Wednesday, 5 May 2010

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.

Monday, 3 May 2010

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.


Sunday, 18 April 2010

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.

Saturday, 17 April 2010

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

Friday, 9 April 2010

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!

Saturday, 20 March 2010

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

Friday, 19 February 2010

No such thing as a free lunch...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

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

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

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

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

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

Monday, 11 January 2010

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

Sunday, 10 January 2010

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

Saturday, 9 January 2010

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.

Friday, 8 January 2010

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!

Thursday, 7 January 2010

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!!

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

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

Tuesday, 5 January 2010

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

Sunday, 3 January 2010

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