Many thanks to all the old boys and the Fund for holding the big event for the kids.
Here is the link of all todays' photo of my camera, I may miss some photos which Simon and Joseph had captured. If you want a copy of CD of the photo, please feel free to leave a comment here.
Joseph, I will burn a copy of the photos in DVD and give Ernest, he will pass to you later.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gl4355/200801132ndFinneranCup
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Thursday Practice Report (10-Jan-2008)
Today, we got many kids and we had two special guests.
Tommy, Oscar, Jordan, Chris, Brian and Nicholas.
Covan and Cheung Sir joined us for a few training.
I brought a basket of new tennis today.
Many of them felt happy with playing new balls.
It is a fact that our challange is coming!
We first had some warm-ups.
Covan warmed up with Nichoals, I bet Nicholas must learnt a lot from him.
Tommy did some rally with Chris Wong. Both of them are consistent.
However, some kids ran to kick soccer and skipped some training.
I know, some of them were enthusiastic about soccer, but I bet training is more important than the fun.
Anyway, I think they have learnt at the end.
I fed some shots for Nicholas, Tommy and Cheung Sir, hitting a powerful shot to the net player, Chris Wong.
Chris got a firm volley, but he's still afraid of being a net player.
Cheung Sir hit many killer shots which made Chris feared.
Nicholas and Tommy were not that consistant, but they are very Topspin players.
One more drill for the baseline and volley players.
3 vs. 3.
Oscar and Jordan were back from the soccer field.
Jordan, Oscar and Tommy were the same team, played against Nicholas, Brian and Cheung Sir.
Jordan and Oscar were extremely inconsistent! They claimed that they didn't warm up yet! They hit to the net or out every shots! For the first set, they lost.
They got a punishment: suicide---touching the lines in the court.
Next, the second set, Brian left.
3 vs. 2.
Cheung Sir was great, hitting many powerful forehand shot which threatening the three kids.
Nicholas also did a good job, hitting the ball consistenly in the court.
However, the three kids still in their dark side... lost the game...
Service.
I'm afraid some of them would get many double fault in the Finneran Cup, the coming Sunday.
I told them to serve 30 balls in.
They served and served.
Oscar and Tommy seemed to be consistent.
Nicholas's serve got too much topspin.
After the 30 balls, we got the volley drill.
Some major errors: too much back swing, contact the ball too late or too early...
The net game of the kids should be focus more, right?
At the end of the training, a double.
Tommy and Jordan played against Oscar and Nicholas.
In the game, I found that many of them couldn't serve good... In other words, double faults.
I were disappointed by their service...
Ernest, next time, please focus on their serve...
Tommy was great, he tried intercept and hit some killer volleys. I do think that he is the only one improved in the net game.
However, all of them should be more and more consistent, in order to beat Simon and Raymond and all the old boys.
CONSISTENCE is a MUST!!!!!
Anyway, a good match for both of them.
What they need is the experience of playing tournament outside wahyan, which they will develop better in psychological views.
Ernest, I got some forms of the Lion Club. I will bring all of the form on coming Sunday. Some of kids had already filled in. One more thing, it is a fact that the lost of the tennis ball in wahyan is absolutely horrible! I lost at leat two can of balls today!!
Pray for the good weather on coming Sunday.
I hope the boys would practice more and be more consistent.
Tommy, Oscar, Jordan, Chris, Brian and Nicholas.
Covan and Cheung Sir joined us for a few training.
I brought a basket of new tennis today.
Many of them felt happy with playing new balls.
It is a fact that our challange is coming!
We first had some warm-ups.
Covan warmed up with Nichoals, I bet Nicholas must learnt a lot from him.
Tommy did some rally with Chris Wong. Both of them are consistent.
However, some kids ran to kick soccer and skipped some training.
I know, some of them were enthusiastic about soccer, but I bet training is more important than the fun.
Anyway, I think they have learnt at the end.
I fed some shots for Nicholas, Tommy and Cheung Sir, hitting a powerful shot to the net player, Chris Wong.
Chris got a firm volley, but he's still afraid of being a net player.
Cheung Sir hit many killer shots which made Chris feared.
Nicholas and Tommy were not that consistant, but they are very Topspin players.
One more drill for the baseline and volley players.
3 vs. 3.
Oscar and Jordan were back from the soccer field.
Jordan, Oscar and Tommy were the same team, played against Nicholas, Brian and Cheung Sir.
Jordan and Oscar were extremely inconsistent! They claimed that they didn't warm up yet! They hit to the net or out every shots! For the first set, they lost.
They got a punishment: suicide---touching the lines in the court.
Next, the second set, Brian left.
3 vs. 2.
Cheung Sir was great, hitting many powerful forehand shot which threatening the three kids.
Nicholas also did a good job, hitting the ball consistenly in the court.
However, the three kids still in their dark side... lost the game...
Service.
I'm afraid some of them would get many double fault in the Finneran Cup, the coming Sunday.
I told them to serve 30 balls in.
They served and served.
Oscar and Tommy seemed to be consistent.
Nicholas's serve got too much topspin.
After the 30 balls, we got the volley drill.
Some major errors: too much back swing, contact the ball too late or too early...
The net game of the kids should be focus more, right?
At the end of the training, a double.
Tommy and Jordan played against Oscar and Nicholas.
In the game, I found that many of them couldn't serve good... In other words, double faults.
I were disappointed by their service...
Ernest, next time, please focus on their serve...
Tommy was great, he tried intercept and hit some killer volleys. I do think that he is the only one improved in the net game.
However, all of them should be more and more consistent, in order to beat Simon and Raymond and all the old boys.
CONSISTENCE is a MUST!!!!!
Anyway, a good match for both of them.
What they need is the experience of playing tournament outside wahyan, which they will develop better in psychological views.
Ernest, I got some forms of the Lion Club. I will bring all of the form on coming Sunday. Some of kids had already filled in. One more thing, it is a fact that the lost of the tennis ball in wahyan is absolutely horrible! I lost at leat two can of balls today!!
Pray for the good weather on coming Sunday.
I hope the boys would practice more and be more consistent.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy New year, the 1st training of 2008 (2-Jan-2008)
Happy New Year!
Today, we had our first training in the 2008.
We started at 10am.
I arrived the court at 9:30am, then Tommy and Louvre came.
I gave them some individual practice.
Tommy on his backhand slide and Louvre on his forehand.
Tommy didn't know how to slide, but after couple of baskets, he could hit a down the line backhand slide. Louvre, tried his best... but I hope he could work harder on his footwork.
Later, Jordan, Oscar and Calvin came.
We had the very usual forehand and backhand warm up.
At about 10:30am, our wahyan Federer---Barry joined us.
Chasing forehand shot..
I found that most of the boys had lazy legs!
So, I decided to have the 3-court-chasing game just as our last training.
On our last training, we had the 2-court chasing game. But now we had the 3-court chasing game. It is a fact that running 3 courts is hard for our boys. They first hit a volley, and then dash very quickly to our third court and rally the ball to Barry. (* Barry gets injury of his leg, so I don't want him to run too much) Most of the boys did better than the last time.
Boys were tired, but I believed this is the most effective way to train their stamina.
I hope, at last, we can have a 4-court chasing game.
Next, we had our funny game: 3 vs. 3.
Louvre, Tommy and Calvin VS. Barry, Jordan, Oscar.
Tommy was great, hitting many powerful shots.
Louvre at the end calm himself down, hitting more consistent shots.
Jordan and Barry made some mistakes on the net game.
Service.
King of the court.
I think this is the first time to play the king of the court in wahyan.
Unpreditable, Louvre beated Barry and be the king.
Oscar, Tommy had become the king once.
Good play.
A double match: Louvre and Barry played against Calvin and Tommy.
At about 12:30pm, I joined with them and hit with Barry and Tommy.
A good day.
This time, I would like to write some of my feeling and some comment on some of our boys:
Tommy
I found that he played the best in today's training. He had the very powerful backhand and backhand, of course, he is also the service killer. He aced twice today. I bet, he had improved a lot in these few lessons, basically on his consistence and the baseline shots. By the way, his net game is not that good, and the room of improvement is large.
Barry
He told me that he didn't play well in the trip of Ernest's house. I see, he just like Chris: after taking a very long break, Chris would not play well and have to practice many many time in order to recover. But, his volley is still his killer shots, threatening any of the boys in the team. If he practice more, he would come back. Maybe, let's wish Barry to have flying colours of his CE result, and come back next year!
Louvre
Unpredictable again. If Louvre calm himself down, he will have better performance. He always wants to beat the opponent in one shot, but as you know, when you get older, you would never score a point by winning a killer shot. Consistence is a must in any games, double or single. Once he is consistent, he would win the game! So, Louvre, just be patient and consistent!
Oscar
What are you doing today? Some of the boys couldn't concentrate.... Some focus on footwork... You know, the challenge is coming, the inter school would start on March! Please keep yourselves ready and be tuned!!
This is the end of the report.
A good training, as many of them tried best and did a good job.
Ernest, many thanks to you. I think the trip to your house make our the team united, and the most important thing is--- Tommy TALKED more today!!! which is my first time hearing he spoke too much!
Thanks God.
Today, we had our first training in the 2008.
We started at 10am.
I arrived the court at 9:30am, then Tommy and Louvre came.
I gave them some individual practice.
Tommy on his backhand slide and Louvre on his forehand.
Tommy didn't know how to slide, but after couple of baskets, he could hit a down the line backhand slide. Louvre, tried his best... but I hope he could work harder on his footwork.
Later, Jordan, Oscar and Calvin came.
We had the very usual forehand and backhand warm up.
At about 10:30am, our wahyan Federer---Barry joined us.
Chasing forehand shot..
I found that most of the boys had lazy legs!
So, I decided to have the 3-court-chasing game just as our last training.
On our last training, we had the 2-court chasing game. But now we had the 3-court chasing game. It is a fact that running 3 courts is hard for our boys. They first hit a volley, and then dash very quickly to our third court and rally the ball to Barry. (* Barry gets injury of his leg, so I don't want him to run too much) Most of the boys did better than the last time.
Boys were tired, but I believed this is the most effective way to train their stamina.
I hope, at last, we can have a 4-court chasing game.
Next, we had our funny game: 3 vs. 3.
Louvre, Tommy and Calvin VS. Barry, Jordan, Oscar.
Tommy was great, hitting many powerful shots.
Louvre at the end calm himself down, hitting more consistent shots.
Jordan and Barry made some mistakes on the net game.
Service.
King of the court.
I think this is the first time to play the king of the court in wahyan.
Unpreditable, Louvre beated Barry and be the king.
Oscar, Tommy had become the king once.
Good play.
A double match: Louvre and Barry played against Calvin and Tommy.
At about 12:30pm, I joined with them and hit with Barry and Tommy.
A good day.
This time, I would like to write some of my feeling and some comment on some of our boys:
Tommy
I found that he played the best in today's training. He had the very powerful backhand and backhand, of course, he is also the service killer. He aced twice today. I bet, he had improved a lot in these few lessons, basically on his consistence and the baseline shots. By the way, his net game is not that good, and the room of improvement is large.
Barry
He told me that he didn't play well in the trip of Ernest's house. I see, he just like Chris: after taking a very long break, Chris would not play well and have to practice many many time in order to recover. But, his volley is still his killer shots, threatening any of the boys in the team. If he practice more, he would come back. Maybe, let's wish Barry to have flying colours of his CE result, and come back next year!
Louvre
Unpredictable again. If Louvre calm himself down, he will have better performance. He always wants to beat the opponent in one shot, but as you know, when you get older, you would never score a point by winning a killer shot. Consistence is a must in any games, double or single. Once he is consistent, he would win the game! So, Louvre, just be patient and consistent!
Oscar
What are you doing today? Some of the boys couldn't concentrate.... Some focus on footwork... You know, the challenge is coming, the inter school would start on March! Please keep yourselves ready and be tuned!!
This is the end of the report.
A good training, as many of them tried best and did a good job.
Ernest, many thanks to you. I think the trip to your house make our the team united, and the most important thing is--- Tommy TALKED more today!!! which is my first time hearing he spoke too much!
Thanks God.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thursday Practice Report (27-Dec-2007)
This is my first training session after the examination.
Today, our training started on 10am.
I arrived the court at 9:45am.
We got so many kids: Tommy, Oscar, Louvre, Brian, Boris, Jordan and our big guest Sam.
I invited Sam to join our training today, as I hope he can rally or play with them, in order to help with the kids.
We first had some warm ups.
Then, we back to our normal practice.
The first drill we did is the ball chasing exercise. Sam and I be the net players and others had to chase the wide ball to hit a forehand. Some did well in the drill. Tommy and Jordan tried their best. Sam and I both agree that Oscar did the best.
What's next, we had the "super chasing ball game".
This is the drill I learnt in HKTA's talenT Group. We had to use two courts for the drill( probably I would try to use three courts next time). We started at the first court, and Sam standed at the second court. They lined up on the first court, hitting a volley shot first. Then, I feed a very high ball to the second court, they had to chase from the first cout to the second court.
This is a very tough drill, they had to RUN!
Most of them didn't get the ball at their first few times. Tommy chased the ball at his first try, I can get the ball but didn't hit it... After some shots of practicing, all of them did better. Boris did a good job.
Next, we had the approach shot exercise as usual.
This is a very important drill for them, I bet. As many of the kids can't hit a short ball, such as the approach shot. Once they hit the short ball and move to the net, they always forget to be ready at the net. We had this drill just like our past experience.
Many of the hit the approach to the net. However, Tommy did better at the end, his volleys improved. Louvre also had some unpredictible shots, which makes Sam feared.
Service and one more game.
The game is "3-kings one side".
Two net game players and on baseline. Others line up at the opposite side.
If any of the kings lose the point, other would come to replace him. So that, it is a very fast and exciting game. The aim of the game is to let the boys learn how to recover in the court. Recovering in a double match is extremely important. Once your partner move a bit left, you had to recover some of his place in the court.
At the very begining, they are awful.
No one recover others place.
However, after talking to them, some learnt recovering.
I hope they earn something in the game.
Lastly, double and single.
Sam + Tommy vs. Jordan + Boris
Louvre vs. Brian
Next, I paired with Boris and played against Tommy and Sam.
This is a very good day.
Boys played well.
I'm so pleased to see our boys improved!
Today, our training started on 10am.
I arrived the court at 9:45am.
We got so many kids: Tommy, Oscar, Louvre, Brian, Boris, Jordan and our big guest Sam.
I invited Sam to join our training today, as I hope he can rally or play with them, in order to help with the kids.
We first had some warm ups.
Then, we back to our normal practice.
The first drill we did is the ball chasing exercise. Sam and I be the net players and others had to chase the wide ball to hit a forehand. Some did well in the drill. Tommy and Jordan tried their best. Sam and I both agree that Oscar did the best.
What's next, we had the "super chasing ball game".
This is the drill I learnt in HKTA's talenT Group. We had to use two courts for the drill( probably I would try to use three courts next time). We started at the first court, and Sam standed at the second court. They lined up on the first court, hitting a volley shot first. Then, I feed a very high ball to the second court, they had to chase from the first cout to the second court.
This is a very tough drill, they had to RUN!
Most of them didn't get the ball at their first few times. Tommy chased the ball at his first try, I can get the ball but didn't hit it... After some shots of practicing, all of them did better. Boris did a good job.
Next, we had the approach shot exercise as usual.
This is a very important drill for them, I bet. As many of the kids can't hit a short ball, such as the approach shot. Once they hit the short ball and move to the net, they always forget to be ready at the net. We had this drill just like our past experience.
Many of the hit the approach to the net. However, Tommy did better at the end, his volleys improved. Louvre also had some unpredictible shots, which makes Sam feared.
Service and one more game.
The game is "3-kings one side".
Two net game players and on baseline. Others line up at the opposite side.
If any of the kings lose the point, other would come to replace him. So that, it is a very fast and exciting game. The aim of the game is to let the boys learn how to recover in the court. Recovering in a double match is extremely important. Once your partner move a bit left, you had to recover some of his place in the court.
At the very begining, they are awful.
No one recover others place.
However, after talking to them, some learnt recovering.
I hope they earn something in the game.
Lastly, double and single.
Sam + Tommy vs. Jordan + Boris
Louvre vs. Brian
Next, I paired with Boris and played against Tommy and Sam.
This is a very good day.
Boys played well.
I'm so pleased to see our boys improved!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Finneran Cup on 13 January 2008.
Dear Edmond and ALL
Thanks for the update. I saw Oscar played last week and he certainly improved a lot. He had a Singles with Barry and I think Barry took revenge for an earlier loss.
Tommy was playing well. He was more consistent with his groundstrokes. Ernest was working with him on his kick serve, and tried to slow down the pace of his serve to gain consistency.
Ernest also mentioned that he would be transferring some of the Form one elites to join your group. It is a very good idea.
The Old Boys are training hard for the Finneran Cup. If Covan returns to play for the Old Boys, perhaps the coaches should play for the WYK Tennis Team. The Finneran Cup will be held on 13 January 2008 (Sunday) at 2 pm. Please circulate the news among your team mates and teachers. Could someone let Mr and Mrs Zhang Ping know about this? I have already informed Mr WC Tang. If there is popular demand, we could start even earlier with some singles in the morning!!
Good luck with the exams. Whoever (in the tennis team) found to have the worst rankings in their Xmas exams will need to do 5 laps of the concrete soccer pitch. We should reward those who do well in their exams too.
Let's resume tennis training on 22 December 2007
Cheers
Raymond
Thanks for the update. I saw Oscar played last week and he certainly improved a lot. He had a Singles with Barry and I think Barry took revenge for an earlier loss.
Tommy was playing well. He was more consistent with his groundstrokes. Ernest was working with him on his kick serve, and tried to slow down the pace of his serve to gain consistency.
Ernest also mentioned that he would be transferring some of the Form one elites to join your group. It is a very good idea.
The Old Boys are training hard for the Finneran Cup. If Covan returns to play for the Old Boys, perhaps the coaches should play for the WYK Tennis Team. The Finneran Cup will be held on 13 January 2008 (Sunday) at 2 pm. Please circulate the news among your team mates and teachers. Could someone let Mr and Mrs Zhang Ping know about this? I have already informed Mr WC Tang. If there is popular demand, we could start even earlier with some singles in the morning!!
Good luck with the exams. Whoever (in the tennis team) found to have the worst rankings in their Xmas exams will need to do 5 laps of the concrete soccer pitch. We should reward those who do well in their exams too.
Let's resume tennis training on 22 December 2007
Cheers
Raymond
Thursday, December 6, 2007
6-Dec-2007
I' m really sorry that I've not updated the blog for a long long time. I'm so busy in November, because I got some many projects and presentations....=[
Here comes to the review of the training.
In the past couple of lessons, we focused on the doubles tactics.
We had some very basic strokes like forehand, backhand and some powerful shots.
Tommy and Oscar showed full attandance in my training session.
Tommy showed some improvement but he's still not that consistent.
Oscar improved a lot and he became a better player.
We had a double tactic.
I tought them some return and volleys in the doubles tactic.
Some learnt the intercepting of the return shots.
Boys' net game were still awful, only Oscar showed better volleys.
We had singles today.
I played against Oscar, while Tommy played against Ivan.
Oscar was great, he showed a good player in the game: powerful and stable serve. I had to play very tough to beat him. Oscar improved a lot!! He becomes more powerful and consistent.
I bet, he would be our top players in next few years!
We would bring the kids to watch the JB Group Classic 2008 on 2nd of January (Wednesday). It would be a good chance for them to learn and see the professional Ladies players lively.
We are now preparing for the Finneran Cup, Raymond, How do the old boys prepare? I know Covan would come back and help the old boys, it would be a very tough match.
Next, probably we would have one more friendly match in the December, the christmas holiday, play against the POLY-U. I would try my best to organize the friendly match.
Good luck for your examination, boys!
Here comes to the review of the training.
In the past couple of lessons, we focused on the doubles tactics.
We had some very basic strokes like forehand, backhand and some powerful shots.
Tommy and Oscar showed full attandance in my training session.
Tommy showed some improvement but he's still not that consistent.
Oscar improved a lot and he became a better player.
We had a double tactic.
I tought them some return and volleys in the doubles tactic.
Some learnt the intercepting of the return shots.
Boys' net game were still awful, only Oscar showed better volleys.
We had singles today.
I played against Oscar, while Tommy played against Ivan.
Oscar was great, he showed a good player in the game: powerful and stable serve. I had to play very tough to beat him. Oscar improved a lot!! He becomes more powerful and consistent.
I bet, he would be our top players in next few years!
We would bring the kids to watch the JB Group Classic 2008 on 2nd of January (Wednesday). It would be a good chance for them to learn and see the professional Ladies players lively.
We are now preparing for the Finneran Cup, Raymond, How do the old boys prepare? I know Covan would come back and help the old boys, it would be a very tough match.
Next, probably we would have one more friendly match in the December, the christmas holiday, play against the POLY-U. I would try my best to organize the friendly match.
Good luck for your examination, boys!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Thursday Report ( 8-Nov-2007)
Arrived the court at about 3pm, no one were in the courts but I saw two boys wearing PE clothes were playing in the court. I bet that they were F2 only...
We are so pleased that the old boys and wahyan did many effort to raise the interest of tennis in wahyan students, especially the lower form students.
We had already did a good job!
Many boys came for the training: because they will have to play against the French International school, the most threatening team in our group.
Barry and Boris came for fifteen minutes, while Oscar, Tommy, Brian, Chris, Nicholas and one more new face --- Justin joined for the whole session of the training.
I'm so sorry of my voice today.
I couldn't speak too loud and I couldn't shout at all.
We focused on some very basic strokes like backhand, forehand, net games.
We then served. I found that Oscar and Tommy had improved their serves.
Oscar had more powerful serve, while Tommy had a bit more consistent serve.
Oscar, Tommy, Brian and Nicholas had a double.
I worked with Chris.
I asked him which strokes he wanted to improve or to be worked on. He simply told me that his backhand should have been concentrated more. I found that he cannot hit a backhand cross-court as his steps his right feet to the very left, which makes him couldn't turn his shoulder and hit a widen angle of cross-court. One more thing, his arms were too straight when hitting the two hands backhand.
Lastly, Chris and me played a double with Tommy and Oscar till we can't see the ball in the dark.
All in all, a good training today.
But if my throat gets better, I should have taught some more drills for them.
Fighting!
Work hard and have luck on Saturday!
I'm sorry I wouldn't come to support, but I would call you at the end of the match.
Pray for the wahyan boys.
Boys, go to bed early on Friday night!!
We are so pleased that the old boys and wahyan did many effort to raise the interest of tennis in wahyan students, especially the lower form students.
We had already did a good job!
Many boys came for the training: because they will have to play against the French International school, the most threatening team in our group.
Barry and Boris came for fifteen minutes, while Oscar, Tommy, Brian, Chris, Nicholas and one more new face --- Justin joined for the whole session of the training.
I'm so sorry of my voice today.
I couldn't speak too loud and I couldn't shout at all.
We focused on some very basic strokes like backhand, forehand, net games.
We then served. I found that Oscar and Tommy had improved their serves.
Oscar had more powerful serve, while Tommy had a bit more consistent serve.
Oscar, Tommy, Brian and Nicholas had a double.
I worked with Chris.
I asked him which strokes he wanted to improve or to be worked on. He simply told me that his backhand should have been concentrated more. I found that he cannot hit a backhand cross-court as his steps his right feet to the very left, which makes him couldn't turn his shoulder and hit a widen angle of cross-court. One more thing, his arms were too straight when hitting the two hands backhand.
Lastly, Chris and me played a double with Tommy and Oscar till we can't see the ball in the dark.
All in all, a good training today.
But if my throat gets better, I should have taught some more drills for them.
Fighting!
Work hard and have luck on Saturday!
I'm sorry I wouldn't come to support, but I would call you at the end of the match.
Pray for the wahyan boys.
Boys, go to bed early on Friday night!!
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