Coach Albert Tennis

Hello tennis family, Im still collecting the used racquets, shoes, bags and everything and anything tennis for the kids in Ghana. Please inbox me and ill arrange to come get them.

Also if anyone is interested in sponsoring a tournament in their name/family name, please inbox me. The kids in Ghana play a total of 2 to 3 tournaments a year in the whole country and part of my agenda is to maximize tennis is whatever capacity i can and organizing tournaments is another branch of my mission.

Please keep the good coming. December is right around the corner. Thanks

These kids are waiting for me this Christmas to bring them used tennis equipment, clothes and shoes. I will be shipping the last consignment of "goodies" for them Weds Dec 2nd. I still have room for a few more racquets, shoes, balls, grips etc. If you have anything tennis you'd like to get rid off, please inbox me or email [email protected]. You can also leave anything at the front desk of Worldgate sports and health with my name on it and ill get it.
Also if anyone knows a way to get these items shipped for free or cheaper i'd really appreciate that lead/help as shipping is making me bankrupt. hehe!

Hope everyone is having a good start to their season. Here is something to help you with your matches.

TOUGHNESS

There are 3 types of toughness

1. MENTAL TOUGHNESS - This is the ability to control ones thoughts. It is defined by being able to play at our normal level under competitive pressure, basically, when the scoreboard is turned on. Take an audit and make sure you are spending part of your weekly train regimen on mental toughness training. Also look up articles online to help guide you

2. PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS - This is the ability to endure pain and discomfort when training and in competition. Im sure many of us have a story to tell on this one.Spend at least some time training yourself off the courts. Tennis has a unique rest-to-work ratio of 4-1, so make sure you are simulating the same stress on your body that it will experience when you compete. A good formula would be to train in the gym 1 hour for every 4 hours you train on the court.

3. EMOTIONAL TOUGHNESS - This is the ability to control one’s emotions and arousal levels. It requires the ability to frame the situation at hand into something positive. Examples would be… what if someone accuses you of cheating, what if someone makes a bad call against you, what if someone is annoying and cheers on your errors, what if the spectators are rude and annoying.

A good way to deal with this is to write journals. Start by recalling your most recent stressful event on the court and then write it down. Then write a plan of action detailing what you will do if it happens again. Remember, someone can cost you only a single point by making a bad call, but your reaction to it may cost you the entire match.

I hope you will give these ideas some thought and take the suggested action items to heart and try them. Good luck to you on the court and here’s to you developing in all areas of toughness.

Starting next week Monday July 21st, Coach Albert Tennis will be running a first come first served, hustle free drop-in clinic for 2.5/3.0's at 9am to 1030am at the Broadlands stone house courts. 43083 Waxpool Rd. Ashburn VA. All you need to do is email [email protected] and you will be signed up. It is going to be on a weekly basis with no commitments. The fee will be $20 per session. Max of 6 people per session. See you on the court!

Hello Family, its been a while.. Started my summer camp for my high performance kids and its been great.. Pictures coming soon.

Here is a quick tip for you on doubles. Hope it helps you on the court.

The Forbidden Shot!

Never let a ball go down the middle of the court without someone putting a racquet on it. Anytime the ball is hit wide, I instruct my teams that both tennis players must flow in the direction of the ball with the ball side covering the alley and the tennis partner overplaying the middle.

Do not let them have an open shot down the middle. If the opponents win the point with a great crosscourt angled shot fine, but my teams are in big trouble if the winning shot went down the middle unmolested.

Happy 28th birthday to Maryam Ali McShea. Have a swirl birthday.

Happy 33rd birthday to Kerry Hoffmann Smith. Lol! Enjoy your day!

3 SHOTS YOU NEED FOR DOUBLES

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that people fail in their quest to play great doubles is that they have the wrong shots.

There are certain shots I often see people trying to hit when they play doubles that are just not the best shots they could play.

And maybe worse still, they spend a whole load of time (and money) trying to improve those shots.

If your only objective is to play winning doubles, then here are three shots you need to put time into developing and improving versus some shots you don't need the extra time to improve.

You Don't Need a Big Serve

The biggest problem with the big fast serve is this: It reduces the time you have to get ready for the return.

Players on the receiving end of your serve also get the chance to block or tee off at the ball, using the pace you've given them and often without having to move their feet. They retain their court position and are ready to play another shot if they need to.

Yes, if you are playing a pair of a much lesser standard and you already have a big flat serve, then great. But if you don't already have full command over a big serve, then concentrate on the opposite option.

You Do Need a Good Spin Serve

A good spin serve does everything a hard flat serve can't. It gives you more time to get in to the net or ready for the next shot (hopefully a volley).

It doesn't give the returner as much pace to work with, and if it's a good slice or kick, it will force them to move.

If it's good enough, then a weak return is always the result of a player forced to move their feet when off balance and will bring your partner in to play -- more often than not, to poach. It also opens up more gaps on the court for you to exploit (as your opponents have to move to get the ball).

If you watched Roger Federer win the Gold medal at the last Olympics, you would have seen him serving for placement not power most of the time.

You Don't Need Topspin Groundstrokes

This is a funny one because this is a shot you definitely need for singles.

But for doubles, the concept of hitting high looping shots from the back of the court is a no-no. Here's why: Shots traveling deep to the back of the court with topspin become a nice easy volley either for the opposite net player, who can poach it, or for the oncoming volleyer.

If you possess a sharply dipping topspin shot that you can angle or put at the feet of the opposition, then you are OK. But if all you have is the singles-like groundstroke, then you are in trouble.

Also, if you can't get the ball to dip at the feet of an oncoming player you will only be presenting them with a volley or mid-court ball that they can hit on the rise and make life difficult for you.

You also need to consider whether the extreme grips often used for topspin groundstrokes may give you a problem when and if you need to change grips when coming to the net to volley or half volley.

Watch this space for another one on 3 things YOU DEFINITELY NEED FOR DOUBLES

Thanks to you my biggest cheerleaders for liking my page.. Watch this space for fun and interesting things.. I really appreciate all the love.