Tennis Rule for Life #1

There are five major goals in tennis. These rules are not always obvious. When I ask people what’s the #1 goal in tennis they say things like:

“Watch the Ball”

“Move Your Feet”

“Turn Your Shoulders”

These are all excellent guesses. But none quite get to the heart of the matter when it comes to fundamentals of tennis and the rules of the game. The most basic thing one must accomplish to play tennis is (drum roll):

“Get the ball over the net.”

“Why?” is often the next question. The answer is that we often focus on complex things, but in reality, tennis requires getting the ball over the net because otherwise, you cannot accomplish any of the subsequent 4 steps. Most things in life are progressions, and to develop your tennis, one also requires progressions. If one cannot get the ball over the net, all other results are irrelevant to play tennis.

Sure, you can get exercise by moving your feet. You can watch a ball all day as it hits your tennis racket. You can practice turning your shoulders. But, none of these things achieves the goal of actually being able to play tennis with another person.

That said, getting the ball over the net, by itself, will not allow you to play tennis either, as you could hit the ball over the back fence, and you will have achieved the first goal, but your partner will not be able to hit the ball back. However, the second goal cannot be addressed until you get the ball over the net.

In golf and basketball they have similar step one rules: hit the ball past the cup, and get the ball over the rim, respectively.

Stay tuned next time for goal #2.

Gene’s Tennis Tip – February 2018

Doubles, the version of tennis most commonly played at the club level has a few basic strategy components that are decided before the match even starts. The main one is which side of the court (deuce or ad) the players on the same team will play on when the opposition serves. Many times this decision is last minute, with little or no thought given as the players say, “Well, I don’t care, I’ll play either,” followed by the other player repeating those words, then someone shrugging and taking the deuce side.

Basic rule: the stronger, more consistent backhand goes on the ad side and the stronger more consistent forehand on the deuce side. If one player is superior in both experience and skill, then typically, that player takes the ad side because the majority of game points (40-0, 40-30, & ad) occur on the ad side. Only one (40-15) game point occurs on the deuce side, so there’s less pressure on the deuce side for the weaker player. The player on the ad side needs to show consistence on the return of serve so that they make the opponents earn all game points with quality shots. Clear the net and keep the return cross-court.

 

The exception to these basic strategy rules is when a player is dead-set on playing one side. Let them play that side. It will keep your partner happy. Happy partners play better. If possible, be flexible about which side you play, as this will make it easy for you to play with different partners throughout your tennis life. Also, I recommend playing the side you like less sometimes for the practice, so long as you make your partner aware that you are not great at the deuce side, but would like to practice it if that’s okay with them. Most players (unless you are playing for money) are fine with this arrangement, especially at the club level. A good player placement strategy leads to happy doubles!

Pickleball Clinic at Mcc

We had another wonderful Pickleball Clinic with our Pickleball Ambassador from Santa Monica Doug Nichols on the Mcc Paddle Tennis Courts. Doug explained the rules as a group of experienced players, including our own Robert Rudelius, Leslie Howard, and Gene played an exhibition match to introduce those in attendance to the intracies of the game.

Leslie, Barbie, Linda, Nancy at Mcc Pickleball

These included the scoring (you only score when your team serves like volleyball used to be), strategy, the kitchen, and other goodies this lovely game has to offer. We have pickleball paddles and balls in the fitness center for members to check out. Make your way down with a friend to the paddle tennis courts and have a go at the game that’s sweeping the nation!  Gene is happy to take you out and show you and some friends how to play if interested he will set up another private clinic at your convenience.

Sip ‘n Serve Tennis is Back for Winter session at Mcc!

Sip ‘n Serve Tennis is Back at the Marina City Club (4333 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, 90292) for the following dates:

 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 9, 16, 30 & THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 ONLY!!!

 

Sip ‘n Serve will be held on court 1.  Cost is $25 per class or you can buy the series of 5 classes for $80.

 

Members of Mcc get the class for $15 / class or $50 for the series.

 

Class is 7-8:30pm with sippin’ to start at 8:45 in the Mcc Restaurant.

 

Come by and see friends, play tennis, and have a drink plus some chow.

 

Parking Note: Follow the yellow line to the guest parking on the first floor of the parking garage. Park there, exit the same way you entered, go to the left and up the stairs to court #1 which is on top of the parking. If the top level is full, you must drive to the bottom of the structure where there is lots more parking. Exit the stairwell and go up 1 ½ flights to the street. Turn right through the breezeway then right again and up the stairs just past shipping & receiving (where the bathrooms are) to court #1.

Gene’s Tip of the Month: October 2017

                Do you get annoyed when your friend asks to play tennis with you or “hit around”, but they are a 3.0 and you are a 4.0? What makes this scenario worse is when you can’t find another game with people at your level. Why not make a practice session out of it, without telling your friend? The secret is to first, limit your options. For example, decide that you are not going to lob or slice anything if those are your best shots. Instead, work on your topspin backhand and a flat, low forehand if those are shots you’ve always wanted to develop, but never work on in matches with players at your own level. Will you make more errors? Yes, almost certainly. Will you also get better at hitting those shots? Certainly. Will your friend be happy? Yes! If you really are considerably better, they will still be excited to play with you.

                Another way to get a solid tennis workout with a weaker opponent is to only hit to their strongest shot. Most players prefer the forehand. So, when playing with them, hit everything to their strength. It’s not a sound strategy for winning, but it will make the match more competitive. It also forces you to work on controlling the ball to a particular section of the court, the third most important mission every tennis player has. Limiting the area of the court you can use is one of the best ways to improve one’s game as evidenced by all the drills and practice games that require players to use only half the court. This also limits your ability to win through maneuvering. Instead you must outlast or “hit through” your opponent, which often times is the only way to defeat someone who moves well. This develops patience, one of the great attributes of any successful tennis player.

                There are dozens of ways to make a practice session with a weaker player exciting and challenging. Feel free to contact me for other suggestions for creating a challenging win-win. If you come up with other practice tricks in this situation feel free to post them to our Mcc Tennis Facebook page or email them to me at gdesrochers@seabreezemgmt.com.

Last Sip ‘n Serve of the winter on Thursday

Sip ‘n Servers!

Come to our last winter SIP ‘N SERVE next Thursday night (March 2nd) from 7-8:30pm. It’s a drill and fun tennis game clinic that is much more social than competitive. It is open to all and costs $25. After the tennis we go up to the Mcc Restaurant for food / drinks. Next week’s class is the last one until at least April or May, so I encourage you to join us and meet some of the people around Marina Del Rey. All levels are welcome in the sip ‘n serve class.

Junior Play Day Coming Up!

Junior Clinic Group

We have a Junior Play Day scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 28^th from 2-4pm on courts 5 & 6.

 

Please welcome your kids & grandkids and their friends to come play tennis (this is more playing with a small amount of instruction) for $5 per player!  We welcome players between 5-11 years old.

Kids play tennis at Mcc

There is no need to RSVP, however, if you’d like to let us know, go ahead and reply to gdesrochers@seabreezemgmt.com and pass this along to anyone who might be interested!

Gene’s Tennis Tip Februrary 2017: Load-and-Transfer on the Volleys

Sure, everyone who plays a lot of tennis has heard these tried and true adages for volley form:  turn your shoulders and step into the ball.  These are vital to a good volley, however, something that I often see missed that is just as important as those two gems:  LOAD-AND-TRANSFER!

What do we mean by “load”?  Well, let’s use the forehand volley of a right-handed player as our example.  This player will want to turn her left shoulder toward the net and step into the ball with her left foot.  But what should the right foot be doing?  You guessed it:  LOADING.  In other words, before the step with the left foot, the player will want to transfer her weight and energy into her right foot and bend her knee slightly.  Then, as she steps, she will unleash the “loaded” energy from her right foot, up that leg, through her hip, and into the step she takes with her left foot (“TRANSFER”).  Timing this energy transfer to take place as the racket makes contact with the ball ensures that with a short stroke, bite can be imparted on the volley, creating a shot full of pizazz.  If no loading phase takes place and the player simply steps, then the player’s timing suffers.  The shot can be hit too early because all the weight has landed on the left foot too early, leaving no place for the player to go with her energy.  When this happens, control is lost and in many cases, the player takes a large swing in an effort to generate pace because that’s the only alternative left without the load-and-transfer.

So remember, practice loading on your non-stepping foot, then transferring your weight to the stepping foot as you make contact to keep your volley compact and give your shot the bite it so richly deserves!

Article on Tennis Balls

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/sports/tennis/which-tennis-ball-is-in-use-it-makes-a-difference.html?ref=tennis&_r=0

loved it!

Gene’s Tennis Tip July 2016: Tennis Tips from a high performance workshop at Mcc

Mcc played host to six tennis pros and USPTR Director of Development Brian Parkkonen for a weekend to train on the latest techniques and scientific developments in the game of tennis to get a Level 1 Certification to teach High Performance Tennis (focused on developing players for the Professional Tour and College tennis).  The course dealt with bio-mechanics, nutrition, mental and emotional development, tactics, strategy, and techniques to improve stroke production and footwork.  The certification included a written exam, a performance exam, and a testing portion to see that the coaches could run a high performance clinic or private lesson focused on match play.  The class touted the importance of working on particular aspects of the player’s development and having a purpose with each training session.  The five main areas that performance players concentrate on are:  1)Serve plus 1; 2)Return plus one; 3)Approaching the net; 4)Passing an approaching player; 5)Rallying from the baseline.
Recreational players can structure practice sessions in the same way, to focus on these major areas of match play.  Most everyone has a lot of practice with baseline rallies (#5), but the other four are often neglected by club and rec players.  A good game to play is works on #1 (Serve +1) and #2 (Return +1).  Here’s how it works:  Player A (server) serves to Player B (returner).  If the returner gets his return of serve in the court and then gets a second shot in the court, he wins a point.  If the returner does not put two shots in play, the server wins a point.  That’s not it!  If the returner gets two shots in the court, he now has one point, however, the point is NOT OVER.  From there, they play out the point.  If the server wins the point, then each player has earned one point and the score is 1-1.  If the returner gets two balls in the court, then wins the point after that, he gets two points and the score is 2-0.  Play this game to eleven or fifteen points with one player serving the whole time, then switch roles and play another game with the other player serving the second game.  This evens out the advantage the server has and makes each player focus on getting the first and second shots in play.  It also makes the server work harder to hit good serves because that is the only way for him to get ahead-make the returner miss.
This game is one example of return plus one and serve plus one focused practice.  This type of practice prepares you for match play, not just aimlessly rallying and because so much of tennis is about the serve and return of serve, it will give you reps on these vital strokes that rallying or even regular match play cannot duplicate.  See you on the courts!