Lansdorp the Sage??

[CraigC]

Memories....

I remember the days when I could come to this board and learn something instead of listening to grown men arguing. C'mon boys, play nice. This is supposed to be an educational forum on Robert's teaching style. Let's get back to business so we can all make the sport a little better, eh?
CC

[johnyandell]

Ah nostalgia...but thank god it's not the only thread...and I never claimed to be grown btw.

[airforce1]

Some of the greatest minds in human history have barely scratched the surface of many of the processes: sensory integration, cognitive compilation, motor control integration, neuromuscular biodynamics, muscle physiology manifestation, not to mention the motor learning and psychological influences – all things we in the fairyland of sports science seek to understand - you must teach and evaluate some complex stuff.

BG, I agree completely with what you say here, and that is sort of my point. We have barely scratched the surface on the things to be learned about tennis. I imagine that this is part what excites you about your chosen career, as it is wide open for you to prove or disprove so many theories that abound about this sport.

Even though I may have not made it clear in my post, I have a great appreciation for what you are doing and for what this site is trying to do in furthering the sport. I try not to have a lot to say about what I've done, but on occasion it seems necessary to explain why I feel my evaluation experience is at the very least, substantial. Many folks consider operation on and off of a carrier flight deck one of the most intricate and dangerous operations period. The timing and coordination of operations is quite enormous by any standard. My time instructing new fleet pilots on carriers along with serving as the Director of Command Leadership and resource management design for the Navy test pilot center and Naval Warfare Center, leads me to feel that it is clearly far more evolved in nearly every aspect, than anything I'm seeing in tennis thus far. The understated positions above are just scratching the surface of the technical areas I've had the opportunity of serving. I'm not trying to impress, but just attempting to give you a small idea of where I'm coming from. Most of the areas I worked in, we had to get it right or quite simply, people died. Some of the questions I pose have been too blunt for some, but in my experience the top people their fields are more direct and expect to field questions like these and far worse. If some people don't respect that type experience, that's fine too, but we don't get 2 serves and ad outs where I worked.

But Brian, please don't take this wrong, as I see the door wide open for your work to measure and discover some of the most exciting things tennis has seen to date. The door is wide open for the next strides in the game.
Maybe 50 years was overstated, but given the last 50, I'm not sure it is. While the technology has improved on the equipment side, most of the playing theory isn't too far from what Bill Tilden was saying back in the early days.

[airforce1]

I remember the days when I could come to this board and learn something instead of listening to grown men arguing. C'mon boys, play nice. This is supposed to be an educational forum on Robert's teaching style. Let's get back to business so we can all make the sport a little better, eh?
CC

Craig, all I can say is that I wished I had worded my questions better, but honestly, when you read them from my perspective and not assuming there is an embedded attempt to insult, they don't sound that bad as I re-read them.
As for the part about Roberts personality traits, I thought that was so known and accepted about him, that it was a non issue.

But, Sorry anyway.
I guess my biggest mistake was making the effort to get it straight and then getting caught up in it.
Yes, truly sorry for my part in it.

[tennisplayer]

I remember the days when I could come to this board and learn something instead of listening to grown men arguing. C'mon boys, play nice. This is supposed to be an educational forum on Robert's teaching style. Let's get back to business so we can all make the sport a little better, eh?
CC

Robert Lansdorp is in the realm of a tennis god, as far as I am concerned - he coached Sampras, what more can anyone say!

I have been looking at the coaching techniques being advocated by Oscar Wegner, and am quite impressed. I have also read a recent compilation of coaching history by John Carpenter (of ez-tennis), and it seemed to indicate that both Oscar and Robert had a lot of things in common, although they both came upon these methods independently. I would like to hear what Robert thinks about Oscar's methodology, if such things can be said without inflaming passions!