Blog post - July 2021

As I'm due to head down to the National Tennis Centre this weekend to support some of my junior players at National Junior Club League Finals, I thought it would be a timely post for coaches and parents to offer my top three tips on prepping before tournaments.

1. Physical training - It is important not to over do pre-tournament physical training and hitting sessions. My top tip is to complete a physical session focussing on speed and agility the day before the competition to ensure their movement is sharp and fast. Each session should include high intensity drills, but low volume with lots of rest. Our Tennis SuperMovers programme is ideal, with easy access to the lesson plans and videos on your phone, we can be with you whenever you need us. For more information on our current offers, click here.

2. Food prep - Teaching players how to fuel their bodies properly for match play has long been a hot topic - sugar may help during match play to boost...

This week's Exercise of the Week comes direct from the Tennis SuperMovers programme. We use the SMASH curriculum, which works on Strength, Movement, Agility, Stability and Honing Coordination, the drill come under the Movement umbrella.

Within one simple drill we work on several components, including spatial awareness, acceleration, deceleration, change of direction and fundamental movement shapes - now thats a lot of bang for your buck in one drill!

In this video I give you a few progressions and several top tips, including how to make the drill competitive. Check out the video and I challenge you to have a go at adding this one to the start of your next session.

Check out last week's exercise - Exercise of the Week 12 - Football Tracker

Exercise of the Week 12 - Football Tracker

With all eyes on the Euro 2020 final this weekend, we thought we would share with you a fun drill called the Football Tracker.

It focuses on the transferrable key skills of coordination, perception, tracking and footwork. You can increase the difficulty of the drill over two levels once players become confident with the initial concept. You can also tweak it to develop the footwork needed to run around the backhand.

Give it a try and tag us in your Instagram video using @howardgreensupermovers and @tennissupermovers

Last week's exercise - Exercise of the Week 11 - Trouble Shooting the Lunge

Blog Post - July 2021

In this short video, Howard discusses the importance of assessing your players' strengths and areas for development - as the saying goes 'if you are not assessing, you are guessing'.

The building blocks of athletic movement - Fundamental Movement Patterns and Skills -  are explained and how these underpin the Integrated Tennis Shapes championed by Tennis SuperMovers which enhance the chances of success on-court.

Howard discusses the meaning of Position, Pattern, Power and Transfer with reference to the the physical preparation of tennis players for competitions and tournaments.

Finally, he shows you what a Physical Competency Assessment Report would look like for a player working with us as part of a high performance tennis centre with the aim of creating SuperMovers! 

We hope you enjoy the talk and find the information useful! If you have any questions, just email Howard at [email protected].

Check...

Exercise of the Week 11 - Trouble Shooting the Lunge

Find out here how to master the lunge for tennis players of all ages and abilities.

The lunge pattern is one of the most common integrated tennis shapes that all players must be able to master for all surfaces, however, during the grass court season this is even more important.

Grass courts are particularly fast and the ball bounces low. The lower bounce demands greater bending in the legs. Increased speed and explosive power are also needed to get to the ball faster. Due to these conditions, players can experience:

• Painful glute (buttock) muscles and hamstrings due to the low bounce.
• Low back niggles due to reaching for the ball rather than bending the knees.
• Knee pain due to sudden stopping and the low bounce.

These issues can be overcome by rehearsing the key exercises that underpin this movement pattern. In this video I show some of the common faults you may see in your players, along with a variety of...

Coordination Training - Part 2 - July 2021

In the second part of this two-part blog on coordination training, I will discuss the different elements involved and how to best integrate them in training programmes for success.

Firstly, when identifying the different components of coordination, you can use the mnemonic RB RADIO - here are the different areas and examples of each:

• Rhythm – best thought of as the ability to execute tasks using different tempos and speeds. Think of the different speed and tempo of movement to the net under two separate situations – chasing down a tough drop shot versus movement towards the net after an effective shot, putting the opponent under pressure and receiving a short ball.
• Balance – possibly the most important factor in tennis, this quality underpins movement, it is the management of equilibrium in both static and dynamic situations. Think how wide the top players can be stretched off the court, yet can maintain...

Coordination Training - Part 1 - June 2021

Coordination training is an often misunderstood and, at times, haphazardly delivered element of physical preparation. As with everything in coaching, context is king. A simple search of coordination training can lead you to a whole host of elaborate and dynamic drills. A well-meaning coach sees these drills and looks to implement them in their next practice – but, more often than not, the context for including that exercise is often missing.

My mentor, Darren Roberts, taught me that at any one time, someone should be able to step into your session and ask you the question “why are you doing that exercise and what are you looking for?” 

You should be able to answer this three times. Let’s take the above situation as an example - the coach has found ‘an amazing drill’ on social media, the post says it is working on reactions. So, when questioned for the first time on why they are doing...

Exercise of the Week 10 - Fast Feet - Dot Drill

Quick feet are a huge asset to tennis players at all levels. Foot speed and coordination can be improved by performing drills that require strength, balance and explosiveness. There are many ways to improve footwork, including on-court drills, ladder drills, and jumping rope. 

It is often difficult to maintain a footwork-conditioning program for tennis players, especially when they are traveling. But this drill can be performed in a very small amount of space.

Tennis players must move in a variety of directions with accuracy, speed and coordination. A conditioning program to improve footwork must include a wide variety of movements. Single leg drills are particularly important to tennis players as they must often stop, balance, and shift the body weight in the opposite direction from a single leg. 

A lower body strength base is a prerequisite to effective movement training.  With a good strength base, tennis...

Though the terms ‘agility’ and ‘change of direction speed’ are often used interchangeably, recent knowledge has distinctively separated the two. Put simply, agility involves reactive abilities in unpredictable environments, whilst change of direction speed focuses purely on physical ability and is typically performed in pre-planned environments.

Agility in sport is defined as ‘‘a rapid whole-body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus’’ (Sheppard, 2005). Meaning agility must involve a reaction to a stimulus, for example, when a player reacts to the serve during the return.

In this video I go through a number of change of direction and agility drills. I also use and explain a continuum of general to specific reaction stimuli. Throughout we use the same pattern, know as the X-pattern, where the player moves diagonally forward and back.

Below is the list of drills, to best understand the purpose of...

Podcast Blog Post - June 2021

I recently featured on the My Tennis Journey podcast, where I chatted to Rob Salmon about my passion for under-10's tennis and giving everyone the chance to stay active and get stronger and faster.

We all know the positives that technology offers, but I often see the issues that overuse of tablets and mobile phones, for example poor posture and weak cores, which is having a direct impact on development and on-court results. And, with summer school break fast approaching, it's important to keep it in mind to mitigate any overuse injuries!  

Have a listen and let me know what you think!

http://www.smarturl.com/mytennisjourney 

Start the discussion and tag us @howardgreensupermovers on Instagram - what are you doing to stay active and focused!?

Next take a look at: If you are not assessing, you are guessing!

Have a great week, 

Howard