Miguel Cicenia Núnez

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1️⃣ 🏹 bow shape
“Stack your power line”
No broken chains. Back knee → hip → shoulder in one line.
Think “bow shape” as you hit trophy position.
✅ Feel: Back glute + quad turn on
❌ Avoid: Breaking at the waist or overarching

2️⃣ Back foot awareness
“Load the spring”
Your back leg is the rocket. Load it to use it.
Feel pressure on the inside ball of back foot, then drive UP + out.
✅ Cues: “Screw the back foot in” “Push the court down”
❌ Avoid: Jumping only off the front foot

3️⃣ Smooth and balanced
“Power needs rhythm”
Water drill for a smooth entry Into Trophy
Power needs rhythm. Float into trophy, don’t collapse.
Stay on balls of feet. Heels light. No jerking.
✅ Cues: “Quiet heels, live legs”
❌ Avoid: Rushing the toss and snapping into position

Pressure 💣

Working on hitting the ball at the top of the bounce to put pressure on opponents and take time away from them.

Progression:
1️⃣ Drill to help players identify proper contact point
2️⃣ Increase distance to add difficulty
3️⃣ 4️⃣Focus on footwork: Run first, adjust with small steps - big first step forward (run), then side steps towards the ball

Ambidexterity 👐🏻

Coaching an ambidextrous player has been a challenge. Today, we share our almost 2-year experience working with one of them.

Keys:

💡Understanding how they’re wired and how they process their thoughts, feelings, and emotions is crucial to help them reach their full technical potential.

1. Technique analysis: Observe and analyze the player’s technique with both hands to identify strengths and weaknesses, focusing on their preferences and tendencies regarding the hand they use for different strokes and situations, which is crucial for their long-term development.

2. Coordination development: Work on exercises that improve coordination and synchronization between both hands, crucial for ambidextrous players to master shots with precision and control.

3.Adaptability and flexibility: Help the player develop the ability to adapt to different situations and opponents.

Benefits of being ambidextrous:

- Tactical advantage: Ambidextrous players can be more difficult to predict and face.
- Increased creativity: Ambidexterity can allow the player to develop innovative shots and strategies.
- Improved coordination: Ambidexterity training can improve overall coordination and synchronization.

Clara Márquez has achieved remarkable milestones in the 2025 season U14, ranking among the top three in Venezuela and earning a spot to represent the country at the World Junior Davis Cup in the Czech Republic.

Family ❤️

French Open showdown 🇧🇷

Its was a great week in Sao Paolo, Brazil. We were only one tiebreaker away from the semifinals with chances of going all the way against the best in South America.

But more than the results, it was a great experience to share my first trip with Sabrina. Our day to day to talks about tennis, explaining how the circuit works, teaching her healthy habits and more importantly helping her understand how hard she needs to work and how much commitment it takes to become an amazing tennis player.

The word commitment doesn’t only mean giving 100% on a tennis court, it also involves healthy habits outside the court: good nutrition, sleeping well, going to the gym everyday regardless of the results, daily mobility exercises as a habit and many more little details that will sum up into one big massive effort.

Talent is just one small piece of the puzzle, it’s the day to day commitment that will take you to the next level.

¡Con gran alegría y entusiasmo, anunciamos que a partir de enero de 2024, y asumen la operación del Caracas Racquet Club!

El es una sede icónica del tenis venezolano, un club por donde han desfilado muchos de los mejores talentos, tanto nacionales como internacionales.

En esta emblemática sede, impulsaremos programas para todos: desde iniciación y desarrollo hasta competición y actividades para adultos. Además, será el hogar del Proyecto Grand Slam, una iniciativa que busca impulsar el tenis en nuestro país.

Gracias por confiar en nosotros.

¡Es hora de trabajar!

Thank you, Thailand 🇹🇭

I firmly believed Thailand was the place where I was going to finish something special. A good setting, a great group of talented kids, and a supportive coaching staff made me believe we could help these young players outperform their potential.

If you work hard and from the heart, destiny will eventually carry you to the setting where your dreams should happen. However, after almost two years of achieving outstanding results, fate has decided that since my family is growing, it is time for me to head back home to Venezuela 🇻🇪.

I want to say thank you to my long-time friend and tennis Director for bringing me to Thailand to help build something special. Thanks to the coaches who supported the High-Performance program and committed all their efforts to make it better every day

To all my High Performance players, every one of you taught me a lesson that improved me as a coach.

Thank you, for always being focused in practice and continuously challenging my knowledge. Thank you, .hongsyok for being such a responsible, committed athlete and, most importantly, kind to everyone. Thank you for trusting and committing to my guidance to change even though it was an arduous, long journey. Thank you, .p for teaching me how to find a different approach to get through such an exciting and unique player. Thank you, , for trying to improve every day; I have met only a few junior players with that drive. Thank you, , for showing that we can all succeed in sports with hard work and determination. Thank you, , for your discipline and commitment to improving.

Thank you to the British International School for this fantastic opportunity, an experience my family and I will never forget. Thank you to all my adult and junior players for believing in my coaching.

For now, it is the end of my Asian tour but the beginning of something I’ve dreamed about for so long: building players in my home country.

Elite Performance , here we go! 🇻🇪

After a rough six-week tour on European clay, we scheduled a week off for .hongsyok to visit her brother in New York. But two days before the trip, she was unexpectedly invited to play in the first ITF Asian Junior Championships in Cambodia.

Even though she was physically and emotionally exhausted from Europe, “IG” bravely decided to stay in Phuket to prepare for the tournament.

Regardless of the lack of results in Europe, I could see how much the clay helped her game. She had more spin on the ball, better weight transfers and moving swifter on the court. She was playing and hitting the ball great. I knew the claycourt wouldn't help her win, but it would enhance her game.

We worked for a few weeks to readjust. I truly believed she could do great in Cambodia, so apart from working hard, I constantly told her that she would reach the finals, that her game was better and that she would feel great coming back to compete on hard courts.

She believed, followed the tactics we worked on, listened to coach guidance and went on to make it into the final with only just 2 points away from winning the championship.

That's what I love about this sport. If you're up for it, tennis will always give you a second chance. I'm proud of you IG. Committed players make these types of decisions to make their dreams come true. Vamos!

10 Keys to change a grip (swipe ➡️)

Pao arrived last year at the school as one of Thailand's top prospects. He had already been N1 in the country and played in the national team for four consecutive years. Yet, throughout all those years of success, he battled through with a forehand western grip (bottom pic).

Coaches bare with the responsibility to project players in the future. If Pao had kept playing with a Western grip, his development would have stalled tremendously and possibly led to injuries. 

So in October 2022, I took the risk (yes, it's always a significant risk to relearn a shot a player has been "successfully" hitting for years) to convince Pao to change his forehand grip slightly. He committed from the start, and three months later, even with a minor tweak towards semi-western, he started feeling a massive difference. 

In January 2023, he made the Thailand National team for the 5th consecutive year. Last week in Kazakhstan representing Thailand, Pao helped his country qualify for the U16 Junior World Cup finals to be played in Spain. In the victory over Australia, Pao achieved his first win over a top 450 ITF. 

His best shot? The forehand. 

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Work with your heart and amazing things will happen

Since my arrival to the school back in April 2022 the main goal was to qualify as many of our players into the national Thailand team.

The journey wasn’t easy. 5 am fitness and private private sessions before school time. Late practice to work on every single detail while always questioning myself if we were doing enough to achieve our goals.

The tournament format was tough: the best 16 players in Thailand from each age group compete for three spots to represent their country.

After saving match points, battling cramps, overcoming fears and believing that we can do it, we did it!

Five BISP players are now part of the national team!

-Pine Pantharathorn (Under 14 Champion) 
-Tarita Hongsyok (Under 14 Champion) 
-Ryu Koticula (Under 14 runner up)
-Brighton Sienghen (Under 12 third place)
-Phoptum Sriwong (Under 16 third place)

I want to thank our tennis director for trusting my skills and bringing me to the school. I want to thank the for providing us with the tools to work hard. I want to thank my high performance coaches and for their commitment and valuable contribution to this success. I want to thank all the parents that have trusted me since my arrival.

But most importantly I want to thank the kids for believing in me and adapting their game to what I believed was going to help them succeed.

Let this experience ignite what will the beginning of an amazing journey of hard work and determination.