First, sorry for being so late to report the Monday practice.
Six boys: Tommy, Calvin, Nicholas, Chris, Brian, Jordan.
The day after the exciting match.
I decided to have some relaxing drills, some games.
We dried the court and have some warm-ups.
Hitting few basket of forehand and backhands.
In the easy forehand shots, I found that boys were consistent. They hit many good shots. After some easy shots training, we focus on the volley and the groundstrokes, Chris's net game was improved. Thanks Simon for hitting the powerful stroke to him last Sunday. Their net game were okay, just say Tommy and Brian, their footwork improved. Another pairing like Calvin and Nicholas, though their net game is not the best, they tried their best and worked very hard. Lastly, Jordan... I doubted that he has the laziest footwork among all the boys!
So, we had some games today!
Game is fun. Boys can feel relax and be happy in the game. Also, today's game aimed to train the consistency and the net game!
Here comes to the first game: prison
Boys divided into two teams, 3 vs. 3.
Played like the team single, coach feed the balls. If the player lose the point, he would be "invited" to "sit" in the service box. So, the one is the box can only save himself by hitting a volley "in". A very exciting game.
The game focus on the consistency and the widen angle. Chris's team were lost 2 times and had a 10 push-ups punishment. Jordan did a good job, some were clever, hitting a widen angle to prevent the prisoner to get the ball and save himself. Consistency is a must in the game, hitting the ball to the net or out would lead you to jail in the service box. But if there were more players involved the game, it may be more exciting. I can see boys' improvement after the match: more consistenct and smart!
The next game is the 3 vs. 3 game. All players stand in the court.
Here comes to Chris's revenge. 1 volley and 2 baseline. three against three.
Chris's team were smart this time, Chris did some powerful forehand shots. However, Brian had a good idea, all moved to the net! The 21-point match were really excited and the score were close. At almost the end of the match, Chris's team were nervous, hitting some unforced errors. However, at the end, Chris's team took a revenge.
The two games were fun.
I think that practicing the drills only is not enough, games can be a fun for the boys. Furthermore, the game can be a way for the boys to use all things they learnt in the drills. I just remember when I took part in the elementary coach course, Ricky Chan(the head coach) told us the the three steps of coaching in the lesson: basket drill, rally drill and game. So, the basket drill and rally drill is for the student to learn and practice respectively. The game is for the student to apply what they learnt in the lesson.
So, I would provide more games for boys in coming September, I hope boys would feel happy and be fun, instead they can apply all they learnt in the drill.
At the end, I had a single with Chris Wong.
Chris improved after the exciting match, he is very consistent at the first six game. This is the first I saw him so consistent! But when he were leading, he couldn't be smart that win all the points at the end. Maybe, this is his mental. We can't do much in the training, Raymond was right, what Chris can learn more is only participating more tournaments, especially the so-called public competition.
I gave all the tournament forms to HKTA yesterday. Boys would have match in coming September at the Hong Kong tennis Centre(the GAP). Old boys and all, will you support them? I hope I can support them this time.
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Dear Edmond and All,
Thanks for the excellent blog that keeps reminding us the progress of the Team. It is a very systematic approach that Edmond and Ernest used to improve the Team, pin-pointing areas of weaknesses. Also, it is fun to play the games so that when the competition begins, our players will treat it with respect without the fear factor. Winning is a habit, and it can be learnt through practice and hard work.
Old Boys remembered the GAP tournament in the HK Tennis Centre well. Actually, my brother Simon sat for a whole day at the GAP without being given a walk-over against his No 1 seed opponent. It was a sheer disgrace in those colonial days, hope that things are better now. However, it taught us to be self-reliant and provided motivation to get better in terms of tennis and as a person. It also taught us not to discriminate other people in terms of race,origin,ability and social standing. The Old Boys will try to support our players in this competition.
Chris is putting too much pressure on himself. The more matches he played, the less he will think about how to finish the match. It will come naturally with practice, and there is no magic formula in achieving this.
To share my experience with you, first of all, try to get a comfortable cushion to win if you could. Secondly, in tight situations go back to the basic: good first serve / return in the court, make sure your opponent worked hard to win the point without giving away your advantage. Thirdly, pick on his weakness in big points / break points. Fourthly, I normally play down the middle splitting the partnership or hoist a lob to break up the net formation if they are good at the net. Finally, mix up your tactics and never become predictable.
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