On 1st November 2017 I got a experience of a lifetime and so did the coaches.
Grantham Tennis club was Offering a Free 3 hour coaching session for players, as coaches who are level 4 are working onto Getting their Highest Qualification which is the Master Club coach level 5.
The coaches Taking their level 5 was Jonathan Haynes who is a coach for St Mary’s Calne Tennis Academy (SMCTA) which provides a structured coaching programme to pupils of St Mary’s Calne and St Margaret’s Preparatory School.
Alan Smith Coaches at David Lloyd Teeside which is at Tees Barrage Way, Stockton-on-Tees TS17 6QB
I could not find any images for the 2 coaches above but here is a picture of the last one which is the guy on the left
Lastly we have Richard Surtees who is Head of Performance at Grantham Tennis club.
Here is a summary of what the aim of the level 5 course is about
What is the aim of the course?
The aim of the course is to provide coaches with a transformational coach education experience that will equip them to be successful developers of players ranging from 11 years of age to under 18 National / International level juniors.
The course will develop coaches with a high level of versatility in working with performance players. Coaches will be able to comfortably transition between, for example, making a technical impact with an 11 year old National level girl, to later creating an inspirational training environment on court with a group of 14 year old boys and then to providing clarity of thought and excitement to a 16 year old in delivering their pre-match practice session prior to them playing a grade 2 ITF.
The course is designed to develop a coach from “knowing more” to deeply influencing their performance on a day to day basis with their players.
The picture above is of a level 1 coaching taking place.
There are coaches who are at different levels, who work hard at not only achieving their grades, but learning about the sport, doing coaches sessions one to one and in groups to help people improve their game, For me for the last year going through the feeling good project through the tennis club, ive had the chance as part of a group to have fun learning tennis, improving my game, play mini games that not only work on a set style and skill but are also fun to play.
Without the Dedication of these coaches, people would not be able to find the love of the amazing sport of tennis.
In Fact the other day i was looking on google and saw this image and its so true that its a key sport on your physical health (:
so for us it was a chance to get free advanced Coaching, while the coaches were training for their exam, with observes being there, to take notes, and for the coaches to ask any questions about the tasks they needed to do.
There was around 12-15 people who got the chance to have this free session.
After a small Warm up with others in the group while the coaches were getting briefed,
we got told that The 3 hours was going to be split into 3 sessions lasting just over 45 minutes with a small break in between each one.
the 3 coaches split us into groups, with each being taught something different and then a swap around when the next session started, so that everyone got a chance to do the drills.
The first session Was focused around serving, working on getting a high percentage in.
For me I have always had a issue which this as i have tried many different types of serves, many different type of stances etc, i always have the same problem which is balance.
Being able to serve a first serve while not moving all over the place, which then get lead to not being on your feet quick enough to return the shot coming back at you.
So the first part was working on getting serves a lot slower but at body level so its a lot harder to return as you body tends to tighten and also not a lot of time to think if the ball is right at your body rather to the side.
We Then had Targets to aim for which because of the insight on slowing my serve down and balancing i was able to hit a target, get more serves in and get close to the targets i was aiming for.
The next stage was then putting it into a little game, working on getting the serve to the players body, and seeing how they coped under pressure.
I cant remember who taught us, but he made sure to watch everyone,s Technique and give advice to each person, to improve there serves but also explain the differences and showcase them so the coach was covering all bases.
I felt that session had taught me a lot and really helped me understand what was going wrong with my serves, its good that he was not only able to provide a fun session but understand each persons different serve and give different advice based on further advancing the percentage of serves in.
Next up was forehand drills with Richard Surtees, and net play.
Using the serving skills we got taught from the other session it was now time for one person to serve and to try and aim for the person right at the base line, making it harder for them to return it also means your body become very tight, and have not much time to think how to hit your shot.
Its a lot harder then you think to not only aim for where you want the ball to go but to not over cook your shots or even hit them to soft.
We then worked on a rotation of a player being at the net to intercept while the other 2 aimed to get they forehands across court and towards the base line.
For the forehand players it was working on keeping a rally going, and working on the skills of positioning and power, while the net player, watched for a opening to attack the ball.
which then it was time for some points games again learning everything we did into practice.
over half over the 3 hours now gone, and i had already learned so much, and again, had a great coach to take the time to address each players skills, workout the best way to help them and encourage them to do well, so far the 2 sessions, were not what i expected, we were really tested and a lot of cardio was in play, it was Advanced training we was getting, and i loved it, it was pushing my limits and improving my game !!!!
as you can see by the picture above most forehands are normally hit by the side as its better to keep putting the other player under pressure, get in building up rather then aiming to win the point straight away, let them make the mistake, and then put a shot down the middle, a drop shot, slice shots etc (:
By this point i was starting to struggle as i have been battling with a cold for over a week now, and only starting to recover.
This meant that i was not moving as fast as i normally do, or even have the same focus on top of which that although social tennis is competitive, its not as fast paced as the coaching we was getting.
The last time i did heavy Cardio tennis was over 4 months a go when i had a session indoors to see what it was like and i did really enjoy it, but i still need to keep improving my fitness and stamina !!
Indeed by the quote above, you can never perfect your game, and never aim to play tennis to win everytime, we learn of others, we watch, we study, we practice, we have fun and then we do it all again, thats my little quote haha, the image quote is better (:
For the final session we had our final coach, still working on forehand but this time working on placement and watching your opponents move and hitting it to a place where its a lot harder for the other player to return.
A marker was placed, and this is where the real fast Cardio session started, by taking it in turns we had to try for a standing point in the middle,having the ball fed to our right and trying to aim to the right of the marker.
Trying to get precision on your forehand is really hard as its easy just as a ball is coming to you to just give it a big whack and hope for the best, the skill comes in the control and placement (:
The next task, was hitting the same ball, but then getting another ball fed to us, and having to use our feet to get into a position where we could hit our forehands shot to the left side of the court.
To make it harder the first bounce had to be in court, with the second bounce making sure it went out.
This was to work on getting close to hitting a deep forehand shot to the corner without the first bounce being out, as in tennis your only allowed for the ball to bounce once.
I was making a lot of mistakes but with the help of the coach and the atmosphere i soon pulled it together which helped for the last task.
now we had Balance of our forehands, it was now time to do the same for the first shot but then the second feed the coach/player would be either moving, or stood still,
Often we move to quick to try and predict where the shot is going and if the other person can see that, and your running lets say to the left, you have now let the whole right side of the court open for the player to make it easier to win the point by hitting it to the right.
Its amazing that in a space of a seconds sometimes just one, our eyes, body, mind can analyse where the ball is coming, where the player is, is the person moving, where we want to place the shot, how much power, what type of shot, a forehand, slice, smash etc, like with any sports you watch on TV it seems a lot longer but in real life, a split second wrong choice can cost you a point or even the match.
What really amazes me is when we as adults try so hard to improve and a lot of the time kids who are 10 years and younger, are hitting shots better then us, like !!! how haha.
When you think that these sessions did not even go into really Technical types of shots, that gives you some idea how much training, coaching there is involved and how fun but how hard tennis can be as a sport.
Its took over a year from getting coaching, to watching others play and put that into practice, to develop my own game, which now i not only can do the essential skills, but my own little tricks and flicks of shots !!!
Overall i felt all 3 coaches, knew a lot, were already well trained to say they had achieved their level 4 and looking to get that one step further in life.
All 3 coaches, delivered a fun but intensive session, which all of them, helped assess each person weak points to turn them into stronger points, and parts of their game that needed to that little tweak.
In my opinion i think all 3 coaches should pass their level 5 as they are top notch !!!
Weather, your young, old, in a wheelchair, you can always learn, and enjoy playing tennis thanks to all the hard work, coaches, staff, managers put into providing a place for people to learn
So i thank Grantham tennis club, for this wonderful experience, and of course the coaches, i hate to think how they felt under pressure but i can say they swiped the sweat away and performed to the best of their ability (:
Thank you for reading if you would like to know more about LTA you can do by the links below
https://www.lta.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/ltalincs
Grantham tennis club links -
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https://twitter.com/GTCManager
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