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Harvey Penick...and QuickStart tennis...and don_budges rules
That's right vrc10s...you have clearly read and discerned what I have written and tried to illustrate with words. You've read between the encrypted layers and pretty much understood what I was writing about.
I object to QuickStart and as you put it things that proclaim to be the be all and end all...namely things like "or whatever name they use now". Call it what you might it still falls under the heading...Teaching Tennis.
But that is not to say there isn't a whole bunch of relevance to a program such as QuickStart or other USTA endorsed and sanctioned methods of teaching. I freely borrow and steal from anywhere and everywhere until I have it boiled down to the Lowest Common Denominator...the LCD. I use orange balls with everyone when we are trying a new concept...depending upon the student. It doesn't matter...I use the slowest balls with the best players at times...just to illustrate a point. When you slow things down to slow motion it is easier for the noodle to wrap around it. We had a thread going on here a while back where we discussed the merits of going slow.
"Go real slow...take it as it comes"...Jim Morrison and The Doors.
But back to this kid thing. I don't have a lot of experience with the really small and I prefer not too. But even the smallest that are being introduced to tennis should have programs that are suited for them and not trying to teach them professional tennis right out of the cradle. I think that the "mini tennis" students should spend as much time doing throwing and catching exercises as well as some specific footwork running. Plus they should learn to tie their shoes. Get my drift...walk before you run.
I don't believe that we really need a sanctioned QuickStart program but what we need is a forum that is open for free thought and thinking. Not confined, boxed in, mass produced brain washing without the creative and artistic influence. That is why I presented a mini outline of my vision of what I envision a suitable "QuickStart" program to be.
It was such a good exercise to do this outline that I took it to the board and the new administrative person that they have hire here to replace my partner who was not replaced for two years. He was very receptive to my idea about starting from the net backwards because the motion is shorter and simpler, yet it must be executed somewhat more quickly and precisely as the ball has yet to bounce...where it loses approximately half of its speed.
He has outlined the new program as he saw it and he had started with forehand and backhand from the baseline but after listening to me the new outline is volleys first...moving backwards to the service line for half-volleys and abbreviated groundstrokes that are appropriate for this area of the court. Finally moving back to the baseline. The emphasis will be on moving forwards and backwards first and then the game will be boiled down to the baseline rally first and looking for the opportunity to move forwards. Even though the professional game is not being played in this manner per se...these kids will learn the "proper" game of tennis and they will eventually make up their own minds when they have that capability...which I encourage whole heartedly.
But you know what vrc10s...this method of teaching is not originally mine either. Well it is as it is applied to tennis...as far as I know. I am sure that their have been others to teach it like this that I have not heard of. But the legendary Harvey Penick from Austin, Texas reputedly taught the game of golf from the hole backwards...all the way back to the tee. I really like this technique when I was a golf instructor in a former life and used it exclusively. It worked too...the shorter swings are easier to get started with and you finally build the thing into a full swing. Plus guess what...the most important shots in golf are balls that inside of two meters from the hole. You still have to swing the putter to get that ball in the whole from that short distance. This way you begin to really understand the concept of swinging too...the small swings share many fundamental similarities as the full swing. Much as it is in tennis...you must be able to teach the student to swing. Not hit.
I really enjoy working with beginners and kids. They do matter to me. I feel that the young are the future and they do need a solid foundation on which to build...on which to mature. It is a source of great pride to teach them how to play tennis...and to play it properly. It's no easy task...I wasn't always the best student myself. Poor Coach Collins. But you know what...I still hear his voice in my ear. Stephen...he would say. Nobody else called me Stephen.
Originally posted by vrc10s
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I object to QuickStart and as you put it things that proclaim to be the be all and end all...namely things like "or whatever name they use now". Call it what you might it still falls under the heading...Teaching Tennis.
But that is not to say there isn't a whole bunch of relevance to a program such as QuickStart or other USTA endorsed and sanctioned methods of teaching. I freely borrow and steal from anywhere and everywhere until I have it boiled down to the Lowest Common Denominator...the LCD. I use orange balls with everyone when we are trying a new concept...depending upon the student. It doesn't matter...I use the slowest balls with the best players at times...just to illustrate a point. When you slow things down to slow motion it is easier for the noodle to wrap around it. We had a thread going on here a while back where we discussed the merits of going slow.
"Go real slow...take it as it comes"...Jim Morrison and The Doors.
But back to this kid thing. I don't have a lot of experience with the really small and I prefer not too. But even the smallest that are being introduced to tennis should have programs that are suited for them and not trying to teach them professional tennis right out of the cradle. I think that the "mini tennis" students should spend as much time doing throwing and catching exercises as well as some specific footwork running. Plus they should learn to tie their shoes. Get my drift...walk before you run.
I don't believe that we really need a sanctioned QuickStart program but what we need is a forum that is open for free thought and thinking. Not confined, boxed in, mass produced brain washing without the creative and artistic influence. That is why I presented a mini outline of my vision of what I envision a suitable "QuickStart" program to be.
It was such a good exercise to do this outline that I took it to the board and the new administrative person that they have hire here to replace my partner who was not replaced for two years. He was very receptive to my idea about starting from the net backwards because the motion is shorter and simpler, yet it must be executed somewhat more quickly and precisely as the ball has yet to bounce...where it loses approximately half of its speed.
He has outlined the new program as he saw it and he had started with forehand and backhand from the baseline but after listening to me the new outline is volleys first...moving backwards to the service line for half-volleys and abbreviated groundstrokes that are appropriate for this area of the court. Finally moving back to the baseline. The emphasis will be on moving forwards and backwards first and then the game will be boiled down to the baseline rally first and looking for the opportunity to move forwards. Even though the professional game is not being played in this manner per se...these kids will learn the "proper" game of tennis and they will eventually make up their own minds when they have that capability...which I encourage whole heartedly.
But you know what vrc10s...this method of teaching is not originally mine either. Well it is as it is applied to tennis...as far as I know. I am sure that their have been others to teach it like this that I have not heard of. But the legendary Harvey Penick from Austin, Texas reputedly taught the game of golf from the hole backwards...all the way back to the tee. I really like this technique when I was a golf instructor in a former life and used it exclusively. It worked too...the shorter swings are easier to get started with and you finally build the thing into a full swing. Plus guess what...the most important shots in golf are balls that inside of two meters from the hole. You still have to swing the putter to get that ball in the whole from that short distance. This way you begin to really understand the concept of swinging too...the small swings share many fundamental similarities as the full swing. Much as it is in tennis...you must be able to teach the student to swing. Not hit.
I really enjoy working with beginners and kids. They do matter to me. I feel that the young are the future and they do need a solid foundation on which to build...on which to mature. It is a source of great pride to teach them how to play tennis...and to play it properly. It's no easy task...I wasn't always the best student myself. Poor Coach Collins. But you know what...I still hear his voice in my ear. Stephen...he would say. Nobody else called me Stephen.
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