Red, Yellow and Green Light Tennis

Shot Selection! Undoubtly a very important part of learning how to make fewer mistakes and win more matches. Once the player has mastered the recognition of different shot selections their consistency improves and gives the opponent more opportunities to miss. The following tip is reffered to as Red Light, Yellow Light and Green Light. Each light determines the shot elevation, target and pace. The lights seem self explanatory, but lets do the boring stuff and define them.

Red Light - Defensive, 20-30 feet above the net. This shot is designed to give the player a second chance and more time to recover. That means that shot your opponent hits you puts you out of position to hit a normal stroke.

Yellow Light - Smart Shot Required with an elevation of 6-10 feet above the net! The yellow light shot is a ball that can be overlooked by players. They feel that they are in relatively descent position and tend to go for a too much. This shot is not really defensive or aggressive. The shot selected for this stroke is designed to be patient and wait for a green light opportunity.

Green Light - Aggressive! This does not necessarily mean hitting winner. A player's postion for the green light is great. This ball should be struck to put the opponent in a red light situation. A player should strive to be accurate and strike the ball at approximately 70% pace.

Shot selection can make or break a player during a match. Next time you go to the courts make sure you are able to recognize Red Light, Yellow Light and Green Light.

Coaching for the Serious Junior Tennis Player

Many players want to know how much coaching does it take to be a great player. Honestly, that varies from player to player. However, for most junior players I recommend 1 private and 2 group drills per week plus at least 4 hours/week of practice during the school year. That is an 8 hours of tennis per week. That is generally about all that a school going player can expect to put into their games and keep their grades up.

It is important that the player be focused during practice and lessons because time is not as easy to come by during the school year. Private lessons must focus on one or two topics and then be diligently practiced on the players own time and during drill sessions. Players generally do not make big leaps during school year tennis, but a player can improve steadily if he/she dedicates themselves to a schedule.

Drill Sessions are just that. They are designed to encompass the entire group. A player only gets out of a drill session what they put into it. I hear junior players complain abou the fact that they don't get much from drill session. My first question to them is, "Did you focus and give the drill 100% effort?" Generally, they reply with "I was bored" or "They weren't working on shots that I am working on". Those are excuses!

In conclusion, a serious junior player should do 1 private per week, 2 group lessons per week and put another 4 hours of personal time into their games. These hours should be focused and have a specific goal in mind. If this pattern is followed, a player can expect a steady increase in skills and improvement.

Thanks for reading my blogs and feel free to leave any suggestion, comments or questions.

Developing Tournament Level Tennis Players

Tennis professionals will argue the path to designing and developing a great player till the world looks level. This pro for one thinks there are many ways to develop a top notch tennis player. I feel that it is more important to focus on what the player does with his/her practice time more than what mechanic works better than another. Players from around the world all have different styles of tennis, but they all have one thing in common. They practice with a focused goal in mind everytime they are on the court.

For example, when we go to school or to our jobs we have specific things that need to get done everyday and we only have a certain amount of time to complete these goals. For the tournament bound player, practice should be taken exactly the same way. A player should enter a practice session, lesson, drill or match with specific goals in mind and spend the time that he/she has on the court with a purpose. If your goal is to practice a certain aspect of your forehand, then you should be attempting to run arround backhands and hit as many forehands as possible. If accuracy is your goal, then you should take hitting winners out of your shot selection and practice strickly hitting to the target. I am sure you catch my drift. The problem with most players is that they lose sight of what they are trying to improve on and only focus on hitting the ball over the net and in the court. That is what this pro calls "Caveman Tennis".

Next time you are on the practice court, have a specific goal for the period of time that you are one the court. Players with discipline and focus on their goals are the first to advance to next level. Those that waste their time with "Caveman Tennis" slowly become extinct.

Good luck out there on the court! May your wins be many and your double faults be few!

Be sure to check out what is going on with tennis in Fredericksburg at Barons Creek Club.