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