TENNIS PLAYER - OPTIMAL PUSH VS. TOXIC PUSH

OPTIMAL PUSH VS. TOXIC PUSH

Throughout my career in developing junior players as the Executive Director of the National Tennis Academy and now Director of the Tournament Players Academy on more than one occasion a parent has stated a widely held belief.  "I'm not sure you can get a great tennis player without at least one crazy pushy parent." Is that really the only option?

The Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University has studied the topic, and many parents and coaches admitted to the existence of something referred to as "Optimal Push."  However the majority agreed that it's a tricky concept.  It only works when done right, and there's a fine line between optimal pushing by a parent and pressuring/over-pushing.

The problem is that in most cases when parents attempt to push their children, the short-term results suggest success (jumping from academy to academy), while the long term outcomes (which can't be seen at the moment) are disastrous.  Many cases demonstrate a damaged parent-child relationship, psychological issues for the player, and motivation and performance issues.  Many tennis parents discover too late that their strategy had short-term gains and long-term heartache.  The future was sacrificed for the present.  The Andre' Agassi story is a perfect example. After relentless pushing by his father, Agassi reached the tennis pinnacle, but at a price (physically, emotionally and psychologically) most of us would not want our children to pay.  He later admitted to hating his sport throughout much of his career.

For this reason we must differentiate between two variations of “push” - Toxic Push and Optimal Push.  The characteristics of each are demonstrated in specific parent behaviors that create an overall family environment.  Here are the four cornerstones of each with a brief description.

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TOXIC TENNIS PUSH

    •    Controlling - Child is constantly directed by parents about what to practice and when to practice, even HOW to practice, when and where to compete, what to wear and when to sleep, what to eat and what not to eat. (this is the role of the coach)

    •    Nagging - Child experiences regular complaints, criticism, and correcting about behaviors and habits; frequent messages about not working hard enough or long enough.

    •    Conflicting - Increasing amount of conflict arises between parent and child over sport-related issues, which then spreads to other life issues related to school and social life.

    •    Condemnation of performances - Child regularly receives verbal and non-verbal signals that his or her play is not good enough, with the suggestion that had the parent’s advice been followed his/her results would be better.

 OPTIMAL TENNIS PUSH

    •    Choices - Child is offered appropriate alternatives from which to choose regarding sport, school, social, and family/home issues.  Only the family’s core values are non-negotiable.

    •    Challenges - Child is often confronted with parent-guided challenges &/or goals to overcome or reach causing skills to be developed and self-imposed limits stretched. 

    •    Collaboration - A team-like atmosphere is created between parents and child that requires working together in decision making and planning.  Family meetings are used.

    •    Support for child's vision - Conversations and body language convey a belief in the ultimate success journey that is unfolding, regardless of any particular day's results.

These two versions of “push” have extremely different outcomes.  Most importantly, in a battle for control over the overall tennis experience, parents must choose not to win.  The tennis experience belongs to the child.  The ultimate question is not "to push or not push" but something quite different.  Since our relationship with our children is the single most important thing, the question is: "How do I consistently send the message that there is nothing my children can say or do that would cause me to reject them?"  Kids need that kind of security to perform well in today’s world.

Ripley Amell

Tournament Players Academy

Tennis Performance Camp for Orange & Green Dot Tournament Players FIRST OF ITS KIND!!

Tennis Performance Camp
for
Orange & Green Dot Tournament Players

FIRST OF ITS KIND!!

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Tournament Players Academy (TPA) will be hosting two (2) weeks of Orange Balltraining and one (1) week of Green Dot training ensuring all bad habits are addressed and solid fundamentals are created. Our Performance program only admits 6 players per camp. Camp runs from 8-12 Monday through Friday.

Supplement your existing club program with a TPA experience this summer. Provide your child with the same advanced tennis training that our TPA Highly Ranked U12 Boys & Girls where developed on at the 10 & Under stage. 

Coach Kirby
Ripley Amell (Academy Director) has designed a comprehensive list of player components that must be addressed in order for Orange & Green Dot players to develop to transition into yellow ball in order to feel comfortable and begin to meet with success. Coach Kirby is one of a kind in the industry putting your child's needs first at every step of the process. His contagious enthusiasm, energy and warm demeanor allows players to enjoy the learning process and gets the information Ripley wants each player to experience.

At TPA we take pride in treating each player as though they where Roger or Serena in the making. We use advanced coaching concepts and training aids to speed up the learning process. If you have a moment check out our video series on our website to see how we have developed many of our top players when they were under ten themselves.

Orange and Green ball players will learn through atomized movement and placement exercises that support good racket work. 

Oh Ya!! It's a lot of fun!!
Monday thru Friday 8-12pm
Friday fun day!
$375 per week

 Orange Ball Camps
June 26-30 & July 3-7

Green Dot Camp
 July 24-28

For more information and to register for camp, please contact Kim Amell at 813-340-9047 or email at ripley@tournamentplayersacademy.com

www.tournamentplayersacademy.com

2017 Summer Camp

Hello from the courts of Tournament Players Academy... 
Summer is just around the corner and we wanted to inform you of what's in store for performance players this summer at TPA. We will be offering Advanced Junior Summer Programs and Intermediate Summer Programs. 

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Advanced Junior Summer Program

Ripley will be working with a select few juniors all summer.  
There are only a couple of spots left in our Boys and Girls 12's-14's divisions.

Ripley’s private group runs for 10 weeks, although you don't have to attend all sessions, they are thematic and periodized for maximum development.

Session 1  
June 5-9    
Theme “How to maximize your game style”
Session 2   
June 12-16    
Theme “How to move efficiently”
Session 3  
June 19-23    
Theme “Developing your second serve under pressure”
Session 4   
June 26-30    
Theme “Your the second most important player on the court”
Session 5  
July 3-7    
Theme “ Serve patterns - 0-4 shots make up 60% of the points”
Session 6    
July 10-14    
Theme “Patterns of play - 5-8 shots make up 30% of there points”
Session 7    
July 17-21    
Theme “I simply get to nervous- how to overcome nerves”
Session 8    
July 24-28    
Theme “Putting it all together”
Session 9  
July 31-Aug 4    
Theme “how and where to return in the modern game”
Session 10    
Aug 7-11    
Theme “how to develop a strategic and tactical plan that works”

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Spots Available
Advanced Junior Summer Program

Boys 12-14 (10am -1pm Monday-Wednesday-Friday)

1. reserved (Adarsh)
2. reserved (Matt)
3. reserved (Andre)
4. OPEN

Girls 12-14 (Monday 8-10am, Tuesday 8-11am, Wednesday 8-10am, Thursday 8-11am, Friday 8-10am)

1. reserved (Brianna)
2. reserved (Karina)
3. OPEN
4. OPEN

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Intermediate Summer Program

Our TPA Intermediate Camps will run alongside Ripley's camp and are run by coach Kirby.  Camp operated from 8am - 12pm.   We only accept six players per session for our Intermediate Camp, so please contact us soon to reserve your spot. Thank you!

Please see our attached brochure for more details.
http://tournamentplayersacademy.com/

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“Summer Cleaning Tips
for your Aspiring
Tennis Player”

Spring/Summer is here, and traditionally it has been known as a time for spring-cleaning projects. Here are three areas where your athlete might need some “sprucing up.”

Polish the Work Ethic

All of our players are on a rigorous tennis program.  Anyone familiar with the world of tennis knows there are a zillion movement patterns, contact moves, and strokes to be learned in the beginning. There are nights when they don’t want to give their best, and practicing was not always a welcome idea. We recognized that some of this is a lack of maturity, but much of it had to do with polishing up their work ethic. 

Although some player are naturally motivated, most are not, and there is always room for improvement. Strategies to do this will vary greatly depending on the family dynamics and your players personality. However, there are two that I believe are crucial. 

1) Be a good role model. Your child needs to see that you not only value hard work but also strive to exemplify it in all areas of life, including talking positively about your job.

2) Make regular chores an expected part of family life for everyone. You owe it to the future adult you are raising to make this happen. Far too many parents back down from enforcing chores, or making sure they’re done correctly.

Shine Up Self-Confidence

Align yourself with a positive coach who has self confidence built into their programs. 

Players will lack self-confidence at times and tennis can help. Here are two ways to add shine to a tarnished confidence.

1) Help them to learn a new skill. Give them the tools to actually be good at something. This can be accomplished through professional coaching or with your involvement in helping them practice regularly.

2) Teach them to set and reach SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound). Celebrate the small successes together and watch your child’s confidence grow.

Spotless Sportsmanship

For our players there are many hours spent on the court andat times the drama between friends increased as the energy decreased. Exemplifying a sportsman-like attitude to fellow players can became a real challenge. 

If we value tennis for its character-shaping experiences, then striving for spotless sportsmanship is vital. Approach improvement in these two ways.  

1) Challenge them to give specific words of encouragement to fellow players and opponents. Instead of saying, “good game,” be more specific and say, “your serve looked smooth today.” It gives them real ownership of the complement.

2) Help them to view referees, judges, and coaches as human. When a call or decision is made that is hard to swallow, help your child see that person through the lens of grace and respect.

“Cleaning up” these three areas will not only improve the sport experience today, but also enhance quality of life for many seasons to come.

Hope to see you on the court soon.  Have a great day!
Ripley

The Practice Court for Junior Development is Broken

Parents,  if I told you that of the three categories regarding how the modern game is played from the ATP/WTA on down through to the U12’s globally being 0-4, 5-8 and 9+ hits per point, and within these 60% of all the points fall in the 0-4 category you probably wouldn’t believe me.

But it’s the truth, simply chart your juniors next match the numbers don't lie!

So, if the 0-4 shots, meaning serve ball 1, return ball 2, serve +1 ball 3, and return +1 ball 4 account for such a high percentage, why are tennis pros and even coaches still spending so much time; hours upon hours rallying? 

The answer is simple... they are not developing patterns of play in terms of serve patterns (0-4), return patterns (0-4), baseline (5-8) they are training for the 9+ shots day in and day out! 

Before you can really influence the way your child is being trained you have to know your data, video your child’s next match then at your convenience chart where the % fall. If you have a player who is still in the U12 & U14’s you will find that their return game will be stronger than their serve statistics simply because they are probably not being trained to recover fast enough after the serve to be able to implement what we call a “serve + 1”. Once you have established where the majority of the points are played 0-4, 5-8, and 9+ the next number you need to know about your child is what total % of the points are they winning. From Federer to Serena to your child the magic # is 55!

If you win 55% of the points in a match or over a year you will have a winning percentage.

Conventional teaching or coaching (big difference between the two and will be my next topic) would say the easy floating ball, or the high backhand, or the low slice was their demise so thats where we start in getting to the 55% mark. You couldn't be farther from the truth, here’s how world class coaches develop players.

Let's assume your child is winning 40% of all points they play. They need to get to 55% - that's a 15 point developmental plan that needs to be established:

1- Establish fifteen markers for the 15 points that need to be made up to win, lets call them “success paths”.

2- An example might be if they are playing 57% in the 0-4 and only winning 22% of them.  You might want to look at serve patterns such as serving 1st serve out wide on the deuce side getting a return up the middle and hitting the whole shot.

3- Another example would be 1st serve out wide on the ad court and hitting behind the returner.  

4- They are only winning 15% of the 5-8 shot points which is accounting for 30% of the total points. My recommendation would be learning how to implement the “2-1” strategy (deep to the letter “C” short to “D” then the unspectacular whole shot. 

5- Establish on their serve games whether they are winning the first point or not. If they win the first point there is a 92% chance they will win the game, it drops by 20% if they lose the first point, that is a huge indicator.

6- Look to see how many times in the match they won three points in a row which indicates momentum.

7- Look to see how many times they were the first to get to 30-0 or 30-15 first. That is a 72% chance they will win the game.

8- Watch and you will be amazed how they play the point after they had a 9+ shot rally, win or lose. Winning the 9+ category is a losing proposition. 

This is just scratching the surface of how we are developing players here at the Tournament Players Academy. For a complete analysis of your child’s game or to have us write a “Growth and Development Plan” so that your tennis pro or coach can really give your child an advantage, please don't hesitate to contact Ripley at 407 506 2149.

Note: Data taken from SAP - ATP & WTA with Craig O’ Shannessy 

Be Great!

Educated Tennis Parents are the Ships Motors... Un-Educated Tennis Parents are the Ships Anchors

My son (or daughter) is not competing to their full potential!!

As I develop blue prints for players here at TPA this statement is a very common scenario when a parent seeks me out initially. My first response is to ask are they aware of the difference between mental (tactical) skills and emotional skills? To illustrate the importance of developing emotional skill sets, in addition to mental, athletic and technical components, I often use a computer analogy:

View the athlete the same way you view a computer. For your computer to run efficiently, both the external hardware and internal software packages must work seamlessly together. An athlete’s hardware package consists of their technical and athletic aptitude. Their software package consists of their mental and emotional aptitude.

No matter the age, coping with success and failure and managing one’s emotions are skills worth developing. The physical value of participating in tennis is only the beginning. Champions take life skill development seriously. Ownership of life skills is the pathway toward developing a strong moral character. Virtues such as courage, fortitude, resiliency and honesty define strong moral character. With these traits, an athlete has the opportunity to reach their full potential. At TPA we use an assessment developed by Sports Psychologist Frank Giampaolo to help create a profile then develop an action plan to develop skills that stifle a players performance. Frank is world renowned and speaks globally at Grand Slams.

SOLUTION: Parallel Life/Tennis Skills Assessment

Increase your son or daughters emotional aptitude by improving the following life skills. For each of the following life skills, grade their level of competence 1 through 10. (The number “1” represents an extreme weakness and the number “10” represents an extreme strength.) Simply circle the number that best describes your comfort level.

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Time Management: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The time management life skill is the ability to use one’s time effectively or productively. To become a more successful athlete, this would include organizing daily, weekly and monthly planners. This includes the scheduling and development of each of the four major components (technical, athletic, mental, and emotional) essential to compete at the higher levels.

Adaptability: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The adaptability life skill is being able to adjust to different situations and conditions comfortably. To get the most from your physical talent, one must be open to change. Adapting is emotional intelligence at work.

Handling Adversity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Handling adversity is a critical athletic and life skill. Competition brings hardship, drama, and suffering along with the positive attributes. Overcoming the daily problems is what a champ thrives on. Seeing adversity as a challenge versus a life or death crisis is key.

Handling Stress: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Stress causes biological and mental tension. It occurs when one believes that their physical skills aren't strong enough to meet the challenge. While some personalities stress more than others, stress is dramatically reduced by proper preparation and a positive attitude.

Courage: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Courage is the ability to apply belief in your skills in spite of the threat at hand. Of course, if you aren't training at 100%, true courage doesn't exist. Courage is knowing that competition in sports is not to be feared but to be embraced. Courage is not allowing yourself to listen to the typical noise of “What if I lose.”

Work Ethic: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Work ethic is a diligent, consistent standard of conduct. It is the belief that the physical, mental and emotional components will strengthen, and goals will be achieved through a deliberate, customized plan.

Perseverance: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Perseverance is one’s ability to stay on course through setbacks, discouragement, injuries and losses.It is the ability to stubbornly fight to achieve greatness. 

Resiliency: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Resiliency is the capacity to recover and adjust after difficulties. Champions fall, hurt and fail just like us but they have preset protocols to adapt and press on. Winners aren't always the most intelligent or even the strongest athletes in the event. They are often the individuals who respond with the best adjustments after misfortunes.

Goal Setting: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Goal setting is the process of identifying something that you want to accomplish with measurable goals. Dreams are a great start, but the work begins when both specific performance improvement goals and outcome goals are set with action plans and target dates. Setting daily, monthly and long term goals builds the emotional strength you seek.

Sticking to Commitments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Commitments are obligations that restrict freedom of action. Staying loyal to a written action plan separates the champion from the part time hobbyist. Hobbyists train when it's convenient. Committed athletes put their sport above their social calendar.

Determination: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Determination is the power to persist with a singular fixed purpose. It's being hell bent on reaching your goals. Champions often begin as average athletes with abnormal determination. 

Problem-Solving Skills: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Identifying the problem is only the first step. Step two is to isolate the causes of the problem. Step three is then to customize the solution to the problem. Creative problem solving requires digging deeper than simply identifying the flaw.

Spotting Patterns and Tendencies: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Patterns and tendencies are an individual’s predisposition to do something repeatedly. Spotting reoccurring behavior is essential in understanding your own strengths and weaknesses as well as defeating a worthy opponent.

Discipline: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Discipline is behavior that is judged by how well it follows a set of rules. It is one of the most important emotional elements that turns dreams and goals into accomplishments. It often requires you to choose to train...when you'd rather be socializing. Discipline is painful but not nearly as painful as losing to people you should be beating.

Sportsmanship: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sportsmanship is the underlying respect for the game, the rules governing the sport, the opponents and the officials. It's giving it your all and carrying yourself with pride regardless of the outcome. 

Focus: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Focus is the ability to be single minded in your interest. This relates to a short term goal such as a single play, point or game all the way towards attaining a long term goal such as being offered a college athletic scholarship.

Preparation Skills: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The life skill of being prepared is especially important in athletics. Preparing properly for battle is one of the most neglected aspects of intermediate athletes. Success stems from total preparation. It is truly the key to preventing a poor performance.

Persistence: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Persistence is the continued passion of action in spite of opposition. You need constant energy devoted to your sport. Anything less means that you’re a hobbyist. Persistence gets you to the top. Consistency with that persistent frame of mind keeps you there.

Dedication: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dedication is the quality of being committed to a purpose. Dedication to a sport requires passion and commitment to strive for daily improvement. Lazy, non-athletic people use the word “obsessed” to describe the dedicated athletes.

Positive Self-Image: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 

Strong emotional aptitude starts with positive self-esteem. Trusting yourself is a key to competing freely. Changing the negative self-talk into positive internal dialog is a great start.

Revisit your scores above and begin strengthening your emotional aptitude by improving any skill that you graded 7 or less. Keep in mind that solutions are customized to your personality and circumstances. These life lessons are the roots that competitive character skills stem from. Achieving spectacular results requires thousands of hours of deliberate customized practice. Without the foundation of critical “root” skills (optimism, growth mindset and life lessons), a deliberate customized developmental plan will fail to bloom. Subsequently, without proper training; results never materialize.

Please call Ripley at 407 506 2149 for information on a complete personal evaluation.  

Final Schedule for Match Play Head to Head's - 1/20/17

Junior Tennis Match Play Head To Head's

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Friday Night Match Play Tennis - Head to head's

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