NISD TENNIS Inside the Windscreens September 11, 2017 Welcome to our Tennis Sanctuary Score Updates by Chelsea Horan Summer is officially over, the good ole golden rule days have begun, and while things may have seemed to settle down from the summer camp craze around here, we encounter different tasks now. We always anticipate for the summer to be the time where players will typically improve or go into a bit of rut. An important lesson about tennis is that, just like in other areas of life you sometimes must break something down in order to build it back up. Going through a down phase is not always a bad thing, we encourage players to step out of their box and use the amount of time they have in the summer to make the changes they need and be willing to sacrifice short term results for the long term results. An example of this would be if we have a player who does not have a strong backhand in their game, basically all they can do is push the ball back in play, the ball does go in, it s just not an actual weapon. We use the 6-7 hours of tennis a day, to spend time eradicating certain technical errors on that backhand, which does mean players have to try something new, and this leads to more errors and lack of confidence in the backhand for a period of time. After continuous repetition and discipline on making the proper changes players will not only improve on that certain stroke but they will gain confidence from overcoming such challenge. The summer time is a big tournament hub, as well as training hub, so we use the summer to step back from focusing on the results of these tournaments and focus on how can we improve this player s technical or strategical game for the long run? As opposed to being semi-successful now? This time can be often frustrating, slow moving, sometimes ego-crushing, challenging, yet rewarding. We saw players this summer who were willing to make such sacrifices, and we got to watch their games sore, faster than what they expected possibly. We as coaches will feel the wear and tear of the summer time camps and work, but the appreciation we get out of seeing these players making the decision to come out to train 6-8 hours a day in 110 degrees is immense. We hope to see the players put everything they have learned and improved on from the summer into play in the tournaments coming up in the fall. We now enter into the Fall High School Team Tennis season which is always so exciting to watch how everyone comes together whether they are on the same team or not, they know and respect one another at every match up and every practice. Check out our calendars and come out to enjoy some team tennis matches! 1
Mental Toughness by Raul Garza It is equally important to know your weaknesses as much as knowing your strengths. Being aware of your weaknesses is more crucial than we believe. Not knowing your weaknesses might keep you from reaching your full potential. Acknowledging your weaknesses is of vital importance since these are areas that you have the power to improve. Concentrating on your strengths is about looking for opportunities. If you are looking for a positive way to focus your energy and have an optimal way to train you should follow this tips. When a competition date is getting closer, instead of focusing on the negatives, focus your energy on the things that you are good at (Strengths). Concentrating on things that you are weak at minimizes your self-confidence, enthusiasm and overall performance. Therefore, you should work on your weaknesses when you have enough time to improve that specific area of your game as well as regaining your self-confidence. Having said that, acknowledging your strengths or weaknesses is dependent upon timing of competition, having the mental discipline to distinguish this timing difference can be key to your personal growth. Academy Updates The Northside Tennis Center and Annemarie Tennis Center will start after school programs backup on Wednesday, September 6th. Quickstart Programs will begin at 5:30 to 6:30 pm, Intermediate and Elite programs will begin at 6:00-8:00 pm on the days indicated on the calendar. You can access our monthly calendars at https://nisd.net/athletics/tennis, look for the Afterschool Academy times and days that are highlighted on the calendars. Our latest updates include what our summer camps looked like. Each facility had anywhere from 40-70+ players pouring in each day of summer camp. There were players who attended the entire summer from the start date of June 5th to the end date of July 28th, with the exception of a couple of much needed rest days. We saw some high temperatures out here of 100+ Degrees and had zero rain days. The players we saw coming out day in and day out experienced some dramatic improvement, not by the hand of the academy, but by their own dedication 2
Louie s Corner by Luis Hernandez Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope you all had an amazing summer full of fun and unforgettable memories. With that being said, let s keep the fun rolling with some exciting and easy workouts we can do together to get back into the swing of things. Remember, before you do these exercises I would recommend you work on the basic dynamics for at least five minutes. All you need is a watch or stopwatch and an enthusiastic mindset. Now, let s get started with these activities! First, start by lining up on the doubles sideline. Begin to sprint to the other doubles sideline and back, making one rep; finishing with three reps without pausing or stopping. If possible, try to do your sprints under a minute. Continue this workout with jumping jacks for one complete minute. Next, you will continue with fifty squats, making sure you have good posture and technique. Finally, you will finish off by getting on all fours and beginning to do mountain climbers for one last minute. Completing one set, repeat from the beginning. Once you have completed two sets, give yourself a pat on the back because you have survived your workout with Coach Louie! P.S. Do not forget at the end of every workout to stretch and stay hydrated! Brien s Baseline by Brien Galon September is upon us, that means it s time for the US Open to start!! With heavy favorites such as Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, and Andy Murray out with injuries we could see some of the rising stars breakout and make a run! The newly ranked number one player in the world, Rafa Nadal could play Roger Federer in the semifinals, with the other semifinal having the 2014 champion Marin Cilic matching up with Alex Zverev. This is my favorite Grand Slam to watch as we always see a few American s feeding off the energy and making a deep run, I personally have high hopes for Francis Tiafoe, Jack Sock, and Sam Querrey! It will be a fun 2 weeks of tennis under the lights, don t forget to tune into the Tennis Channel and ESPN 2 every night now until September the 10 th! 3
Players of the Summer This Award is going out to the players who showed the most dedication, drive, heart, positivity, and even improvement throughout the summer camps. Congratulations! NTC: Taylor Nichols ATC: Nidhi Patel Chelsea s Challenge by Chelsea Horan Time management Now that school has started back up and everyone is trying to juggle making the grades, being an asset to their teams, playing USTA tournaments, social life and family time. We all want to be good at all these things and think we can do it all on our own, but the reality is that this is a hard goal to set and accomplish. Start off by making yourself a list of 10 things you find important to you to accomplish, get better at, or keep up for the next 9 months. After making this list, take 5 things out of that list you want to be GREAT at. Lastly on that list of 5 number those list of 5 things in order of priority. Whether tennis is included in this top 5 or not, it s important to define to yourself what you find most important or what you recognize you need the most improvement in. From here on out, use an agenda or planner of some sort and set yourself little goals on each day of the week (doing this one day or week at a time) such as: compliment 3 people today, tell someone thank you, improve mile time, hit 100 backhands, zero complaining today, etc You can use little goals like this, just one per day. Along with these little goals write down on each day on your agenda the things you can get done that day, this will include homework, reading a book, working out, practicing (whatever it is you do), down time, and social time. Some days you will have to skip some of these things and that s OK, take each task one at a time, practice becoming proactive, being efficient, quality over quantity, and above all doing every task with a happy heart and with all your ability. Have a great semester guys! 4
Drills with Nik-OH by Niko Sanchez We are going to work on our return game; this is one of the biggest shots in tennis because right after the serve comes the return. When we are getting ready to return it is very important that we start in our ready position and we are on our toes. We should have our dominant hand on the forehand grip and our non-dominant hand on the back hand grip. Reasoning of why is because it will make it easier for the shoulder turn. You are going to need a partner to serve the balls at you the servers only need to be at the service line. As a returner we want to stay low in a nice athletic position, when we are going through this drill key points are to stay low, and have a short swing pattern also have a vertical swing to your target. Let s get to the drill; we as returners are going to be at the baseline with our right foot near the singles line and our left foot a little behind the right, shoulder width apart. We want to be on our toes so we can explode to the ball; your partner will be serving to the deuce side as soon as you see them about to hit the ball split step moving forward towards the ball. We want to get the racket lower than the ball so we are able to strike up on the ball that goes for the backhand as well as forehand. We are going to hit the ball Cross Court past the service line this is a higher percentage shot that we are trying to develop for our returning game. As soon as we return the ball we should be back on our toes for the next ball. 5
Coach of the Summer This recognition goes out to the seasonal coach who demonstrated maturity, responsibility, positive energy, commitment to the players first, readiness for work, and a drive to better themselves as a coach. NTC: Matt Jones ATC: Luis Valdez High School Tennis Updates Silver Tournament Results Champions - Tompkins High School Finalists - Abilene High School Gold Tournament *Canceled due to the inclement weather conditions.* 3rd Place - Health Careers High School (NISD) 4th Place - Johnson High School 6
Contact Information Northside Tennis Center 12045 Leslie Rd Helotes, TX 78023 210-398-1800 Contact through Email: Jay Govan: jay.govan@nisd.net Chelsea Horan: chelsea.horan@nisd.net Brien Galon: brien.galon@nisd.net Annemarie Tennis Center 7001 Culebra Rd San Antonio, Tx 78238 210-397-7592 Contact through Email: Raul Garza: raul.garza@nisd.net Niko Sanchez: nikolas.sanchez@nisd.net Luis Hernandez : luis.hernandez@nisd.net 7
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