Thursday, March 6, 2008

Thursday report (6-Mar-2008)

Many kids again:
Louvre, Brian, Nicholas, Oscar, Tommy, Jordan, Chris, Kenny, Ivan, Bryan.

We first had some easy drills.
I told Brian and Louvre to first play a double with Tommy and Jordan.
The score was 4:0 to Tommy's team.

We got the three ball cross drill.
One baseline forehand cross court, one mid court attack and lastly a very tricky drop shot.
I put a basket near the net, boys had to hit a drop shot in order to "bounce" the ball into the basket.
This is a very hard and tough drill.
Most of the kids did well, especially Oscar and Jordan.
However, Nicholas was the only one who can drop the ball into the basket.
I'm proud of him.

We also had the running two court drill and the chasing short ball drill.
Many of our kids ran quickly to get the ball.
The footwork of them had improved, I bet.

Service.
I then told Brian and Oscar to play against Kenny and Ivan.
The score is 6:3 , but I knew Kenny did a good job.

I'm sorry, today I don't want to mention too many of the drills as many of them did well in the drill. Moreover, it is a fact that our kids play so good when they are practicing in wahyan. I want to mention more about our game match today.

At the end, we got two doubles and a single.
Single: Brian played against Kenny.
Unexpected, Brian lost 4-6 to Kenny.
Kenny was great, so consistent that he could beat Brian.
In fact, I found Kenny are playing better and better.

Next, Chris paired with little Bryan, played against Jordan and Ivan.
Our vice captain's team won.
Jordan was a bit not in a good mood of match play, Chris complained to me that Jordan seemed not paying attention or focus during the game.
I knew Bryan was new and he's not that good in backhand. But, I appreciated him that he tried all the best to rally the ball in the court.

Then, I paired with Louvre and played against Tommy and Oscar.
Tommy and Oscar were great, they got the understanding of each other.
I didn't do well, as I have long time no playing or rallying on the baseline. Unfortunately, I have one match of my university next Tuesday.
So, we were beaten by the young men.

Oscar is very consistent while Tommy do have his powerful serve.
Tommy have to work harder on the net game.
Not many unforced error.
Louvre seemed better, he could control his temper even I made many unforced error.
Sometimes, Louvre was unexpected: hitting some killer shots.
Louvre did a good job.

At the last, one more double:
My place was replaced by Jordan.
Jordan and Louvre vs. Tommy and Oscar.
It seems to me that Jordan and Louvre played so well, they have the understanding of each other. I bet they would be a good team in future.
Oscar played the best: he was so strong and too good.
But, Jordan seemed not that good, some unforced error. Chris and I agreed that Jordan was still hitting only with his arms. Chris told me he could see his brother hitting the ball with very straight legs.

Louvre also did his best.
I'm proud of all the four players.
They were great players.

Good match.
Boys did well today.
The return of serve of them seemed better today.
But, playing in the real match is not the same as practicing in wahyan.
The more important is our kids seemed not really good in their mental:
some may get four double faults in a game as they were nervous...

Just pray for the team.
In long run, gaining more experience of playing tournament would help our kids.

Something that I have noticed:

1/ Raymond and Ernest, I'm still seeing some of the boys or I could say all our boys DO NOT call the score loudly when they in the match. Please do tell our kids to call every score loudly next time, especially in the inter school championship.

2/ That's nothing about tennis. It is pleased to see we got the whole trolley full of tennis balls. But boys take so long time for picking up the balls. I know, no one like picking up balls. However, I do hope to see the balls to pick up the ball in a faster way next time.

3/ Some attitude I have noticed today. I don't know whether it would appear on Ernest's class. It seemed that I'm too clement and too kind to the boys, I seldom shot at them even they are not listening my words. Today, I told the boys to pick up the balls, but some still hitting or just serving. The F4 boys should show a good image, so that our younger kids like Oscar and Little Bryan can learn from you. Wahyan is a good school, our students not only learn from the textbook, but also they learn from the higher form students and the old boys. I think, it is crucial for our players to show their good image or they should be a good demonstration for the F1 boys.

I'm sorry for my poor grammar.
It seemed that I have so many demands or requests on the boys.
In my own opinion, I just feel that the coaches here are not only teaching you tennis skills, we are here to help you or to teach you the right value and goods. I hope our boys will be polite, kind and considerate men in future.

3 comments:

Raymond Ho said...

Dear Edmond

Thank you for your excellent work. We all enjoy reading your blog.

Your sessions are very popular with the team. It is great to see Chris helping out in these sessions. There is tremendous improvements by players like Oscar,Tommy, Brian, Jordan and Louvre. I have not played with Kenny, Bryan and Ivan much, but it seems to me that we could develop them further over the summer.

Let's hope for good weather and a solid performance by our team over the next week. We need to bag the 3 wins, and with the wholehearted commitment of our squad, I believe that we could do well this season.

Joseph Kee-Yin Ng said...

Edmond,

I am glad that you have kept us updated using this blog and I enjoyed reading it.

You and Ernest have trained the squad well and there are all kinds of improvements among the team members over the past few months.

I like your attitude training the boys not just for the techniques but also their discipline, confidence, and in Father Finneran's term, a GOOD MAN.

Well, it will take some time, but I believe this team of youngsters will develop and improve as they grow.

And current team members, we have yourselves two dedicated coaches and a group of Old Boys in front of you, perform and do things that make us proud of you. Afterall, we are all wahyanites and we should setup a good image, representing our school and to the general public.

Back to picking up the balls and calling the scores. While picking up the balls is a show of discipline and team spirits, the calling of the scores within the games train your confidence and focus in the games.

If you try to relate calling the score to playing your shots during the game, you will understand why you have stage frights and act shy and a lack of confident in the game. So don't be afraid, shout out the score loudly and stay focus and confident throughout the match.

The old boys and the two coaches are behind you, play your best matches on Saturday!

Joseph

Edmond, Ignatius Ip said...

Raymond, my post is only the very little things comparing with the fund. This is what I can help and do. I will do my best to help the kids!

Joseph, many thanks for your comment. I'm also so pleased that you all like reading the post. Sorry again for my bad grammar. Maybe, as you have mentioned, we hope the boys to be a GOOD MAN. Tennis is not only winning and losing. Maybe, this is the reason why I wanna be a social worker =]