As we prepare for the IJP Tennis End-of-School Celebration this weekend, I have been reflecting on the first half of the year.  I am proud of what we have accomplished, and am looking forward to continuing that progress through the summer and fall. 

We were very well represented in the high school season this year by Katie R, Bradley, Katie B, Sydney, and Ryan.  Success came in many forms—from making the team for the first time, to achieving excellent individual and team results.  Katie R was a state doubles finalist in her division, and along with Sydney, made the quarterfinals of the team competition.  Bradley helped lead his team to a state semifinal appearance, and also played in the state doubles tournament.  As a freshman, Katie B played in the state tournament in doubles, and helped her team reach the finals.  Ryan earned a spot on his team, and will have a big task next year defending his team’s state championship title.  Also, Coach Karen led her high school team to the quarterfinals of the state competition.  High school tennis is great for our older players, as it is a fantastic team environment, and always presents healthy challenges, like making the team or earning a higher position.  Plus, it is great for our high schoolers to push our younger Yellow Ballers in practice (while the younger ones are nipping at their heels!).

Our young gun Orange Ballers have been working tremendously hard this year, with the results to prove it. Their major focus has been the development of racquet control in the various strokes.  The use of the continental grip is a key part of our younger players’ development, as is understanding how to absorb the ball onto the strings while using this grip.  This allows players to not only develop sound volley technique but also help with their serves and overheads by becoming more comfortable with the grip.  We had a handful of Orangies selected for the USTA Early Development Camps, and expect more in the coming camps.  These camps are designed for young, motivated players to foster athletic development, match tactics, and stroke production. 

We can’t forget our Red Ballers!  I observed a class last month and am really happy with the solid foundations they are are building.  They have the entire movement and shot pattern down: split, unit turn, set up, swing, & recover.  It is fun to watch, and I am excited to see the little ones grow into Orange Ballers. 

I spend a lot of time educating my students, but also make time to educate myself, as a coach.  If I wasn’t open to learning, then I would not have developed into the coach I am today.  And I have been lucky enough to work with some amazing coaches and tennis minds over the years.  Recently, I was selected to coach at the USTA Southwest Section Team USA Camp.  The 3-day event at ASU included a coaches workshop, and two days of instruction with the players.  I enjoyed the interaction with the USTA faculty and the other high-level coaches in the Southwest.  I was happy to help this section (and myself) grow and improve. 

Moving into our summer season, our theme will be "efficient movement."  Players will learn movement patterns from the back of the court, using fewer steps to cover more ground.  Bigger steps, without wasted energy, will allow players to cover the court better.  Our players are learning to absorb the ball with a big drop step, to move wide to the ball and then step inside the baseline to take time away and control the tempo of points.  We’ll also take these efficient movement patterns to the net. Players are working on a 2-step volley to explosive to the ball, and practicing moving for their overheads.  We aim to train our players to be all-court players, and great all-around athletes. 

Although the heat can be off-putting, summer is a vital part of a player’s development.  Without the day-to-day worries of school, and with the opportunity for consistent repetition, players can make huge jumps in their games.  You can see our summer schedule here. 

​See you out there. 

Welcome to another installment of Matt’s Point. It’s been a great start to 2018, with our players having great successes both on and off the court, from winning tournaments to the USTA's Early Development Camps to awards and accolades in the classroom.  Plus, our Arizona winter has been spectacular, as expected. 

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the ProAm event at the Phoenix Open.  This event creates such a buzz around the town, bringing in so many people from other states and countries.  There are certainly worse places to be in February!  As I watched the players tee off, I couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly they swing the clubs, and how they hit such long distances from their easy-looking strokes.  The pro golfers were truly impressive.  NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers was playing in one of the final groups of the day.  After he hit his tee shot, someone pulled out a football and the group started throwing it around (Jordan Spieth has pretty good hands, by the way).  Before they approached the green, Rodgers threw the football into the stands.  Again, I was amazed at his ability to throw a football from the middle of the fairway to the upper level with what looked like a simple flick of the wrist.  The golfers and Rodgers made it look so easy. 
On the way out of the course, we passed the driving range, which was filled with professional golfers practicing for the following day.  This was an awesome reminder that those refined mechanics, that enviable technique, and the ease at which they produce their swings (or throws) are anything but effortless.  It takes years (or decades) to achieve the appearance of effortlessness.  It is the countless hours of practice and hard work that creates this aura of ease to the spectator.   
Days before this, I had seen Roger Federer win his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.  He has, without a doubt, the most effortless-looking strokes in tennis. He is so smooth, and he glides across the court.  What we don’t see is his dedication to being the GOAT:  the countless hours of footwork exercises, the strength and conditioning training, the continuous refinements to his technique so he can play this sport for years to come. This is the reason why most players his age are on the seniors tour, while he is still mixing it up with (and beating) the young guns. 
At IJP Tennis, we ultimately want all of our players to have the same effortless swings and footwork that we see with the professional players.  It’s our job to guide the hard work that is required to get there. 

The Fourth of July break roughly marked the halfway point for our first summer of IJP Tennis, and it has been an amazing summer thus far.  I wanted to use the occasion to let you know how things are going.

Summertime is a great opportunity for budding tennis stars to make their biggest improvements of the year.  There are no day-to-day stresses associated with school or homework, and tennis is a welcome relief from the "I'm bored" syndrome!  Summer provides the opportunity to increase time on court, resulting in more balls hit, leading to greater volume of stroke repetition for accelerated improvements. 

In Arizona, however, we can only get so many hours on court during the summer.  It gets unbelievably hot here!  With temperatures exceeding 110 degrees, and extremely low humidity, it can get dangerous.  Safety is critical:  sunscreen, hats, hydration, frequent breaks, and shade.  Our summertime schedule was built around the Arizona heat and the belief that we can achieve quality practices during the "cool" periods of the day. 

I have been so pleased with all of our players this summer.  I have seen some awesome improvements.  Our younger players have been developing hitting patterns and complex spin serves, and our Green and Yellow ballers, who have been grinding away in the mornings to beat the heat, have been working on an array of tough exercises involving complex footwork and movement patterns. 

​As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.  Enjoy Wimbledon!

Technique is important in every sport.  I'd venture to say it is even more so in tennis.  Anyone who picks up a racquet for the first time post-childhood would likely agree,  Therefore, teaching technique in this sport is critical.  I like to break things down, and teach each portion of stroke production.  I've found that being precise with what you are teaching can achieve greater improvements. 

If you took the top 10 male and 10 female players in the world, and filmed them hitting a forehand, would they all be the same? Absolutely not!  There are core elements that exist for all players, but each has his or her own distinct positions, angles, or movements.  It's like a unique signature, on the tennis court.  These nuances are influenced by physical capabilities, style of play, and coaching.  If you've seen one forehand...you've seen one forehand.  This leads me to ask:  Why do coaches try to teach the same forehand to every player? 

Over my coaching career, I have learnt how to break down a stroke to help the player.  I teach four basic components to hitting a forehand:  (1) preparation or take-back of the racquet, (2) dropping the racquet head into position to allow a top spin or flat shot, (3) the contact point or strike zone, and (4) the follow through--what happens to the racquet after contact. 

If you can break down each stroke into these core elements, it allows the player to focus on one thing at a time.  It's easy to tell the player what to adjust after each stroke, but what are you really working on?  What's the priority?  "You need to load that right leg, change the racquet angle on your set-up, contact the ball further out, and relax your wrist through the contact point."  Huh?!   When I work technique with a player, I might just work on the set-up of the forehand for the lesson, talking about the adjustments needed for a high ball, rally ball, low ball, and transition ball.  The player can focus on this one aspect and carry it into the next hitting session.  Teaching technique is...technical.  This very focused instruction can become muddled if the scope is too broad.  

As technical as I get in my lessons, please be unafraid to ask detailed questions to your children.  Next time you ask your child what they worked on in class, try to get more specifics about the practice.  I hope your conversations go something like this:

• MOM:  Hi.  How was practice?
• PLAYER:  Good (because that's all you'll normally get, right?!)
• MOM:  What did you work on today?
• PLAYER:  Forehands.
• MOM:  What about the forehand?
• PLAYER:  Unit turn and take-back.

Thanks for reading. Have a sensational week out there. 

From a spectator's view, tennis seems such a simple sport:  Ball comes to you; hit it over the net.  From the sidelines, it's easy to misunderstand—or question—what's happening on the court.  Why didn't Johnny hit the ball in?  How could Sarah miss that seemingly easy shot?  Why couldn't Max move faster to get to that ball?  My kid is far better than that other player, so why did she lose?  It's really easy to coach for what has just happened.  But, hindsight is what sports commentators get paid to do.  Not coaches. 

Contrary to what it seems, tennis is quite a complex sport.  Technically, you have to learn a variety of shots, each with a number of nuances, such as spins.  After that, you have to learn how to position shots (direction and distance), manage the pace, and control movement (the ball's, your opponent's, and your own) to allow yourself the best opportunity to win points.  Then, there's strategy.  Generally, what is your game plan to leverage your strengths and expose your opponent's weaknesses?  Now, successfully do all of this with a complicated scoring system, in which you could lose the match even if you actually win more points! 

Given the complexity of the sport, coaches cannot get lost in the Land of Hindsight.  If you focus on the fundamentals needed to be successful, the noise created by hindsight is easy to filter out.  It's the coach's role to build the biomechanics of all the strokes, teach tactics and match strategy, bolster mental conditioning, and inspire the kids to be the best players they can. 

So what is the parents' role?  I believe the parents have the hardest job.  It's not easy to see your child make a mistake or lose a match he or she should have won, and not get caught up in the technical and tactical things.  But, if a parent is busy talking tactics and shot errors, who's providing the emotional support for the player?  Love and encouragement resonate a lot more than analysis of double faults or missed shots. 

Everyone has an important role to play in the development of an aspiring player—player, coaches, and parents.  Kel and I work hard to handle all of the duties that come with wearing the "coach" hat.  When mom and dad wear the "supportive parent" hat, together we can provide all the support a player could need.  Finally, when the player embraces his or her role—appreciate the coaching and parental support, work hard, and have fun—we have a winning formula.

You never stop learning in this sport.  There is always something to correct, change, or improve (Roger Federer even has a coach, right?).  I love this sport for all the challenges it brings, both on and off the court. 

Thanks for reading. 

Kel and I regularly attend junior tournaments to support our players and check on their progress in competitive matches. We enjoy seeing the kids in action, and talking with the parents, with whom we don't get much time during the week because we are on court with the kids. We get asked lots of questions, ranging from how many times a week should a child play, to what is the best racquet for a junior player, and why are we such big fans of the Red/Orange/Green/Yellow (ROGY) ball progression.

Since Kel and I started coaching (nearly 20 years ago!), the approach to teaching young tennis players has changed. The systematic use of the ROGY Balls, and the developmental steps represented by each color, allows coaches to build the fundamental skills needed to take a player to the highest level possible. Using smaller courts, softer balls, and racquets designed for the size and strength of young players, you can successfully introduce kids to the sport at a younger age, and continuously adapt the game as they grow, physically and skills-wise. In addition to appropriate equipment, the structure of training needs to be tailored for children. Long lines with kids waiting 2-3 minutes to hit one ball? It doesn't work. Practice needs to have a purpose and a fitting structure. We work to have the kids constantly moving and interacting with each other. We also strive to make it fun: playing games, rallying, and target practice for ground strokes and serves.

Why are we such big fans of the ROGY progression? Simply, it is the best way to develop tennis players. It allows kids to start tennis (successfully) at a younger age—an 6-year-old kid should not be hitting from the 72-foot baseline with a Yellow Ball! It also establishes milestones of development, ensuring the fundamental skills are learned before moving on. And while it may seem counter-intuitive (and is often unpopular for those know don't understand ROGY), it encourages a child to move through the stages more methodically, which allows skills to be acquired more rapidly. Hitting from the 72-foot baseline at a young age is NOT an accomplishment—it doesn't mean the child is more advanced! Using the right grips, with the best swing shape, and good biomechanics, on a smaller court, with a slower ball will allow your child to become a far more complete tennis player in the long term.

I can categorically say that the best players I have developed have purposely taken their time through every phase of the ROGY progression. Don't sprint ahead, as you'll only get overtaken in the end!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support.