15-May-2008 Thursday Report

Not too many kids today, Bryan, Kelvin, Kenny, Ivan, Tommy and Nicholas.

Simple hand feed drills again.
The reason why we do these hand feed drills is to train our kids' footwork.
You must know, many of them have "heavy legs", even some of the higher form players.

In the drill, they have to be ready every second and them rush to get the ball. After hitting the ball, they have to recover back to the middle of the court. Moreover, in the hand feed drill, I could see their form and the back swing easily.

Kenny did a good job, I bet his footwork is the best among the kids. He also told me that he had joined HKTA's TG which I act as assistant at GAP. I'm sure that Kenny had tried his best in tennis, he's now far better than I saw him last year. Kenny's form and the strokes are more mature than few months ago, that's why I'm sure he had tried very hard and had practiced for a long time. In long run and with his good behavior and manner, he would be our team crucial player.

Ivan, tried hard in the drill.
But, I wonder his form and strokes are not that good as others. You know, in every single shot, including groundstokes and service, he's hitting the ball in 45 degree with his body... I don't know how to describe to you...

Ivan is extremely consistent, but he have to be focused more on his form, should be in a more correct way and balanced in order to be a powerful player in long run. Otherwise, he would be the "old-man-style" tennis in wahyan.

Some volleys.

The F1 boys tried the best and giving good form of volleys even their shots are not powerful.

Nicholas' volley is the best, I bet.
His shots are crispy and deep. Even I hit a very powerful shot, he could return the ball with his crispy volley. Moreover, he got a good ready position and footwork at the net.

Tommy was great, too.
But, some of the shots are weak and too short, not threatening the opponent.

Some game about the approach shots and volleys.
Many did well.

Service.
Some of them complained that their service is not that powerful.
I have the same experience when I coached at the gap.
I'm not saying that powerful shots are useless, but I think more important is the consistence of the serve instead of the power.
In the professional match, many of the double players' serve are not too powerful but instead of spinful.
All of you know that Tommy had the powerful serve, but you know the probability of his serve in is quite low in real match... Moreover, even if his powerful serve is in, the opponent can only push back the ball easily. However, I believe the kick serve or the spin serve is more threaten that a flat serve. In my own experience, I feel hard when my head coach Matt serve with his kick serve, but I could push back easily with his powerful flat serve.

Maybe, the powerful flat serve is cool, just like when you go to Hong Kong tennis centre, many of the foreign coach serving so fast! But, hong kong people are that muscular to have that great powerful serve.

I will try my best to teach some more spin serve later.
One more thing, Ivan still serving with his wrong position and stance...

This is a so good lesson.
All of them did well.
By the way, some of the are missed some very fundamental technique or skills like the very simple stances, the back swing, etc. What we have to focus and teach are not only the double tactic, but also some very simple fundamental things like footworks and forms.

We will have our next lesson at 1:30pm next Thursday.

Ernest, do you where are the cones and target?
I found no targets at the store room.