Tennis Transfer of Informationthe

[doctorhl]

If this topic has already been discussed, or is not appropriate for this forum, please say so. Since many of you in this forum are private teaching pros, I would be interested in your perspective. As a lifelong professor at DI, II, and III schools and have been close to tennis, but not coaching it, my perspective may be different. The majority of elite tennis players in the U.S. still go through the school system. They are coached (in many instances)by junior high, high school and college coaches that are often educators with other duties. But they are mostly developed by professional private coaches on the side.I know that the U. S. will never go to a European system where sports are developed outside the school system. And the money in most instances will not be available for a lifetime, salaried career as a tennis coach only within the educational system.The USTA, USPTR USOC and other entities try to bridge this gap, but the transfer of information seems to get lost in the bureaucracy and the private system. It seems to me that the excellent information provided by John and you guys does not have an available mechanism to transfer that information to those coaches and potential players in the educational system. I understand the overshadowing of tennis by team sports, but you guys could advocate for the closing of the sport science transfer of information gap - a gap that is not as large in Europe because of government sports ministries. Any thoughts?

[don_budge]

Any Thoughts?

The education system used to be an excellent conduit for the American tennis player. The American male tennis player. But feminism has killed this aspect of the education process because now more of the resources are being delegated to "the girls". The University that I received a scholarship from to play tennis for back in the 1970's no longer has a men's tennis team. Why? Take a guess.

This website is an excellent venue for a coach to become a better coach. The articles and subsequent discussions have kept me amused for some 6 or 7 years now. It's an ongoing discussion and very educational. John Yandell's website is sort of a classroom. An interactive classroom. He puts it out there and then he gets out of the way. Good old Johnny Boy.

As for Europe. I am not so high on the system here. It's close minded and one dimensional...but that is sort of what tennis is today. As far as those other US organizations are concerned...I am not so certain of them either. I feel that there contribution to the tennis organization should be relegated to providing a venue to compete...a tournament structure on local, regional and national levels. Otherwise it might be best if they stayed out of it....much as John does on this website. He provides...we run with it.

The "farm system" of today is rather lame. Back in the 70's it was a local guy who got his group going and they competed with neighboring local guy's groups. The cream of the crops would then go on to regional and national competitions. There was an implied team in terms of geographic. The Californians, The MidWesterners, The Texans, The Floridians. You get the picture. Todays game is lacking in fundamentally sound tactics and the technique is questionable. It is a reflection of many things...most of them rather mediocre. But you would never know it from the hype.

[stotty]

The American education system that incorporates scholarships for tennis players has been widely admired over the pond. Many aspiring tennis players from my club took scholarships to study and play tennis in America. The standard of tennis has always been reported back as decent to very good. The only downside is American degrees don't count for much once students come home. One medical student, who is also a friend of mine, studied at Stanford but had to resit most things when he came back to England. He was a fine player, though, and loved his time a Stanford.

Our education system doesn't incorporate tennis. The LTA are currently trying to change this but only as far as promoting the game better by getting LTA coaches into primary schools to teach tennis within the curriculum for the summer season. Last year I linked my club to a LTA pilot scheme. Only 20 clubs took part. The pilot was to get kids in secondary schools playing tennis and link them to clubs by offering 6-week free membership. It worked well. Next year 150 clubs will take part in the scheme. I personally am ambitious about school schemes. I think education and tennis sit well together.

A few of our performance centres have links with private schools where tennis and education get fused together by having a flexible timetable. But this is expensive for the LTA as many of these schools cost a fortune to attend. Sometimes the parents foot the bill if they are wealthy enough. Many of these performance centres haven't worked well, however. One of my proteges went to Cambridge with Jamie Murray now some years ago but the whole thing was disbanded within a couple of years.

Tennisplayer is a world-class website. It offers information above and beyond what all other tennis websites can offer. But you can only lead a horse to water. A horse has to be thirsty to drink. Plenty of coaches know about this website, but it's only the 'anoraks' amongst us, steeped in tennis, who seem to continually dwell here. When I go to coaches courses here in the UK, I can spot from a mile off those who have frequented this website and those who have not, bearing in mind the LTA lay Tennispayer on as a free resource for coaches. The coaches lagging behind are something of an embarrassment for their lack of knowledge. You can visibly see course tutors cringing when some coaches don't even know what has became basic. All in all, however, standards of coaching and knowledge has gone up, and Tennisplayer has developed a cult following with some over here.

I found Tennisplayer.net. It didn't find me. I think that in itself says a lot. I have been called an anorak before today for my love of old clips and classic tennis...but I'm a happy anorak and that's all that counts.

Stotty

[bottle]

Term in this Interesting Discussion

http://www.bing.com/search?q=anorak&...R&pc=EUPP_DCTE

Check out second definition in boxed unit in midst of the links.

[doctorhl]

Thanks for your perspectives guys!