Book of the Week...

This is my book of the week. All coaches should have this in their collection period!
One link if for the US version and one for the UK. Saves you all looking!

I Quote...

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.

Developing your Philosophy

Developing Your Coaching Philosophy 

Self Awareness:

Why do I coach?

What are my goals as a coach?

Am I a good coach?

What would make me a better coach?

How would my athletes describe me as a coach?

What do I value most about coaching?

Personal Philosophy:

Do you think that a coaching philosophy that includes an emphasis on optimal development and experience is unrealistic or naïve in today’s society?

Do you believe that the greatest athletes in the world care about optimal experience and optimal development as much as the bottom line, winning or losing?

Do you think your philosophy should remain the same regardless of the age or ability?

Is it important that all your athletes and assistant coaches (if you have any) accept and believe in your philosophy?

Can the philosophy of coaching male and female athletes be the same (why or why not?)

The life of a tennis coach week 43-2010

Coaching Hours - 24
Sets played - 4

Training undertaken - 3 hours

Books read - 2 chapters

Rained off sessions - 0 (but had the pleasure of getting wet a few times!)

What a roller-coaster of a week. But a week of finding myself.
School Holidays in a club can either be busy or bare. Not sure what i had on this one, Monday and Tuesday turned out busy. However whilst participating in a match i decided to play the worst tennis in years. Outcome - Win.
My head is having trouble with the win part, i am not happy winning and playing pants whilst i would have preferred to have lost and played outstanding. Wow what a confidence drop in my game. Need to consult my confidence cv to bring this back up again.
The 3rd book i am co-writing with a collegue is well on the way and going great guns, i am hoping to finish this get the remainder of the work done and hand this over to the publisher who is waiting for said book.
Thursday was a family day to Disney on Ice, wow it seems i am so not used to having a day out! O2 and a trip to Hamleys in London.
Saturday i committed to just 5 hours coaching and then my wee girls 3rd birthday part 1, followed by her actual halloween party on Sunday.
Strange week my father grows weaker by the day it seems with MND and this week surely is the start of the slog to wherever. Not sure how this leaves me nor how i feel about it but life goes on and right now i need to finish the year off. I have realised i need to leave the past behind and move on, why do i feel i still owe people when actually who really cares? I have turned down many opportunities and offers so not to offend and ultimately who does this affect? Myself and my family!  

For sure i have had some great times this year but i am ready to start 2011 right now.
My next two months will be my winter for taking stock and building projects ready to harvest in the new year.
This should show fruition for the Spring ready to reap in the Summer.
I knew the seasons meant something!

My weeks lesson
This is more a question that i need to answer - What is my life mission right now, what is my personal and coaching philosophy?
I have blogged this on a seperate page for you to print and check out yourself!

Catch up with you all next week

Andy

Purely stolen from Ed Tsengs Blog but i like it.....

Someone once said, (and that someone was Ed Tseng), that good teachers borrow and GREAT teachers steal.

Well, today’s message was stolen.

My good friend and mentor, the great Rob Gilbert, Ph.D, one of the top sports psychologists in the world shared something with me recently.

He said that Lou Holtz, the former head coach of the Notre Dame football team once said that there are four types of people in the world…

The cop-outs.

The hold-outs.

The drop-outs.

And the all-outs.

The cop-outs make excuses.

The hold-outs hold back.

The drop-outs give up.

And the all-outs go all-out all the time.

Which category do you fall into?

I Quote...

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't!

Tennis has got Talent

Help me with a simple question.
One question, possible multiple answers

Will appreciate your time

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YC6W3D2 (click title above in blue to access)

Thanks

Andy

The life of a tennis coach week 42-2010

Coaching hours - 28

Sets played - 15

Training undertaken - 3 hours

Books read - 4 chapters

Rained off sessions - 1

A busy week indeed from running around the schools and to visiting my old club to cover a few hours to school runs and writing my latest book along side Mike Barrell of Evolve9 fame.

My tennis groups are growing in stature and i believe the club is beginning to enter into a 'tipping point' scenario. School sessions are showing fruition funding is still coming in and word for sure is getting out there.

My aim still is to attain 40 hours of work a week on court, off court i am used to working and writing but thats pleasure rather than business. The Stonebridge Academy idea is a step closer to becoming reality, numerous phone calls with the fella show we have alot in common and a common philosophy in the way we teach.

This will hopefully (all being well) ready and up and running come September 2011.

A trip down memory lane took me to Stockbrook my old haunt to cover some coaching for a good friend. Wow it felt good to be back and see so many familiar faces! There is a reason for everything and lets see what comes of this wee venture in the future. 

After an enormous downpour of rain overnight i was set to run all Saturdays coaching sessions indoors in the hall but decided against this and continued my 9 till 5 spate of coaching outside. Not one drop of rain today either till i finished the day. The gods truly are looking upon me and my family after some eventual good news from what has turned out to be a rather torrid year so far. Too many changes for my liking and hopefully the next few weeks will have seen a corner turned in fortunes and prosperity!

Now to prepare myself for my two matches mens and a postal mixed. The latter i am aiming for the finals in redbridge later this year.

Overall this truly has been a great week for learning. My summation for this is Talented individuals can make it up the ladder of sporting excellence some way before falling short, but a growing mindset and hunger to train, learn, understand and improve will take you to the top. Insight number 2 takes me to believe that whereas technique in tennis is important the ability to play the game with the important technical pieces (and to my mind there are 3 on the serve, 3 on the forehand and 3 on the backhand that need to be utilised) the ability to play and understand the game is more important. Insight number 3 is the ability to not get our students to think of what happens on his side but what happens on the other side of the court.

As my great friend and collegue Jason Lampione says 'See you at the Top'

The short ball.....

You know i have been taught and have been on courses whereby tutors have taught many aspects in tennis of attacking a short ball.
I was even lead to believe that a short ball is anything that lands in a certain area of the court and this should be attacked at all costs being an attacking baseline player. For many years this was the case for me until i eventually worked it out myself! If only my coaches when i was younger had taught me this simple application then i may have won more trophies!

The trouble with this scenario was whilst playing matches i always found it difficult to get into the net or up the court on certain short balls! Perhaps you have had the same problem?

Now as a player, instinct told me to stay back or attack/approach on these balls but how do we teach this to our students?

Take a look at the diagram below. This was designed by a great coach Ray Brown who amongst many accolades is a tour coach in the USA.

This explains it all. I had been on countless courses in the UK whereby coach education tutors where teaching nothing like this, except ''for your standard anything short should be attacked''. By looking at the diagram above you can understand why many shots hit by the top players land short but keep many players back! The amount of driven spin on these shots make approaching or attacking a little more difficult.

Here are my 3 top tips on attacking short balls

1. Be alert and  be ready for when you get that short ball you jump on it straight away
2. Take it on the rise
3. Throw your body into the shot and carry on moving through the shot

If you want more advice on any of these articles then please feel free to email me enquiries@andytennis.co.uk

I Quote...

Only those who dare to try new avenues and perhaps fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

Matches for Juniors

How many matches should your juniors play per week according to age?
I have put this in the following way, age, number of sets per week, total matches per year

Under 10
2 full sets or 2 abbreviated scoring matches per week
Up to 40 matches

Under 12
4 sets or 2 full matches per week
40-60 matches

Under 14
4 sets or 2 full matches per week
50-80 matches

Under 16
6 sets or 3 full matches per week
60-80 matches

Under 18
6 sets or 3 full matches per week
60-80 matches

This is only a guide but it will give you an understanding of where your students are and where they need to be. One of the problems in many clubs is getting the kids down the club to play. In  your squads create a session where they all meet and play to practice with eachother per week, create a ladder league or box league just for this group to compete in.

Hope this helps with your knowledge

Coach Dowsett

The life of a tennis coach week 41-2010

How many hours of coaching is enough to produce a love in your job and how much is too much? I think i would be happy with 4 days and 8 hours of coaching per day. The perfect lifestyle i think.

This gives me time to spend with the family which is important this day and age. Especially when people around you are getting older. Next year will be my 40th and would i have changed a thing? Probably but why look back? Its better to look to the future and what can be!

In my days this week i have finished jotting down the outline for a 4 week primary school coaching programme. Full of drills and ideas. This is perfect to get the kids buzzed up enough about tennis and into your club. I have just finished a four week schedule in one particular school and managed to bring 8 children from the school back to the club in the first week. Give this two to three weeks and we will see how many turn up through 'friend pressure'! The feed back from the kids and school teachers is energy enough to keep going  back! I will post the ebook free on my website for 1 week before i start charging. So keep an eye out!

I am in talks about running some coach education in the USA this will be based on 1 or possibly 2 day courses spread over a week in a few centres around certain cities. A great opportunity and certainly one i wont be passing by! I am also being interviewed for tennisworldusa which should be interesting. I will post the article here and let you all know how it goes.

In a reminiscing kind of way i visited my old club that i think set my on my way to coaching excellence. Here i was doing a 45 hour week and enjoying every minute of it. Days were busy and evenings were down to 3 a week and half a day at weekends. Plenty to run a small academy and teach ample of kids and adults. Amazing to go for a coffee and still be recognised and even asked to come back and work part time. The place is having a makeover and has planning permission for indoor courts!

All very good but i have plans (family permitting) at my own club with a players academy and the Adrian Stonebridge coaching academy next year. My job is just to get through the winter like all outdoor coaches and make it i guess to March. From there on in things will be a breeze and enjoyable for all! For now i will take said position and build up some day work, after all i love my job and twice already i had to be reminded to take the money from group sessions after walking away to go do another lesson!

Meanwhile i keep writing, plotting and planning.

See you next week!

To Blog or not to Blog.....

That is the question!
Most people blog daily, twice daily and even thrice daily, but i blog when i can and when i have something to say.
Is that enough after all i had over 500 people read my articles from 15 Countries around the world.

I guess not, so this is the sketch from here on in....
Each week will consist of the following

1 x tennis article on one of the performance factors
1 x drill/game of the week
The diary of my week as a coach and player
1 x quote of the week
1 x message of the week
1 x guest blogger if and when available
1 x best product, book or dvd of the week

Not too much to ask for i believe!

Will blog my week and thoughts now and take it from there, see you on the other side

I Quote...

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

How the Brain Works!

Principles of the Brain

Here is a great article from my book World Class Tennis Mentality…..

Every thought you have sends electrical and chemical signals throughout your brain! Thoughts therefore have physical properties; they are real and have a significant influence on every cell in your body. For instance think of your favourite food of all time, imagine the smell, the taste. Is your mouth salivating?

So what just happened? Well, what you will learn in this part will affect your performance directly, by controlling your thoughts and hence your emotions you can only but improve everything about your game.

Scientific research shows that your brain can learn new things; it is just a matter of believing that you can!

Even if for now you have to literally lie to yourself!

PROFOUND STATEMENTS…

Give enough focused intention to any project fully and the spirit of that project will grow and give itself back to you ten fold.

This is right up there with…

As within, so without.

The Kyballion

It took me a long time to understand either of these, I wonder how long it will take you?

Science has made spectacular headway in how our brain works and has shown that if used regularly will grow, after all you never truly grow old…if you become a lifelong student of learning. We generally either allow it to grow until we literally die or let it wither. This is the ‘use it or lose it’ type scenario.

The trouble is, we naturally, as humans, (well for 95% of the population at least) place self‐limiting chains on ourselves by allowing negative self‐talk that influences what we achieve, or even worst prevent us from trying something new because we are fearful that it just will not work or it is impossible to do.

The following was learnt from a very knowledgeable Doug Bench and his Science for Success Systems (www.ScienceforSuccess.com). The reason I feel the need to tell you this is two fold. Firstly I wish for you to know the source of this geniality and secondly if it’s wrong then Doug should have known better!!

A ground breaking experiment….

Whilst in the midst of venturing into how our brains work, selected volunteers were asked to calculate simple maths problems whilst being observed under a PET scanner (computerised technology that literally scans the brain). It was always thought by scientists that when calculating any problem under this PET scanner on the computer screen just one certain part of the brain would light up. The amazing discovery however whilst under the scan another 5 areas lit up, so each subject was thinking in 6 different areas of the brain at once!

Further studies proved that by admitting sedatives to willing volunteers, neuroscientist found that the one area calculating the problems fazed out leaving the other 5 working away. Hence the conclusion being these 5 parts were on a non‐conscious level and the final part of 6 on a conscious level. More importantly since you are unaware of your non‐conscious thoughts, your non‐conscious brain can’not tell the difference between what is real or imagined, truth or a lie. Hence why the phrase ‘Fake it until you Make it’ is all too real and should be utilised at every opportunity.

Now why don’t you do the maths, 1/6th or 5/6th, where should the majority of our tennis play be?

Cut out the conscious thinking and you are on to a winner, better still cut out the conscious thinking and do enough to get inside your opponents head and you will take the upper hand which could be enough to take the match. But let’s not end on that note! Take this in, the 5/6th Non‐Conscious actually thinks 10 million times quicker than the 1/6th Conscious.

This is an interesting article about life on tour

Blog - Oct 2010

I hope everyone has had a great month of September and those in the tennis world have had a well deserved break before starting up their training/tournament load again.

All is fantastic at SotoTennis - the boys went up to Cordoba on Friday to sign in for the qualifying of a Futures there. It was a really valuable weekend for them all, particularly Dave Hodgetts. At 16 years old, it was his first senior professional tournament, and he won two matches to make it through to the last round of qualifying, beating two experienced players.

Unfortunately though, one of our boys did not get in. Six spaces were left for the taking, with seven players having signed in. The names were drawn from a hat, and Rob Carter’s was the only one not picked out. He was naturally disappointed, but it’s another great `character builder` for these guys and all part of the `pro tennis players` life. I spoke to him on the phone and tried to pass on some of my experience, wow I am getting old! I told him about a good friend of mine Lee Childs, who is a former top 5 player in Great Britain and Davis Cup player. Lee left home early morning Boxing Day one year to travel to Qatar for the season opening tournament. In tennis we `sign in` at events to prove we are there as tournaments are all over the world. He ended up being one ranking place from getting in the tournament, so it would seem, wasted £2,000 on flights and hotels. He practiced there all week though then flew to Sydney for the next event on the calendar, but again he was 1 or 2 ranking places from getting in. So, another £2000 down the drain. Onto Brisbane next, where the same happened, and then again at the big event, the Australian Open!  So four weeks, £8,000, thousands of air miles and he never played a match! BUT, Lee gained 4 weeks of experience at big events, hitting and socialising with top 100 players in the world, and while he didn’t play, he learned how tournaments like this ‘work’, and settled into that environment.  He went on to have a fantastic 6 months including winning a main draw match at Wimbledon! A great example of a true professional, and while there are not many sports where this would happen, he didn’t mope around feeling sorry for himself,  but came away having still gained valuable experience. I am confident my guys will react the same in this, and similar situations in the future.

All else is good here in Sotogrande! We are coming to the end of a 4-5 week hard training block where the guys fitness levels have soared and their games have developed nicely. They will get to put all their hard work to the test next week when they travel to tournaments in Barcelona, Libya, and Japan.  No, I wont be at all of them unfortunately – the ITF at Barcelona it is for me, with Josh, James, and Rob. Matt Kirby from Cambridge is also joining our travelling team which is great. I hope I have some good news next week and I’ll be able to write about what fantastic attitudes our players showed and that they did everything they could both on and off court, within their control. That is all we can ask…

Please feel free to e mail any topics you want us at STA to talk about in future…

Play to Win

The best coaches are the best teachers - 11 keys to effective teaching

Effective Teaching

Use the right language

Tell athletes what is right rather than what is wrong. Tell them what to do rather than not what to do.

Remember the brain thinks in images and can not differentiate between positive and negative. For instance instead of saying 'don’t keep so upright' sending this image to the brain, it would be better to say bend at the knees. You could also think of a pink elephant or in fact don't think of a purple elephant!

Assume the athlete doesn’t know

Better to repeat something known than omit something unknown. Teach them, tell them what you have taught them then tell them again!

Limit the information given in a coaching session

Keep the session to the main teaching point along with anything the student realises or attains himself. This is the best time to teach students when they have just discovered a particular task or skill themselves.

Be objective and purposeful

When working in a group or squad environment use examples that have just happened but be careful not to single out negative examples that individual members of the team may have made.

Ensure any assistant coaches use the same language

This speaks for itself conflicting language is inconsistent and may cause confusion. Ensure you both speak the same coaching lingo!

Gain Rapport

When teaching the group ensure you make eye contact with all the group not just single people.

Watch for reactions to what you say negative and positive this can give you valuable information on what players think.

When coaching with individuals connect by touch. A hand on the shoulder or pat on the back will suffice this ensures the message gets through.

Connect with the whole team not just the best, they all need your time and energy.

Encourage feedback with the group

Ask open ended questions about the tasks and skills you have been working on. At the end of the lesson ask the students what the biggest impact for them personally was.

Set goals within tasks

This maintains purpose and helps with everyone individually. Whereas the group maybe working on a set task via the teaching point, each student may have an individual aspect to focus on.

Use mistakes as a vehicle for teaching

A player who doesn’t make a mistake is one who isn’t achieving.

With mistake management have players understand what was I trying to do? What should I have done? How can I do better next time?

Reinforce effective learning and great behaviour

A great way to reinforce is on the approach of the task not the outcome. This will spill over into match play when we want players to continually perform better over the outcome of winning being the be all and end all.

Introduce the mental game of tennis at all times

For this you need my 12 week course. Shameful plug but there you have it!

www.andytennis.co.uk

British Tennis Latest News

British LTA Failed to Reach its Targets

The much criticized reign of Roger Draper as chief executive of the cash-rich but far from successful Lawn Tennis Association has suffered another massive knock with the revelation the governing body has failed to meet any of its own targets.

Draper, who took control four and a half years ago with a confident insistence that he was the man to finally turn British tennis around, and has signed off the spending of hundred of millions of money bequeathed to the LTA by both the All England Club and the British Government.

Now Draper has been forced to admit the failings of his regime when obligated to address the LTA Council with a “State of British tennis” address.

The most apparent failing is the dearth of British players in the respective top 100’s on the men’s and women’s tour. Draper prophesied by now there would be at least four British men figuring in the ATP World Tour’s top 100 and the same of the WTA Tour. Instead there is just Andy Murray and Elena Baltacha.

“Despite many encouraging performances in recent months [Murray contesting January’s Australian Open final and more recently Baltacha reaching the top 50 for the first time] we are unlikely to hit our target of eight players in the top 100,” admitted Draper, who initially put great faith in paying top dollar for a list of big name coaches such as Paul Annacone, Brad Gilbert, Carl Maes and Peter Lundgren. “Whilst we are on track for our doubles target, we only have two players in the top 100 singles, not helped by Anne Keothavong’s long-term injury.

Draper also said Britain would by now be a fixture in the Davis Cup’s World Group. Instead they only avoided relegation to the depth of Euro/Africa Zone Group Three by beating Turkey at Eastbourne.

Earlier this year Britain lost to a team of teenagers in Lithuania, prompting Captain John Lloyd to resign.  “The Davis Cup performance against Turkey was encouraging and we need to begin the long way back to higher groups,” continued Draper.

Another of the LTA’s wishes was that the average ranking of Britain’s leading five men would be 160, but this week it is 204, and they also did not come close to reaching the target for the women’s game either, which was that the leading five British players would have an average ranking of 113. This week, that average is 151.

Draper added: “We have also revised our year-end target for the number of people aged 16+ playing weekly. For the period from the end of September until mid-December, we have revised the target to 530,000, which represents a growth of 37,000 compared with the same period in 2009, which is what we need to achieve each year to reach our target of 150,000 more people playing weekly over the four-year plan period.”

Most worrying for Draper is the fact 16 year-old Liam Broady, probably Britain’s most promising junior player, currently ranked the 35 ^th best under 18 player in the world and winner of the Wimbledon junior doubles titles this year, is not available to represent his country in any LTA backed team. Broady’s father Simon is so disgusted by the Draper regime he will not allow his son to be selected while the current management team is in place. 

The BIG Secret

Okay first and foremost check this out and give me some feedback on Facebook if you can......

http://hudson.megabyet.net/#

Okay having worked with many players at club level and got them to a good standard whereby consistency and effectiveness is key i realised that when it came to playing matches (and for some for the first time!) it turns out they are shocking!

So the key is to give them a confidence word, image or feeling on the shots that they struggle with along with an intensity number.

Lets take the serve for instance, when in practice it looks, feels and works great. This is when our student needs to describe what it is about the shot that makes it work. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 relaxed, 10 tense) where do they sit when hitting great serves?

Now put this into point play and see if it can be adhered to.

Every shot they feel important can be utilised in this way, one key trigger word or image when it comes to it. Remember the brain thinks in images not words! Words get changed to an image taking longer!

My next article in a few days will be on the workings of the mind

Till then!

The Secret to maintaining confidence in your first ever match

Stay tuned for this important report i will publish tomorrow and the powerful exercise that you simply cannot miss out on.
Andy