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May 23, 2004 This edition of the WebTennis.net
Newsletter is the complimentary, The WebTennis.net Premium Members' version
is complete with audio, video, and photos which dramatically enhances the learning experience. It's only $7 / month. Check it out here Hi and welcome to the May 23, 2004 issue of the WebTennis.net Newsletter. Been a busy, busy month here on the old home front. The month of May has been a blur so far. Faster than Federer dissecting the rest of the boys on the tour lately. Wrapping up the school year with our junior program at the Cal Club is always busy, and yet, with three young female athletes at home, getting them organized for their summer is no small feat... Not much tennis for them, but girls' Junior Olympics volleyball in Houston in June and Colorado Springs in July. Luckily for Molly, I don't know a thing about that sport, so I wouldn't know how to help here even if she asked. That little team captain has had a great season that will be capped off by an invitation to the nationals in Houston. So I get to totally sit back and enjoy it...! My oldest Georgie is now the head cheerleader at our local high school, so her upcoming summer is filled with camps and daily training. And again, since I don't know a thing about that sport (yep, a sport, and in fact, too often it's a contact sport with falls, drops, and athletic gymnastics moves over all the place...), well, I get to just enjoy it and not worry about how to help her with a round off flip flop double back... Yikes...! And little Cassie just keeps on truckin' along playing some tennis and gymnastics. So all is good as they say. Sports and kids, what a great combination. Especially when we parents back off and just let 'em "do their thing" and not try to make them into the next great phenom athlete. I see it all the time, some of these parents are nuts. Don't get me started... OK, I'd better stop while I'm ahead and get this doubles court positioning tip to you...! Here's one of our rules of thumb for good doubles court positioning... If you're already up at net and if you or your partner plays the ball at the player who is directly in front of you, do NOT back up (unless one of you puts up a really short lob and then of course there is not time back up anyway...!). So, if the ball is played at your opponent who is directly across the net from you, not the player who is on the diagonal, you should be closer to the net than your partner. And what I see too often is the opposite... Make sure your speakers are turned on and click the > button below...
In the above sequence, the server comes in behind the serve as the server's partner moves up a step or so closer to the net to a position about 1/2 way between the net and the service line. The returner returns cross court back to the server. The returner's partner does a nice job to move up to a spot about 1/2 way between the service line and the net. The server plays a nice cross court 1st volley back to the returner and moves up inside his service line. The serving team is looking good in diagram #2. All is well, right...? No, the dang server's partner has backed up for some reason and now the middle of the court is a giant vacuum sucking the returner's shot through there like there's no tomorrow... And, come on be honest here. We've all gone astray from time to time...! The geometry of the court is begging for specific court positions in doubles. We've all found a way to get out of position, but I'll promise you this... The more you're in the right place on the doubles court, the less you'll have to know about great stroke mechanics. Great stroke mechanics can help get you out of bad court positions, but poor stroke mechanics will kill you if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time...! WebTennis.net Premium Members are getting two additional video clips on this tip and another tip on how to dramatically improve your ability to "reflex" balls back that are hit hard at you while you're at net and how to turn that into an advantage for you and your partner... Membership is just a small monthly membership fee... It's only $7 / month. Check it out here Hope this has helped. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions... OK, that'll do it for me today. I encourage you to practice this stuff. It takes awhile, so keep at it....! Have a good one out there today. Brent This edition of the WebTennis.net
Newsletter is the complimentary, The WebTennis.net Premium Members' version
is complete with audio, video, and photos which dramatically enhances the learning experience. It's only $7 / month. Check it out here NEW Instructional Product from Brent The Fundamentals of the One-Handed
Backhand Groundstroke Drive
I've produced my own instructional product for this shot, the one-handed backhand groundstroke. It's a CD and DVD of 60 minutes of video lessons and audio clips. The video lessons play on both your computer's CD and any DVD player. The audio reminders play from the CD from either your computer or car CD players. The CD and DVD set will be shipped within 24 hours of your purchase and generally take no more than a couple of days to arrive to you if you live within the continental U.S. Here's what you get...
NEW Doubles Instructional Product - Online and CD...! "Your Top Ten Biggest
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Pat and I took your ten most asked questions and discussed exactly how to solve those problems. This instructional product is a one hour discussion segmented into 11 parts (intro and the answers to the ten questions).
Here's what you get... - Immediate access to the one hour online presentation of this lesson. You can listen to each of the ten answers directly from the webpage. - Each answer is a discussion between me and Pat which gives you our combined teaching and playing wisdom of nearly 100 years (yikes...!). - Each answer is a MP3 file that you can also download to your computer where you can listen "off-line" and/or burn your own CD. - The lesson CD will be immediately shipped to you. - PLUS, unlimited email and telephone support from Brent! Yep, I'm available to help you. Just let me know. - And with all of my instructional products, you get my 100% fully refundable lifetime player satisfaction guarantee.
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$39 Feedback and Contact... As you know, I'm always interested in your opinion of my newsletters, products, and your overall tennis learning experience with me. Please feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions, criticism, ideas for topics, whatever... I want to hear from you...! Thanks. |
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