HAPPY NEW YEAR !! -May your 2010 goals be reached

Just a post wishing all my readers and passerby a Happy New Year. I'm sure all our young aspiring tennis players have set 2010 goals, I have, so I do hope all will be reached. Goals are very important and they provide the reason why you work towards them.Im sure as the Australian Open looms near the pro players have all ready set their 2010 goals.Will Nadal be able to defend his title and what of Justine Henin and her comeback tournaments in Australia will she return to greatness.Some Goals require a lot of will power and drive ( I know mine will)I am a believer that one has to overcome some mental barriers to reach goals or improve themselves as a tennis player, once you do this the rest is easy.So as we herald in the new year I hope 2010 brings to you what you are prepared to put in. Many start off with good intentions and falter, raise the bar , go that extra mile, Good Luck and bring on 2010!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR

Video Analysis A great Tool for Coaches and Players

I have posted a video of Leela Beattie who I have worked with over a 5 year period.You can see her when she was 10 years to recent,in fact as of today. Notice the pigtails!The second part is of Tyler Begg and the forehand swing,one is 3 weeks ago before I modified some changes and the other is as of today.I think you can see by the swing the difference.Video is certainly a great tool especially when you can use a split screen , see the changes over a period and also seeing a younger version against the more mature version.Certainly a lot of tennis balls have been hit to achieve this.

Tennis is Hard off the court also

Fitness and training is very important to any aspiring tennis player.I thought I would share a video with you of young Canadian Tyler Begg who is staying with me over the summer assiting with various coaching programs.He also is working extremely hard to improve his own tennis game and with the work he has been doing with me over the past few weeks will I think reap benifits to his game.Some of you out there need to seek out a good off court program to help get success on the court.Enjoy!

Tennis takes you world wide, you dont have to be Federer

Merry Christmas to all and hope where ever you are in the World you have a wonderfull day.Christmas is a time for celebration and even if you are not home and you are away from family and friends its a time for reflection as thoughts drift back to where ever you are from.Tyler Begg above is pictured with Gabrielle Grady, who is just back from another injury(they alone need a full article to cover) enjoying a workout at the South Canterbury Tennis Center, Timaru ,New Zealand.Tyler hails from Calgary Canada and is having great experience working here in the South Canterbury area and also a chance to work on his game as well as coaching.Tennis can open the door in many fields ,not only Federer etc get exposure and success through the sport , so does people like Tyler and Gabrielle, because of their passion and participation in the sport one gets to travel to the otherside of the world for a tennis experience and they like Federer and Nadal etc make tennis a big part of their lives.Again to all that visit my Blog a Merry Christmas and do drop by over the holiday period Im sure to have a few iteresting story's and of course pics and opinions.

LANE WINS!

Sam Lane defeated Brad Falconer 6-2 6-3 to win the 12s Consolation singles Title at the 2009 Optus 12s Aust Boys Singles Championship.Sam was able to keep Falconer pinned to the baseline and managed to unleash his forehand a number of times for the win.This is a great effort from Sam and no doubt will of gained a lot from this tour.

Played at the home of the Australian Open where many great champions have graced the courts would of gave juniors like Sam "goosebumps" as they stepped foot on the same arena.To represent their country in any sport is a great accolade and Sam should be justly proud of his results as we are of him back in New Zealand.

Sam Lane Into 12s Australian Consolation Singles Final

Sam Lane continues his winning streak in Australia. Sam’s Father updated me with the latest news.” Sam is through to consolation final 9 am Sunday. He met 10th seed first round and struggled in the 40 deg heat as well as getting the flu. Has managed to improve each day and has come from behind every match so far. Clint has been doing the stats on his games and it will make interesting reading for you. As you said, he has to rally every point and construct
it so this tournament has been very good for him.

Great effort Sam and from all here in South Canterbury we wish you the best of Luck In tomorrow’s final- the eye

Christmas Tournament Timaru

Today we held a Mystery Tournament with a Christmas theme!.The pointscore system will remain a mystery until the next event is held( its just as mysterious as TOP DOG).Henry Craib was the most consistent and deserved to win the Overall best player, winning the champions Christmas Wreath. Henry just pipped Brad Cvtanich and Hugh Rollinson to win the event.Overall it was a fun day with I think all juniors having a great time.The eye is pictured in the montage with competitors.

Lane getting the Most from Australian 12s Tour

What an experience 12 year old Sam Lane is getting playing for your country at the venue of one of the worlds grandslam's home of the Australian Open.By all reports Lane is performing well and getting plenty of court time.As a coach it justifies the hours spent on court when you see a junior under your guidance achieve a very important goal.The above pictures are the New Zealand 12s Boys and Girls team, Sam is back row left.Pictured right Sam is in action from one of his matches.

Here is a little of what Sam's father said in an email today

"Sam has been the dbls partner to Kyle so far. They had 2
match points against NSW but couldn't finish it. I got back
here on Sunday and Clint said Sam was on fire against NSW
and Victoria but they couldn't quite finish it. They were on
court for 14 hrs on Sat.

He played singles today against Queensland and beat there
No2 6/3 4/6 6/4 after 3 1/2 hrs but unfortunately has rolled
his ankle. Hopefully ok tomorrow the physios really good
here. Had there photo with Scott Draper today. Boys are
blown away by the whole experience here, especially with the
wildcard playoff for the Aussie open taking place now. Quite
a good report on TNZ website"Read that report here

Your Doing South Canterbury proud Sam ! keep up the good work----the eye

The Tony! New Tennis Craze in South Canterbury ,New Zealand

Featured in this clip are kids from Sacred Heart, Fairlie Primary, and Albury schools,All in out tennis program.Star of the Clip is Tony! The kids all had a lot of fun trying out this tennis skill as you can see on the video.

I Have Said it before ITF Junior Rankings are sometimes Mickey Mouse

Looking at the Orange Bowl which is widely recognized as one of the most important junior tennis championships in the world, in the 18s Boys draw, firstly I wanted to see how the New Zealand contingent did, Grinter,MCLACHLAN and Franks all made first round exits.I noticed that a Wild Card Jack Sock(USA) knocked out the second seed in straight sets. Sock currently has a ITF Junior Ranking of around 499, Ben MCLACHLAN is the highest New Zealander of a combined total 67 on the World junior ITF Boys ranking.So obviously Sock's ITF junior ranking did not warrant a seeding in this event......shame for the second seed . So I investigated further to find Jack Sock had just won a US Men's Futures event.Sock is born in 1992.He has an ATP Men's ranking of 699 a career high.Included in the futures success was a win over Michael Venus who was born in New Zealand but is listed as USA, Venus has had a great US College career.While juniors sit this side of the world and leap frog up the ITF junior Ladder players like Sock have really left the Juniors to make a name for themselves on the Senior tour.We need our top juniors mixing with the "cream of the crop" not playing amongst themselves in Fiji and New Caledonia........it all makes well and good for Mickey Mouse rankings. Check the Orange Bowl results here

Age and Experience Prevail in Southland Open

Perry Crockett pro Coach from Wanaka who has had an ATP ranking dished out a lesson to the former US College players in to days semi and final.Crockett made short work of Jeff West 6-1 6-1 overpowering West in all aspects.He then went on to beat Oliver Cuthill in the final 7-5 6-2.Cuthill who has lost to Crockett on three previous occasions found that he had made little in roads to the Crockett game and after a close first set Crockett dominated the second to take the title.Earlier Cuthill had defeated Tyler Begg 6-3 6-4, Begg fought his way back into the second set to 4 all and led 30-0 on serve but played lose points to allow Cuthill to break and hold serve for the match.The match featured an enormous amount of short balls from both players with Cuthill using his power advantage to eventually attack Begg's short balls , Begg played a negative match and will no doubt learn from this.
Even though a match can have a score line of 6-3 6-4 it can be an extremely tight encounter with just a few points tipping the scales for victory.A missed overhead or a silly drop shot may just be the game breaker your opposition needs for victory.

Three ex US College Tennis Players Dominate Southland Open Mens Singles

Jeff West (Lipscomb University),Tyler Begg (UNC- Asheville) and Oliver Cuthill(UNO-New Orleans)all won through to the Men's Semi Final Stage to be played tomorrow in Invercargill.Odd man out in the semi's is Top Seed Perry Crockett Pro Coach from Wanaka. Crockett will take on West who hails from Dallas Texas with Crockett favored to win.

West will have to nullify the big serving Australian and keep him on the baseline.West will have to serve well to stay with Crockett.Earlier West had a comfortable win 6-1 6-2 over Andre Van Rooyen in a quarter final match up,Van Rooyen was in South Canterbury last season with the coaching team.The other Semi Final will provide plenty of interest"the eye" who worked hard to improve Cuthill's game before he went to college tennis will have split loyalties but thinks Begg will have the edge.Cuthill will have to serve well to have any chance and "The eye" feels Begg's consistency and all round game will be the telling factor.Does he have the "inside oil" on Cuthill , tomorrow will tell. Begg is from Calgary Canada and Cuthill the local hope.

Tennis in Schools -South Canterbury

Continuing or School Highlights, and this week I have added Barton Rural and Beaconsfield School.

Most Country school kids show an abundance of enthusiasm and usually good "hand, eye" co-ordination.I look forward each week working with the juniors and their certainly are some larger than life juniors at each school.