Friday, September 21, 2007

Thursday Practice Report (20-Sep-2007)

Today, we had Louvre, Brian, Calvin, Nicholas, Adrian, Tommy, Kenny and Ivan.

We focused on the forehand steps, especially the stands!
Introducing the "open stand" to the boys, some of them felt really hard to accustomized it. Also, some tried hard and learnt quickly, just like Tommy.

"Open stand" is a very popular stand nowadays. Many professional players like to try this stand, as it helps you recovering in a quick way.

Boys like to rise questions. Brian asked me that he felt hard and couldn't get used of the stand, hard to hit a ball. This is quite normal, actually when you learn something very new, you can't really apply it easily at first, for example some mathematics, some science theories. So, what you have to do is practice more and try to get used of it. Louvre asked one very good question, I think. " What are the difference between the squared stand and open stand? Which one would be better? Also, All HKTA course would teach the beginner to learn the squared stand first." I would say both stands have their advantages and disadvantages, so you could try best stand. My advice is to try all the stands and feel that which stand would be more suitable for you. Even if you won't use the "open stand" to hit a ball, you should learn more about tennis skills and knowledge.

So, today we had some similar drills for the baseline forehand and backhand. Then, we had some approach shot, mid-court attack, bounced overhead drills. However, Kenny and Ivan told me that they didn't want to join the training, and they played themselves. Brian and Louvre said I were too clement to deal with this two boys, they told me that I should punish them, maybe some running, etc. In my point of view, I know that wahyan is the school of freedom, I bet all of you would agree that you would have many chance to skip your lesson in wahyan. So, we have the "freedom" to choose wheather we skip the class or not. It depends on what you think. In my school time, some very smarted boys felt the teacher was bored and they learnt nothing about the subject by him, they would skip the class and learn by themselves at home or the library. It would be fine if you dont' wanna to join the training. Whatever you choose or you think of the training, I would respect your choice. I don't want to act as some parents in Hong Kong, they force their children to attand some interest class which the children hated. At the end, if you think you can learn tennis by yourselves, go for it. If you just want have some funny games or match but not the training, go for it.

One more problem rised.
Would these boys be included to our list of tennis team? Would we include all the students who have joinned the training? How about if some boys only join us once a month or even few times a year? It's quite difficult to define the team Tennis team? I bet, that we cannot only include those who would represent wahyan for the competition as the team. So, who should be included in the list of tennis team? I know all of the students in wahyan would have their own protfolio in wahyan system, which would include what acitivites they have joined and the clubs they particpated. Chris, Raymond, all the old boys, should we have a chat on this issue?

We then practiced our serves. Boys improved a lot, especially Nicholas had a more spin serve. But, Tommy have to work hard to control the ball in the boxes. At the end, we had some singles match.

I'm so pleased some boys have been improving in these few weeks, such as Tommy, Calvin and Brian. They did their best in my drills. I see Tommy had tried his best to control the ball and try to be more consistent instead of power. Calvin also learnt how to recover and move in the court. Brian is still a good chatter box in the court, but he can easily work with others, especially the lower form student, our new bloods. It's also my first time to meet Adrian. Adrian looked short but he played okay. He gets along with other easily like Oscar. So, if my calculation is corrected, we now have three new form 1 boys!

Lastly, I would like to talk about the balls.
Whan I arrived the court, I found we had only 1/3 of basket of balls. I don't know why and how did the ball gone? Do our cabin safe? One more thing, one lock of the door is out of order, we lastly break the door to save Chris Wong. We could find the solution for the missing balls.

26/9 would be the make up class for the old boys and school teams.
I would offer you some games, hope you can all learn and feel happy in the games. This is for fun. Maybe, I should named it a "Fun day" or "workshop" for us!
Hope to see you!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

In my view, tennis team means that the best 15 player in wah yan form a team for representing wah yan for the competition. Not anyone who want to join than he can join .also, if a player who is in the tennis team, he must follow the instruction from the coach. Wah Yan is a place which is talking about freedom, but also, discipline is the most important thing in Wah Yan.
if the members can do whatever they want to do during the training, what is the meaning of the coach?
By the way, Tennis team training is a period for the student who is representing the school for competition to keep their condition, but not anyone said he want to join then he can join the training. And this is Tennis Team Training, if every boys want to join the training then he can joint, is that “Tennis Team” this word become meaningless? That two boys came to training, I really admire them have a heart for playing Tennis, but they must follow the instruction from the coach. Because we are a team of the school, we must have discipline.

I am really angry and disappointed with these two boys they did on Thursday, I know they are not belonging the Tennis Team, but they must follow the training what Edmond need us to do, or else, I think that Tuesday and Thursday they must not appear in the tennis court and disturbing the Normal Tennis Team Training.

By the list which I give to Chris, this year Tennis Team has 15 boys,
They are: Louvre, Brian, Calvin, Barry, Boris, Chris, Frankie, Horace, Jordon, Matthew, Nicholas, Tommy, Tony, Oscar and a Form1 boy who is in 1Y.This is the team member list of Wah Yan Tennis Team this year., Which shown at the Wah Yan website of the students protfolio.


I do not want to see what that two guys did on Thursday again, or else, I may think over of quiting the Tennis Team or not. I do not want to stay at a team which has no discipline.

P.s: sorry for my grammar may be wrong.

Ernest said...

Hi Louvre :

Thanks for yr concern about the training, Edmond n I are always willing to listen to all of u boys.
As the coach of the WYK team, I highly appreciate yr commitment n attitude towards training. Moreover, u did a good job to co-ordinate the activities as well(though yr calls sometimes wake my girl up at 11pm.
I do notice that there were some boys showed up during our practice recently. Edmond n I will work out the tennis team member list n will post together with the practice time table on the tennis team board soon in order to avoid that situation.
On the other hand, boys, as the tennis team has the priority to use the tennis court, enjoying free coaching, generous support from the Fund. n the old boys.......u are enjoying some privileges that other students are longing. In return , u should give out yr best in order to make our investment on u worthy. Our aim is not simply trophies, our aim is to bring out the best of the WYK team through the game of tennis. No matter win or lose, we should train hard, fight hard n well behaved. No matter win or lose, we should work as a team with sound discipline. And our last request, love our school n never let she down!!

Cheers
Erenst

Raymond Ho said...

Dear Louvre

We all appreciate your initiative to get things rolling and it was quite a well written article to share with us your feelings about the team situation

I concur with Ernest and Edmond that the most important thing now is to build a team with clear objectives of achieving what we set out to do:

1. Give a good shot at promotion (WYK is a sleeping giant), we are like Leeds, Wolves and Blackpool who were once English champions but languishing in the lower divisions)
2. There is no free lunch in terms of achieving those goals, you get what you put in. You will be training hard under our 2 hungry coaches.
3. The coaches will decide on the best management structure to take the Team forward. Your points are well-taken and understood.
4. While the coach will decide on the Team, we are looking for commitment from the Team players to train hard and build a good team spirit among team members. I was sitting on the bench for a year before being picked to start my first team match by Fr Finneran. I always cheer on my teammates and try to find out why they are picked to start a match - it may be a combination of experience, track record, talent, competitiveness, responding to challenges under pressure.
5. If other commited and talented tennis players are invited to train in the squad, make them feel welcomed. Let your tennis do the talking. However, if they dont want to follow the drills and practice of the coaches, let them practice on their own and leave them alone to enjoy their social tennis.
6. Have a fun and fruitful season all of you. Play well to improve your tennis and quite rightly channel your energy to making yourself equip with other social skills such as social etiquette, team building, communication, negotiation etc.

Cheers

Raymond