A Game Called Tennis Baseball for Juniors

     When working with kids I've found they love games. Forehands, backhands, and all the rest are important but what about games? The red ball and modified equipment for juniors definitely has made the game easier to with smaller lighter rackets and smaller courts. Even so, there is a need to mix it up with fun group events that gets everyone involved.
      For the longest time, Max, one of our students had been asking to play a made-up game of "tennis baseball." This was one of the countless invented games I've come up with but had forgotten. After several weeks of his asking I decided to agree to it if he would help me remember it, which he was only to happy to do.
      First, all the players in the class are numbered to establish a batting rotation. One player is selected to be at bat (has to hit the ball over the net). All of the other players put their rackets down on a side of the court and then stand in positions out in the court on the other side of the net. They have to stay within their designated areas and cannot run into fellow outfielders in an attempt to snag balls from them. The player who is batting hits a fed ball from the instructor using a tennis stroke over the net. If one of the players on the other side catches the ball on the fly (this can modified to one bounce for smaller children) then that is one out. The batter gets a maximum of two outs. A miss over the net or outside the boundries of the court is also an out. If the batter makes a successful hit with no one catching the shot inside  the boundries that is a single, then makes a backhand over successfully without catch or error, a double. If the players makes a third (a deep forehand) a triple, the fourth shot (a deep backhand) a run batted in.
     The two out rule keeps batters rotating quickly. Keeping the ball in court with tennis strokes fosters good fundamentals, and having to catch a ball requires tracking and focus. All of these qualities make a better tennis player. With tennis baseball all of the kids get equal amounts of opportunity and the group excitment is contageous. The game is over when the instructor determines.
Perhaps a small award can be given for sportsmanship, winning, hustle, catch of the day, shot of the day, etc. The game can be modified with anything the instructor / students wish. This game could be done with red balls, foam balls, real tennis balls, and used with approach shots, volleys, overheads, serves, returns. This keeps the game interesting and develops all areas of the game in a fun setting. Time goes by fast. They don't want to leave the court.

Mental Toughness

Mental toughness, how can I improve it? What is it? What defines it?              There are a lot of books written on the subject. While spring training at Hilton Head with Salve I ran met Matt Curraco, head of the Ivan Lendl mental toughness department at Lendl’s tennis and golf academy on the island. Ivan, one of tennis’ hardest workers and toughest competitors of all time told Matt one simple thing to keep in mind.

“What’s that,” I asked. Tell us the secret I’m thinking.

 "90/10, he said." Control your 90% of the court and your opponent controls 10%. So many players and coaches focus on their opponents and not enough on themselves. He then took us through a workshop on mental toughness asking each of us to write down what their ideas where on what competition means to them.

Answers on competition ranged from skill matching, relaxed aggression, playing your best, giving your best effort, mixing it up, etc., etc., etc. And then we needed to define our games (baseline, all court, attacking, retriever, etc.). After defining your game you then need to do rituals that keep you mentally and physically ready.

Physical rituals include jumping up and down before starting a point, shadow swinging a correction, quick feet before the point starts and then a split step when your opponent strikes the ball, holding the racket loose in your hand so you can react faster with more racket speed, taking in water on breaks, and so on.

Mental focus includes staying in the moment, not over-loading your brain with commands, playing your game, hitting your targets, staying aggressive, and allowing yourself to play so that you get the most out of what you do.

The team gained much by thinking of the 90/10 rule. It’s simple, easy to apply and frees you up to be yourself. When that happens you truly are competing. You are not giving yourself tons of commands and admonishments. Each shot gives you feedback that your unconscious can process far better than your conscious self. Ask yourself to make an adjustment, visualize it, feel it and then trust yourself to let it happen. You’ll be amazed when you role play yourself as confident, fast, consistent, etc. Even if you don’t believe it, if you act it, you start to believe it. Funny, that reaches far beyond tennis.