a primary to add to the list. I am after the one big girls private catholic school and another primary. With that the club will be brimming with students. The summer programme just needs adjusting and that will be out to the members along with the programme of events for the year.

I am particularly looking forward to the oncourt fitness hour using the Etcheberry methods, if this works then i will ensure i place one during the day. The little hitters programme will commence after the half term and right now my priorities are to get some sign up sheets for the main events i wish to build and get a poster up with my details in full view of the club.

3 hours of coaching went well, 18 mini reds in the first session with some budding stars, 8 in the orange session and a poor show out of 3 in the next. Saying this throughout the sessions for sure there are some talented youngsters but question is how much? Right now there are some remedial deficiencies in the games as a whole. Consistency and fundamental technique being key but on the bright side they can all rally to some degree or other. Damn the last coach who taught them all to serve though!

Tomorrow is kinda a day off but time to get the tax for last year to the accountant and print what i need for Saturdays sessions. By the beginning of June there should be a full programme being run and then i can start spreading the 'coaching word of mouth' Essex wide.

Once this is all in place then i can plan masterclasses, an Essex wide talent id day with a few 100% 6 month scholarships thrown in for the performance squads.

Lets see. Hope this helps those in charge of their clubs!

A new start and regime

Many of you now know i have left the PTRuk. Thankyou for your messages didn't realise i had touched so many around the world! Personally i am not sure i have made the right decision to leave and jump into the direction i have but......at the same time circumstances dictated for once in my life a direction i had to turn.

But enough of that already, this leaves a good opportunity to teach anyone how to build a club from the bottom up. The club itself is set in a woodland area, 10 courts and currently boasts 70 juniors and around 180 adults. The programme is very basic and needs building and rescheduling.

I get to take over the current programme of 12 hours of group lessons. Here your name is made if you are good enough and the word will get out of your abilities and talents. Don't be afraid of hard work

First and foremost when walking into the club you have to understand the environment and needs of the members. To do this you need to join in socials and run some fun days. Get to know the members and put your face about. This means giving some free time away but don't worry it comes back to you and overall you never now who your membership consists of!
.
I have only run 3 sessions at the club already and joined in a fun day but so far i have learned.....
The club is rife with school teachers
It also boasts a link to sport essex and a wealth of funding for coaching
School teachers have friends who can get you into schools very easily and within 2 days of negotiating we are in the first school and whats more they are coming to the club.

The aim of working schools is to get them into the coaching programme, my tactic is to use two secondary schools one is a private school. With the county high school the only suitable year to work with are Year 7's. Any other will be a waste of time and you can get those into tennis via other events like school talent id days.

You will need to build your programme and as it stands i have written a rough outline that i will post for you temporarily on my web andytennis.co.uk for you to look at, this is purely from listening to the members and understanding what has worked in the past.

Get your holiday programmes out early and take these into schools with you, always keep these, your business card and a current diary with you to book lessons and always have an up to date understanding of where you are.

Remember build it and they will come!

From here on in i will give you a daily blog until such time you can work a 40 hour week over 5 days.

Latest News

Welcome back all! Last week I had the privilege to work alongside some of the best coaches in the world, Leo Alonso whom currently coaches world ranked Leonardo Mayer; Alex Rossi who was the former coach to world number 1 Marcello Rios, Daniel Spatz who has coached many junior players to tour level including Del Potro; Ken DeHart who's claim to fame is his client Harrison Ford and also of the TennisOne.com regime and not forgetting Clive Carrigan whom is Director of the PTRuk and revered world wide. 

Of course all took away a copy of Tennis Psychology made Easy and it was great that Danny had actually sat down to read most of this and let me know the parts he particularly liked and will use with all his players!

On top of that I now have a script and first start to the forth coming book 'Tour Coaching' and what a coach can expect to hear from players if they wish to pursue this avenue. Included are many quotes from current tour players including Dinara Safina. This i am co-writing with Silvija Talaja and can expect like all good books to be ready in another year and a half from now! Probably another 3-5 years after that for a best seller in the tennis world too.

Now next week back to the office to plan and get ready for the weeks to follow. One day i will slow down and take stock at what is around me but for now life ploughs on and i am enjoying the ride.

The continuing saga...

Days roll into weeks and weeks into months. I am certain i have a great memory for names its just short term. On the main coaching courses i can see upto 300 new coaches a year, how the hell am i supposed to remember all the names! The odd phone call maybe ''hey Andy, i spoke to you on the phone about two months ago''. Ha Ha reminds me when people realise i have served in the army and they ask for Smithy who also served!

Which reminds me, chatting about times of past and generally being nicknamed 'Uncle Albert' due to my vast repertoire of stories from the war, who should ring but the army captain about coaching the army team for Wimbledon. 6 Days work, 4 days coaching the mens and ladies team and 2 days watching them play at Wimbledon. Shall i shall i not, an offer not to be missed and dare i say more work for the PTR with course bookings in the near future.

I have also decided that to work with tour players can be difficult if you are a total unknown as a player and coach. But sometimes it is who you know not what you know and not impossible if you have a reputation in the right place.

Next week takes me to Milton Keynes for a one day kids tennis course, Sutton for day 4 of the pathway course and two days in the office for an onslaught of courses that are up and coming.

As always my web has more added to it and this will continue for you all, but feel free to email if you dont understand anything or want advice.

Gadgets!

Okay i have just found possibly the best gadget for blogging to you all. Fits on the sidebar of my puter and allows to me to blog without mucking about. Now i will commit to a more consistent blog of what really happens with a life of a tennis coach and player. Right now everything is up in the air but....damn my game is good and is going from strength to strength. Lets hope this weather is to stay. Thats all for now

Tennis Teaching Essentials Course

I am always asked when do you rest?

Well my roles within the Professional Tennis Registry are as follows:-
Full time tutor
International Tester
Plan the whole calender year of courses
Write the education course programmes
Book all the courts for these courses at a bargain price
Lecturer
Bit part office worker

Funny enough most court bookings for these are completed through the medium of no other than Facebook! so much more easier than fighting through receptions and leaving messages.

When i get into the office its busy, but generally my work ensures a huge amount of road mileage and this tax year is no let up with 22,000 racked up.

For my umpteenth course this year already the PTR Tennis Teaching Essentials course gives potential coaches the ability to organise well, communicate well and demonstrate well. In 4 days you get to work on teaching lessons, running drills, detecting and fixing errors in core strokes, working on 21 demonstration strokes along with simple progressions on how to teach these and finally gaining knowledge to ensure you can excel in the written assessment.

David Lloyd Enfield, always a great venue, bar the road works on the road to hell was a mix of nationalities. Sweden, Croatia, New Zealand, Ghana, Ireland, Czechoslovakia and of course England sent candidates from each country. Including the once WTA Number 17!

Early starts is always key to beat the traffic although you can guarantee an accident at 05.30 in the morning doesn't help matters and it turns out 4 diversions in 4 days had to be taken into account.

Bristol was the week after and yet another David Lloyd Centre. At least the accomodation was only 10 minutes away from the centre and slap in the middle of town! The good thing about stay away is i can get on with writing more courses or working on projects, as well as catching up with some good friends from that side of the world. Good Friday was a good test day and i managed to leave the centre at 2pm for the long journey back to Essex. All was good until reaching the damn M25 whereby another car fight in the roadworks led to a two hour delay. Still could have been worse i guess!

To book onto a TTE course and gain a world of knowledge visit the link and i look forward to seeing you.

Playing Catchup....

A great one day course followed on Effective Junior Coaching at Bannatynes Health Club, Essex.
Amazingly i had an influx of attendees for this course and had to squeeze 27 coaches onto one court. I would show you a photo of the excitement of it all, but i am never one to take photos and am equally just as bad remembering to when i bring a camera.

Here we worked on swing patterns in relation to grips on forehands and backhands and how they change accordingly. What makes a stellar groundstroke, serve or volley and how to make this the most effective stroke for our students to continue up the ladder of success. After all there is nothing worse than having worked hard throughout your career, possess great amounts of talent and your current technique lets you down only allowing you to reach a certain level in tennis. Generally in England we find this to be inside the top 1000 in the world. Perhaps the wild cards to Wimbledon help with these ranking points however, this takes hard work and time, sweat and tears. What's is required to attain better levels are the approach of a better technical foundation involving the whole body (using the Kinetic Wave Theory - as seen in my power tennis course). From here don't forget about a subject close to my heart, tennis psychology, add this all powerful aspect to your game and top 200 here we come.

Give or take the ability to get funding and sponsorship to help you along!

For a better understanding of what i applied and taught in this course visit my main website and download the manual. I will be adding pictures to this at a later date for you all.

On a personal note at this stage i have decided to cut down my coffee drinking intake from 14 cups per day to around 6. I have no clue why i drink so much caffeine but all the same i will keep you updated.

My game has gone from strength to strength, my backhand is more a weapon than before, racket head speed has increased thanks the the 'Etch Swing' workouts and all i need know is to get back to playing matches other than club doubles. Don't get me wrong this is a high standard but not quite singles play. A total different mentality as dammit i have others to think about.

The Coaching Process - Pathway Day 1 and 2

Welcome to another edition of whatever i wish to write about, and yes i know i have still to answer some of you, but many i have and have just not written anything publicly .

Recent times have seen me travelling to the far depths of Sutton, junction 8 of M25. For me anything in London can be accessed by a junction rather than pile-driving straight through the middle. Here i was tutoring on the PTR/LTA Pathway course which leads to the british tennis licence or LTA licence or now known as a coaching licence. I think for those interested in this course i will give you a day to day run down of what goes on ish....give or take a few jokes and pieces of information that may be of no real relevance to you right now.

The course is based around a coaching process formula and this forms the basic theme for the entire 3 modules along with the ability to understand the 6 tactical intentions, 5 game situations and not forgetting a main teaching point to run throughout your sessions. Then you need to understand the PAS theory in relation to the 5 ball characterstics, 

To give you an idea of what is really involved you can download the manual from my main site of which i am sure you are all used to by now. 

You can see that the first stage is Observation, a skill underused with many coaches!

Let me explain when was the last time you actually see your students play? Everyone knows that your best hitting and strokes at the lower level are left on the practice court! In order to get a true idea of what your student can/can't do you have to watch them play points in a matchplay situation and better in a tournament of some kind rather than a friendly match with Bob Bryan down the street.

You need to seem them in all the game situations available:-

• Serve
• Return of Serve
• When both players are at the back of the court
• When you manage to approach or get to the net
• When your opponent approaches or gets to the net

From here you can make an analysis of what is required in their game and set to the goal setting to move along the road to a better game.

Once as a student you have your head around these terms then you can will need to grasp the art of understanding the following terms...

Trading
Building
Finishing
Neutralising
Staying
Turning Around

Day two utilised the ability to coach using the above information and of course practice, practice, practice if only to use the seemingly impossible terms that really mean when looked into mean simply rallying, winning etc... maybe someone decided that to make themselves feel important and look like they were earning some their worth, by changing a few names it would all make sense. Eureka!

Life never stops

Wow trying to blog all the time is hard work when you lead a busy life.
Seems times are hard for the LTA Britain lost to Lithuania in the Davis Cup. More jobs have been slashed at the headquarters, John Lloyd has resigned and coaches around the country seem to be despondent with the vast array of changes in coach education seemingly continuing to be added to their abilities to just go out and coach.
Now i am one for continuing education and every coach should do this not only for themselves, but for the people they are coaching. There is nothing worse than a coach who has passed a coaching course and then never attends to expand on that knowlegde.
It seems to me word on the ground is many are being put off coaching. From my point of view i am beginning to see less younger coaches coming through to full time coaching, clubs are having difficulties finding the right coaches and many clubs seemingly need to have the clubmark kite of standard.
For me if a club needs this then either they have had a hard time in the past with previous coaches or they are actually quite poor in monetary terms that they need funding from the LTA in which case they need to be apart of that scheme all the same.
Being chairman of a club i personally am looking for the following in a coach
A coaching certification
Insurance
CRB check
First aid
and the ability to continue their education to the fullest.

On top of this i want someone who is not afraid of hard work and can work on their own with the abilities to progress the coaching programme without having to be asked. This however is not enough. I also want someone with character and personality who can interact with anyone within the club. Too much to ask? Maybe, but you do not come across many coaches like this with all the ingredients above.

In the unlikely case i am wrong send me a c.v. i can guarantee you a job.

Coaches like these can produce income for the club without the need for funding. They can build the membership up adult and junior alike and for sure are worth their weight in gold.

Then comes the trouble when a substandard committee who only work part time have no real interest in the club and sit a few times a year to get together in a power ridden way thinking they have a business acumen to run a club in a professional way.

As a country the clubs are struggling with an ability to work alongside coaches to develop the club and more intent on asking how much can you pay us so we can make some money from you. Or you are not producing new members so we are employing someone else.

Over the past few months many of my good friends have fallen fowl of this. Now you see why i opted for the chairman job and head coach job at the same time! Here i truly can produce a junior club with an adult section rather than the other way around. In this respect the local council have handed the 5 courts to me for free as long as the public get access. Perfect.....now to build this 'inner city' club from the ground up.

For myself i have been busy writing courses to run and alongside this and a batch of policies and procedures so that coaches within the organisation i work can access a coaching course that will lead to a coaching licence.

Gone are the days when a student walked up to you and asked if you were a coach, how much do you cost and when can you fit me in?

I am sure it is for the best, if not i am moving to Croatia a tennis producing nation who have no coaching system to speak of, you do not need a qualification to coach there and anyone can call themselves a coach!

Oh Croatian tennis players past and present http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Croatian_tennis_players

Rant over more later lol

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

A simple message...

If you are doing more than your compatriot's in your sport then you have the upper hand, if you are doing more than the world number 1..........feel free to take their place!

Andy

Its good to be back...........

I know, i have been away for like a week nearly! Sometimes setting goals and working seem to get in the way of updating ones blogs!
However, here we are with an emphatic run down of all that has happened in the life of a tennis coach! Am refraining from saying vet player at this point due to the fact i have taken the decision to try and re-attain my top 500 world ranking in the over 40's next year, whereby life would have settled down and of course my books would have earned me enough to manage my time in a more able way.

Right now life is more in a disabled way and i have a million and one things to do. Perhaps i should attend some sort of time management course and hence save myself valuable working time daily. Hmmmmm ermmmmm do i really have time? Geez its all i can do to fit in watching the oz open just now.

Right so after one of the most restful breaks of the year, or seemingly so, my first real venture this year was the well attended one day course i ran at Bannatynes in Thurrock. Nice venue, nice journey time and easy enough. The attendees were excellent and learnt a huge amount on Running Effective Drills for club players. This enhanced the ability for those that attended the ability to earn recurring money if they adhered to everything that was taught! Not that coaching is about earning money if you are truly a coach, for me its more a way of life rather than a living.

I will post the handout for this soon on the andytennis website when i have filled it out a little more for those of you who failed to turn up. In fact come to think of it, the link will also be handy for those who couldn't make it due to bad weather or who just plain could not be bothered to turn up due to lazyness or even worse did not want to learn anything more because they may know it all.

Anyhow i digress...

My remainder of the weeks leading to today consisted of planning and writing, organising and more writing and planning writing and organising. The programming of something big to hit the UK (All will be revealed when ready, but in the real army talk standby standby (also known as ZUJ)) and a few personal lessons to get me back on track and some top class hitting in the weekly squad and with fellow compatriates. Although i do remember a walk on and 15 minutes later, walk off session, due to the dia hitting from both persons on court that day. We decided to give the court over to Danny Ward top class ex-England player who still plays vets. I have to say he does look slow and sluggish but will probably give me a hard time on court all the same due to his ability to hit consistently and something about the level he once accomplished may come into the equation too!

After this week i am off travelling again with racket in hand and big holdall in the other, Basingstoke is my first stop off. I have thus decided that instead of being the maniac i usually turn out to be and travel the 186 miles to and throe, i have booked a  hotel room for the week and will stay to work on my tax for the year ready for April. Which will be a first but i guess its time i did these things monthly instead of sitting alone in a room for a day working it out in midst June when i normally get around to giving it to my accountant.

Now to spend the rest of the week checking out the Australian Open till silly o' clock in the morning to keep ahead of new players, styles and tactics that occasionally leak into the game unbeknownst to some coaches.

I hope at this stage you have all set your goals and are working your way through the first four but don't forget the downloads from the website to help you out. Evidently, if you ended up on andytennis.com site then you have taken a wrong turn. Turns out that this is dedicated to the one and only Andy Roddick, i guess a bit like comparethemeerkat.com and comparethemarket.com quite similar really.

Right am out of here, email if you need anything.

Andy

Goal setting extra

Okay so as promised we need to add an extra page for those of you who work with younger students. Whilst i am at it however, i may as well talk about the  more advanced County and State players we have.

When working with juniors you need to have an understanding of not only what you think they need but what they also think they need. To you a forehand may look fantastic, to them they may feel it doesn't quite seem right leading to breakdowns under pressure.

For these guys we wont be talking about the terms personal, financial or spiritual (see part 1) but will cover the other aspects. This is a great time to get your students to do some homework! Click this link to get your students to fill out this form although you may want to simplify this slightly as its taken from my first book 'World Class Tennis Mentality'.

To access the Tennis tech tact list click here and click on the appropriate link www.andytennis.co.uk

As for cutting goals out, you will find that most of the goals set will be tennis related (dependant on age and their own personal environment). There will be minimal cutting away although you will need to discuss any goals that seem outlandish.

The best question to ask about there goals at this stage is the simple question 'Why?' and work from there.

Short of that you need to download the goalset masterplan and work to this with just four simple achievable goals. Don't forget once your students have achieved one goal march onwards and pick up another. When working with the higher level players then you will definately need to involve the rest of the team around them.

For instance lets say my goal was to increase more power into my serve! I will need to see my coach and set some exercises to work on perhaps technically and tactically, my fitness coach may set some plyometric exercises to build some explosion into my body. My psychology coach will help set visualisation work and these may mean i have another handful of daily goals to reach my main goal of more power into my serve.

Like everything email me if you need help here but i think it is quite simple. Good luck

Setting goals for 2010 Part 7 of 7

Welcome back to the last day of your goal setting programme. Although for those of us who are tennis coaches and players, you will be interested in the extra sports goalsetting day i will add tomorrow.

From the remaining goals, choose the four goals which are the most important for you to work on right now and enter them onto a goalset worksheet (available at the link below).

The sheet itself will be self explanatory and help you to set a path for your career in 2010. On the back page of the goal you can chart your progress if possible.

To download a pdf of the goalset masterplan visit www.andytennis.co.uk and click on the goalsetting masterplan link under news.

Now if you need help on setting goals then feel free to email and i will help at will. Although in the unlikely event of receiving thousands of emails then i may just have to pick my way through.

Good luck and enjoy the whole process

Setting goals for 2010 Part 6 of 7

Hey all. Now we are getting to the crux of the programme so lets get straight to it...

Divide the remaining goals into three categories: Short range (1 month or less); Intermediate (1 month to 1 year); Long Range (1 year of more). Mark these as SR, I or LR accordingly.

Remember:
Some goals must be big (out or reach but not out of sight to make you stretch and grow to your full potential

Some goals must be long range to keep you on track and greatly reduce the possibility of short range frustrations

Some goals must be small and daily to keep you disciplined

Some goals must be ongoing

All goals should be specific

Good work and we are nearly there one more day and you can get to work with your total goals programme.
See you all tomorrow whereby we get to choose some goals and get them to work

Setting goals for 2010 Part 5 of 7

If you have reached day 5 then you really are ready for a great 2010, but we have more work to do and more cutting down of goals. After all lets really face it, how many goals can you achieve in a year?

After each remaining goal ask yourself these questions and these relate to session one:
1. Will reaching this goal make me happier?
2. Will reaching this goal make me healthier?
3. Will reaching this goal make me more prosperous?
4. Will reaching this goal make me more friends?
5. Will reaching this goal give me peace of mind?
6. Will reaching this goal make me more secure?
7. Will reaching this goal improve my realationships with others?

If you cant answer yes to at least 2 of these questions then eliminate them from your list. Be sure to consider your family when you answer these questions.

What remains now are our true goals and tomorrow we will divide these up into workable chunks. Remember and inch is a cinch but a mile is a trial.

Setting goals for 2010 Part 4 of 7

Day 4. You are doing well if you are at this stage, although yesterdays work wasn't difficult.
Now I want you to take further goals away from your list as we continue to cut away the naff stuff.

Ask these four questions, ALL of which must have a ''yes'' answer:
1. Is it really my goal?
2. Is it consistent with my other goals?
3. Can i commit myself to finish this goal?
4. Can i see myself reaching this goal?

Remember this will help to reduce your goals on your i really want to be, do or have sheet and make the whole process more manageable. We are now one more step away from realising your true goals list and that will become the focus of tomorrows session!

Setting goals for 2010 Part 3 of 7

Lets continue....although i have to say in reply to some followers, i will update' my own personal' goings on  after finishing the goals programme. This will make easy reading for those that follow later in the year. However, you should know that as i write these goal parts that i truly am also defining mine with you all.

SO, we have our dream list written down at this stage and what a list some of us may have! You know, if i was to do everything on the list i have right now i would be in a heap of trouble. I want to work out on the court for myself for one hour per day, go to the gym for 45 mins, do 30 minutes of stretching at the end of everyday along with 30 mins of visualisation. Now i want to read one book a week for never ending learning, spend some quality time with my family each night and eat out at least once per week. To continue i need to produce one itunes type psychology cd for you all and write 1 ebook per quarter. On top of the one published book a year goal i have set previously. Websites need to be updated and and and....... and to put you in the picture i get up at 06.20 daily and leave at 07.00 to get to work after running everywhere. I finish and get home at 19.00 hrs. Somewhere in between i sleep, at this stage someone do the maths for me!!!

The answer is to start cutting out some goals i have written and i dare say that you have to do the same also.

For each item you have written down answer the question ''WHY?''. If you cant verbalise in one sentence why you want to be, do or have, then it truly is a dream and not a real goal. at this point you should cross it off your list.

Good luck and see you all tomorrow. Evidently welcome to the new followers lets see if we can reach 1000 by the end of the year!!

Setting goals for 2010 Part 2 of 7

So hopefully the goalsetting imagery stage is going well and you have taken stock of what you already have.
In week 8 (which is an added bonus/extra for all the tennis players/coaches out there) i will teach you in one session how to set goals for your students. Enhancing their careers and hence your pocket when it comes to working outside in inclement weather.

Right to week 2...
Having taken stock i want you now to make a list of everything that you want or need, desire or wish for in your life, environment and career.

Write these down (and that is important for the following days to continue on) or type if you feel the need, all that you want to be, do or have. If you have a family, be sure to include your mate and children when you set your goals. This entire goal-setting process helps channel your logical left brain and frees your creative right brain for more effective use of your imagination. Note: you gotta 'be' before you can 'do' and you gotta 'do' before you can have. Right now take action and see you tomorrow

Setting goals for 2010 Part 1 of 7

Welcome back all. Now is the time of year to set the goals for yourself in all areas of your life and i am going to take you through this part in the next 7 days. This should equate to about 2 hours worth of work.

Earlier in the year i set you a task to review your year which is always fascinating! Turns out i accomplished 14 of my own personal goals. One up on the year previous.

Your job this time around is to take stock of your life right now.

Answer the following questions...are you generally happy? How about your health are you respectively healthy? Are you reasonably prosperous? Do you feel secure in life? Do you have a good bunch of friends that you can rely and turn to? Have you peace of mind? Have you good family relationships? Have you hope in your life?

If you answer no to any of these questions then you need to set goals in the impending area. Take stock of the following areas in your life for today's task...

Personal Position

Financial Position

Career

Physical

Spiritual

Family

Social

Environmental

This is very similar to reviewing your past year in regards to everything you learnt, attained and achieved. Jot down everything that you have in these areas, paint a great image in your minds and we will move this on a stage tomorrow.

Good Luck and see you tomorrow

Coach Andy

Happy New Year

Hope you have all had a great 2009 and are ready to embark into 2010.
Starting Monday or tomorrow we will begin the 7 day goal setting plan for this year.
I am also planning a number of 1 day courses for 2010 that will involve working with your students in the field of tennis psychology although you will be used a guinea pig yourself for this procedure. I will let you know in due course for these set of dates.

But will leave you with this blog from coach nino http://www.lta.org.uk/Articles/Guest-Blogger/31122009---Psychology/

Right see you all tomorrow on the first day of work this year

Effective Drills

When planning drills of any type ensure you make them P.E.R.F.E.C.T
Progressive
Effective
Realistic
Fun
Extreme it
Competitive
Timed or Point Set
Progressive – Your lessons and hence drills should maintain a theme that will run concurrent in your sessions and be able to be progressed to eventual game play
Effective – Does the drill work is being run effectively by your students in regards to footwork and movement patterns or do you need to regress it back to learn more technical points.
Realistic – Is the drill you are running something that you would see in matchplay
Fun – This is one of the many reasons why people play tennis, hard work for some players is fun don’t forget
Extreme it – Add in an extra dimension to pressure the players (for instance if running a forehand cross court pattern drill ensure the player hits or shadows a backhand down the line before having to run the baseline to get into the crosscourt rally)
Competitive – At the end of the day every match you play is competitive, practices need a form of competitiveness when planning lessons and drills
Timed or Point Set – Have students know how long they have to perform the task which then enhances many of the above points!

To find out more email me about coming to the one day course on this subject on 5th January 2010.

News...

Work has now started on the ultimate coaches handbook, written  by coaches for coaches to help coaches do what they do best. Coach to the best of their abilities and earn money whilst they do!

Will keep you upto date how it goes

Snow, Rain, Wind and Weather...

Merry Christmas to one and all and anyone else!

You know today's topic will be about what happens when we experience adverse weather like at the moment snow! The majority of us all work outside and for me this is the best place to be, but the question is how can we continue making money whilst still educating our students throughout the year come rain,snow, hail or shine?

Simple, if you have a club house you can still earn while they learn! The number one topic that i have recently discussed is goal setting (something many coaches don't do!). I am in the process of recording a goal setting session for mp3/4 or itunes or generally for you to listen to. This will help you out and for the first 10 readers of this that email me andydowsett@psycheuk.com with mp3 goalsetting in the heading i will personally email out to you this recording when done.

But think about it, how many of your kids have never seen a tennis match for real? Have you ever thought of playing a match on tv for them to watch? Now the difference here is let them watch a few games and become familiar with the first two games yourself. Then all you have to do is stop the dvd/video (if you still have these) and ask the students where do you think the next serve is going, what shot should he/she hit next. Obviously having become familiar with the first two games you know exactly how the points are going to be played, making you the best coach ever! Then ask questions like :- Who do you think will win the next point? What just happened in that point. All relevant stuff and of course you can make a competition out of it.

If you truly sit down and think about it there are a 101 things to do and again email me and i will send you out my rainy day tennis programme for keeps and of course for free.

Enjoy your Christmas!

Andy

Last day of work...

Yes its kinda official. That was my last day of work for this year anyway! Although i don't think i ever really truly switch off working.

So in order to reset my goals and i guess yours as well we need to re-evaluate all that has happened this year. Then we can ascertain how far we have come, what we have learnt and were we still need to go for the next 6 months or so.

I have decided that i will start the 7-day countdown goalsetting programme when we all start work in January so keep an eye on my blog as it will be a daily occurrence for you all.

However your job this holiday period is to take some quiet time and have a good look at what you have learnt and accomplished month by month. I always find my diary handy for this alongside my journal. Journal's are great for keeping thoughts and ideas in and satisfying when you look back at what you have said over the year. Try it out and see.

Tomorrow i have a local radio interview whereby i talk about tennis in the area, tennis in general and promote my new book 'tennis psychology made easy' (for those that haven't been paying attention).

Will let you know how it goes!! Ahh reminds me of my army days in Belize. Sun, sea, cayes, tennis, a little bit of work and of course DJ work for the british forces broadcasting services! I had the 3 hour Saturday Night spot to run, maybe because no one else wanted it or because my show was super good. I'd like to think it was the latter but never made a career from it so who knows.

They were good days and have  i got some stories to tell there! Now may be a good time to tell you all my nickname at times was Uncle Albert on account of my so called 'war stories'. The only war i got close to was the gulf war back in 1990 also known by Saddam as the mother of all wars! We camped on his airfield by his winter palace and generally had a good time! But that's for another day

Now go start the goal setting and we will continue in January this part of your journey

See ya

Help!!!

Help get my book World Class Tennis Mentality in the top ten of the Amazon Bookstore.

Currently we are at 34 but with a few more sales we can climb the ratings and jump inside the top 10 buy for your students, friends, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.

1 month project lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Class-Tennis-Mentality-Players/dp/1420873415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260994827&sr=1-1

Thanks to all have already read, learnt and improved from this book

Andy

News of the day....

Had a great hit this morning whilst going down memory lane.
The rackets i hit with were what i owned as a youngster and consisted of a Jimmy Connors Slazenger T3000, a John Mcenroe Dunlop Autograph 2 and some Yamaha something or other that i used to love playing with.

Certainly helps with the concentration and was fun. I think sometimes we forget and our younger players who scream and shout and get stressed out in competition that this is only a game. We first came to tennis because we enjoyed it!

I am selling some old antique type wooden rackets on ebay you can check this out by clicking on this link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290381958443&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1182

Have a great day everyone will report back on Friday my last day in the office and working for the PTR for the year. A well earned rest.

Thankyou for all the 100's of people who have attended my courses this year, stay in touch and see you all next year unless we talk beforehand.

Keeping your better players...

Hi all. Hope all is super well with you all.

I have had numerous emails on coaching and will pile through them one by one, many thanks for joining those that have followed me in the past few weeks you are most welcome and let me know if i can be of any help. When and if i get to a magic following of 300 then i will be more than happy and will give 30 books of tennis psychology made easy away but will let you know nearer the time of course still got another 127 to go!!

Okay, so a few of the emails revolved around club programming and planning and one about keeping better players. This particular coach who we shall just name Joe Pro (purely because his name is Joe and i guess he is a pro as we all are), sounds like he has a great junior programme and develops many great juniors over the years but they then seem to run off to Roehampton or other indoor ventures like Riverside, Chiswick etc.... 

I understand that his venue is outside but it seems that to sort this particular scenario is to sort out a programme that these players and more importantly the parents will buy into. I used to run a group which years later became a squad of 8 girls. All signed up to a programme of 1 weekly individual lesson, and 2 group lessons with a free hitting and playing session built into the programme also to give them thinking and practice time alone without the coach. Parents were sent an invoice for school term and then holiday time was different with many playing tournaments etc... so this was priced accordingly. 

As a coach when dealing with squads of this quality do not neglect the off court work and planning that goes with it all, as well as match charting throughout tournaments. Monthly reports to parents will also be a great finishing touch. This way the players will grow together and become great hitting partners to work out with each other when outside of squad times.

Timings for these sessions should be regular and as for individual lessons why not get 3 of the students for 3 hours at a time and then 1 can have a lesson whilst the other two drill, then change around. Similar to get 1 lesson for the price of 3! Seems like great value for the parents but more importantly the students get even more quality but hopefully purposeful workouts.

Good luck and let me know how you get on

Erm....

Okay i was updating tonight but life got in the way and some strange film that i had to finish watching. Promise i will sort out tomorrow and report all that needs reporting and edumacating!

This is a bargain...

Check out the link from the title and bid for 6 months of tennis coaching and membership to a tennis club all worth around £1500

Speak soon

On a roll with planning and conquering the world...

Hi everyone.

Funny how when you get onto a flow of ideas and intuition that eveything seems to come at once!

So on that  note my latest venture which has already been written from years gone by on a trip to Hilton Head in South Carolina. Whilst sitting on  a sunny beach one evening trying to finish my Psychotherapy and Counselling diploma i had the idea of writing a goalsetting masterplan, which i then finished as an ebook and then subsequently wrote a chapter about in my first published book 'World Class Tennis Mentality'.

Well i have decided for the first 10 readers who see this and reply to my email andydowsett@psycheuk.com will have the chance to take a look at my first ever goalsetting email exercise that will be priced at £9.99. You will of course get this for free.

This will last 7 days and will set you off for goal setting early next year. Then you can utilise the same programme for your students in your groups and squads. Bargain.

and your time starts now..............

Blatant Advertising

Okay here is an interesting link on communication. Something as coaches we should be good at.

Check it out by clicking on the blog title

Andy

The end of another good week

It is always good to look back on the week you have done and try to realise what it is that you have learnt that week. Let me see......erm......ah.....hmmmmm

That's enough thinking for one day then. Okay well i had a good week for regaining my touch and feel for the ball with a big hit and workout everyday on court. Spent a good hour teaching the group how to move on and teach beginners and youngsters in a fun and easy way technically and tactically. This is the basis for my next book to be aptly named 'The little big book of drillz 4 kidz'.

I have started this and you can be rest assured it will be ready as an ebook in about 6 months and in all good bookshops but generally on Amazon by December next year.

But i digress, back to learning! You should always evaluate daily as a coach or life venturer for that what you have done that day. Then at the end of the week revisit anything that you can remember. This takes time and as a family man, time is a precious commodity. EVERYONE wants a part of it, work, family, friends and everyone else that i haven't mentioned. So find the time and commit to it. Re-evaluate lessons, projects, days, weeks, months and continually learn to improve. As recently updated on my facebook i will reiterate....

Only the mediocre are at there best!


I will leave you with that thought.

Course and learning update

Day 3 of this damn fine bunch of reprobates learning to become coaches. Although that is somewhat a lie as all 5 have a high standard of play and all 5 have already coached before. Interesting that i managed to run the whole of the course structure in just 3 days which is a total first. Perhaps i am getting the hang of coach education courses after nearly 10 years! Always somewhat worrying when things go so well.

Anyway, i have had a few emails over the past few months on the confidence front. Why is it that our game and training can go through patches! Why can we be superb on Saturday yet suck on Sunday?

Confidence can be a fickle thing but to enable that we are at our best you can fill out a confidence plan by following the steps below:-

1. Write in a list anything that you feel would give you utmost confidence in your playing ability. Things like good fitness level, ensuring your well rested the night prior, you have a good warm up routine etc....

2. From here go over the list you have written and cross off anything that is not within your control or anything that you cannot personally have an effect on the outcome.

3. Pick out 5 of these and place them into a pre play performance routine

To give you an idea my top 5 events for ultimate confidence are...

* Strings to played in prior to matches
* Utilise a good service box warm up
* Use a contact point visualisation routine
* Re-establish a potential game plan or re-visit training goals
* Get heart rate into my own personal optimal zone

4. Your final task is to insert these into your own personal training routine.

OBVIOUSLY there is more to it than that but it will certainly help you on the way. Putting in the work for instance in the gym and on the court help. Knowing you have done more work than your opponent or your tennis mates gives you a complete confidence that only you can acquire personally.

A psyche coach can help you with outside issues and translating these into more positive images and improve your ability to think in the right way. The first 5 people that email any issues they have and i will answer these for free.

www.tennispsychology.co.uk

Coaching course day one

The first day of a coaching course as a tutor is always fascinating and after nearly 10 years of tutoring never boring. So many different people and characters make up a different course. This is no exception and so far the standard is probably the highest i have seen playing wise and the ability to understand demonstration shots second to none. As coaches it really is important just to demonstrate what is required, showing just enough and not too much. If a serve only requires the ability to demonstrate pronation why bother jumping into it as well? Highlight the area needed and get the message across.

The brain works in images! Hence talking too much will only get students lost and youngsters bored. Demonstrate and talk at the same time and you are on your way to being a better communicator all round.

Remember the world of tennis coaching is small and when you get into this tight nit community then do not be afraid to network and gain friends from all around the world. PTR are great at this and the one day education courses are outstanding.

Check these out on the ptruk.com site join up, join in and share the experience and knowledge with your students.

To come...

Okay so once a week i will blog the Drill of the Week, Insight of the Week and Psyche tip of the Week.
That will keep you coming back for more, outside of my wee chatterings about life and the game. Then that leaves one blog about questions asked by my dear followers and thanks for being here.

Of course in the unlikely event that i fail to do this due to travelling 'alez uber die platz' then i will play catch up when i can. A tall order but i am sure i can fulfil it.

See you all tomorrow x

To go down this dark road?

So having many websites that i run and control and contribute to i have had some business that wants to contribute to these via advertising! Question is do i submit myself to this small piece of advertising space for the sake of £150 per site or not to worry about the whole affair. Hmmmm....

Coaching coaching coaching!

Saturday morning cold and damp, but this is what makes players for sure. Those still here are super stars and with all the talent ID in the world it would be the crop that stay winter and summer long that i would look to.
Hard workers and talent with the ability to be persistent make a pro but its the coach that gives them that all important tennis mind. The ability to think whilst playing, give them the room to work things out and praise them when they do and reiterate what has been accomplished so they are aware of it. These are the teaching moments that appear only when they are ready.

Had a lesson with a French speaking guy from the Congo. Big big broad massive guy, but by god can he move. Turns out he is a black belt in Karate! Stuff like this is important to know when teaching as you can bring the sport of tennis like relaxing and balance back to karate. This was prevalent when working with Graham Gooch top England cricket captain of years gone by and all round top banana as well. Not only does it help you with gaining invaluable knowledge for teaching, but also in building a great rapport with your students for future lessons. The best time to do this? When picking up balls!

Oh by the way, gate key fits and the lie of the land is my oyster. Its like a key to the secret garden, but more importantly i have access to any balls hit over. Weird, even though i had it turns out i didn't need the damn thing, what is that all about? Now to complete my escape from Alcatraz world of Mopsies Park (whereby the club is situated) i need one last combination to a certain lock and the job is complete. Not satisfied with the odd few things in life i am always in search of more. Similar to setting goals there is no real end.

Tennis Pschology made Easy

It's nearly here!! Two more weeks and i will have copies of the latest of psychology books in my hand.

To download this book visit the website or pre-order by sending a payment of £15.00 to paypal email andydowsett@aol.com

Check these quotes...


As a player trying to attain a world ranking there are aspects of this book that improved my game considerably. i have read many psychology books and worked with quite a few world class psychologists and i can honestly say this book has made the biggest difference to my game by far. Guaranteed to take your game to the next level!
Francesca Foster
Player

“This is unlike any other sports psychology book I've read because it describes a process and a system in great detail rather than a general philosophy carried on over hundreds of pages. It breaks the mental part of tennis down to such specifics, but then offers suggestions of how to reapply these now specialized focus points into a general match situation. I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to seeing the results in my game!’’

Mikayla Rogers - Dennis Van Der Meer Academy Student

This is one of the easiest teachable systems I have ever come across as a coach and what’s more my juniors love it!!
Alex Henderson
PTR Academy Pro

News...

and here is the latest news from the international broadcasting company andytennis.com.....Got a great surprise in the post today, 12 individual separate stand alone not the same keys to open a certain gate at the club whereby i work from time to time. Yes it has been known.

Here is the story, the club is situated in a local park next to a bowling club. Although quite separate. The park keepers whom i have known for donkeys years and good buddies (or so you would think) decided in their absolute wisdom to change the locks to some gates, hence not allowing us access to the bowling area and green where erratic balls sometimes end up. As a coach with numerous wee ones to on the program the odd few mini balls fly over and you dont mind if the park keeper gave them back. But by god he seems to be selling them on!!!

Short of bolt cropping them off i decided that the said lock old english something or other has 12 combination of keys, with various offerings of crates of beers later with these guys it appears my pleadings left on deaf ears. Well if there are 12 combinations of keys then you would think i would be able to get hold of these and ha ha today is the day i did.

Not great news but in my 9 years in her majestic majesty's armed forces (of which i may tell a few tales about from time to time), i/we happen to come across a similar bunch but to peoples rooms. Its a close nit community as you can see and the odd scourge and mission into some good friends room or those that annoyed you that day to trash and cause uproar was soon a great drunken game that would continue for months, until someone decided to video the whole affair!

I will keep you posted as to the events should make some good reading.

Gadgetry and Gadgets

Okay i have uploaded the You Tube gadget type in tennis and you will get loads of vids. However i will add some for you to watch later anyway. Email me andydowsett@psycheuk.com if you need any help or advise.

I have a brain full of rubbish but damn if some of it isnt helpful. Thanks to the other 12 people who are following top of the day to you all!!!!!!!

Lots of planning and writing today so will keep you posted. Anyone who wants a copy of the kids tennis programme i have written just give me a shout out and i will send you it pdf style.

c ya

Shoddy Blogging...

The idea of blogging is to blog and blog regularly. Forgive me father for i have sinned its been at least a week and a half since my last blog. However, thanks for all the followers i have now hit just over 100 not too dusty!!

Let me headline the events over the last week or so

PTR WORK...more days in the office and not bad. Envelope stuffing done and some good work completed on the NVQ qualification for our courses. Dag nammit i am bored with office work now.

COACHING...I did hit in the Coach UK lecture formally BTCA for PTR it was okay. Nothing special. Personal coaching still good lots of students turning up for Saturday coaching and these are the hard core lot. I tend to find those that are still around in these harsh conditions have more bite than an australian creepy thing from the get me out of here jungle. Had a hit with a wheelchair tennis player today how fascinating, i was super fascinated what more can i say? Then did some high level hitting and come through unscaved.

PLAYING....I have made a very conscious decision to not play vets until i am 40, thats a whole year of getting myself ready to assault the whole thing and get fit, play well and get 100 games under my belt. Had a hit Tuesday in the words of something that is dark and smells it was crap lasted 15 mins and walked off court. Following day was better by 50% but am not feeling it I! Had a lesson with some super chap to build back some confidence and it was good and prepared me for the end of the year whereby i will put my rackets away for a few works. I do sometimes wonder.

THE CLUB....lease about to be signed as Chairman, Head Coach and friends in the right places i literally own the god damn place. Shame i cant pick it up and place this in a very nice area with lots of money, but i have to say the quality of hard working youngsters in this area of the world in Basildon, Essex is actually very good and by all accounts the same job and place 15 years ago produced some quality county players. For lessons email me andydowsett@psycheuk.com

THE BOOK....Tennis Psychology made Easy is nearly ready, i am thinking by the end of the year. You cant rush genious. And this book is a piece or art, geniology and simplicity for more info and to download it www.tennispsychology.co.uk all proceeds got to a good cause. Okay it helps my bank balance and my ultimate aim to buy my boat but hey this is unashamed publicity.

THE REST.... I am half way through some of the best low level tennis coaching information available when working with kids. This is all about what happens prior to picking up a racket and involves loads. Let me know if you are interested. One day my brain will switch off so i better get it all on puter and paper whilst i can.

Thats it for now. You are all caught up with my blogstuff and if you want anymore info on anything just ask.