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July 20, 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 July 20, 2004 issue of the WebTennis.net Newsletter...! Had a great trip to Colorado last week, I mean, absolutely great...! I took one of my kids to a volleyball camp in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, dropped her off about noon, and then headed for Vail... Unbelievably beautiful... Mountain biking there for four days in just glorious scenery and then took in the Giants - Rockies game Saturday night in Denver. My beloved Giants of course won, and then went back to Colorado Springs Sunday to pick up Molly and head back home here to California.. Here are a couple of pics of yours truly basking in a Vail summer... OK, enough of me, and let's get to you...! Fitness - Look, obviously we all need to have a certain level of fitness to be able to play our best. Players ask me all of the time what they should do to improve their fitness. And my answer is always the same... Do whatever it takes to improve your ability to visually track a moving ball while you are also moving. And that to me means really improving our ability to stay better balanced as we move... I won't get into all of the specific muscle groups needed to have better balance because frankly, I really don't know what they're called nor is it important to go goofy trying to figure exactly what exercises one should do... But here's what I know, here's what has worked for me, and here's what hasn't worked for me... Tennis is a game of very quick starts, short movements, stops, starts, movements, etc., etc... Along with general strength and conditioning (no long distance running), what has helped me the most is to do a series of sprints while I keep my eyes focused on a spot out in the landscape, for example, a specific place on a fence. As I sprint, I try to keep that spot on the fence from jostling / moving up or down. I do forward sprints, side to side sprints, backward sprints, and different direction start & stop sprints. The whole time trying to keep my eyes locked on a place on the fence. You can hang a tennis ball on the fence and try to maintain constant visual contact. Also try going through those series of sprints holding your racket in the proper racket ready position, etc. Do some crunchies, sit-ups, leg lifts, you know, exercises that make your stomach, abs, lower back stronger. Pilates sounds like it's a perfect set of exercises for this type of conditioning... Back to the sprints... At first, find that spot on the fence and then try to smoothly walk towards that spot while you make sure the spot doesn't visually move as you walk... Shouldn't be a problem... Now try doing the same while lightly jogging. Try to keep your head as still as possible as you move. Next try running... then try sprinting. It ain't easy once you get past walking, but the more you practice this, the sooner you'll be able to keep that spot on the fence quiet as you move. All of this will transfer over to your tennis and will help you better visually track the flight of the tennis ball. That will improve your spatial set up to the ball prior to contact, greatly improve your ability to deliver your racket against and through the incoming ball at the ideal time (timing), and improve your ability to recover back to the middle of the court, and in general maintain better balance throughout the point... All of that will put you on the pro tour by next month...! (Don't forget now, I do get 20% of all of your tour winnings, right...?...!) Do the sprints, just do 'em, and don't worry if your tennis pals thing you've gone nuts...! My tennis buddies all know that I am certifiably crazy, but it's during those training times that I know it'll pay off somewhere down the road soon... I really recommend my good friend Jim McLennan's "Secrets of World Class Footwork" video tape and training manual. Jim is way to smart for his own good most of the time, but he's found a way to present this stuff in an easy to understand format. For more info on Jim's footwork product and/or to purchase your own copy of "Secrets of World Class Footwork", click here... OK, next is a short one that is a truth... Mental - "You cannot control your aggression on the court without controlling your emotion..." I heard television announcer Mary Carrillo recently come out with this during one of the Wimbledon telecasts. I love that. Get control of those emotions, whether your emotions are up or down, and you'll set yourself up to play the points better. Think about it... OK, I'm outta here. Taking a few friends and heading to Santa Barbara this weekend to play some tennis with some folks at the Tennis Club of Santa Barbara. This tennis life is remarkable... health, friends, and good times. No complaints here... Enjoy the rest of the week, have a great weekend, and don't forget to stretch for a good 5 minutes every time after you do those sprints, OK...? Be sure to let me know if you have any questions... Brent Current DVD / CD / Online This edition of the WebTennis.net
Newsletter is the complimentary, The WebTennis.net Premium Members'
It's only $7 / month. Check it out here 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
Challenges in Doubles" by Brent Abel and Pat Blaskower After reading the latest issue of Tennis magazine, maybe it should be the top eleven challenges which would include one about having to deal with all of the mis-information you have to put up with out there...! (OK, I'm calming down, hang in there with me...!) Doubles coaching guru Pat Blaskower and I have partnered up to give you the answers to ten of your most often asked questions about how to deal with specific situations in doubles...
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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