2023 Winter Conven on
Our next USPTA GA Winter workshop and Annual Awards mee ng is just around the corner. It will be held on Friday, December 1, 2023, at beau ful Atlanta Athle c Club. We have a great speaker line-up of topics, as well as our headline speaker, Ken DeHart
Our other speakers along with Ken DeHart, are Lane Evans and Jim Carella.
We will also have a wonderful lunch overlooking the golf course and awarding all the great efforts that our many wonderful professionals have put in this year in Georgia of USPTA Southern.
Last year we had 74 a endees and we are expec ng another great turnout from all of our professionals. The schedule is as follows:
8:30-Lane Evans
9:30-Jim Carella Pickleball levels.
10:30-12 Ken Dehart
12-1:30 lunch, awards
1:30-3 Ken Dehart
3-4 Lane Evans
USTA GA is also offering a program to help uncer fied pros became cer fied with a grant to offset the cost of the cer fica on process. Please pass
CERTIFICATION GRANT OPPORTUNITY
PLEASE BECOME AMBASSADORS AND SPREAD THE WORD TO THOSE TEACHING PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN CERTIFIED.
USTA-GEORGIA'S TENNIS PROFESSIONALS COMMITTEE IS OFFERING A SPECIAL GRANT TO THOSE NON-CERTIFIED TENNIS TEACHING PROFESSIONALS IN GEORGIA WHO SEEK AND OBTAIN CERTIFICATION EITHER THROUGH USPTA OR PTR. THE GRANT IS ONLY FOR NEW CERTIFICATIONS.
ALL DETAILS ARE INCLUDED IN THE BELOW JOTFORM LINK APPLICATION BELOW. SPECIFICALLY, PLEASE READ THE GRANT CRITERIA AND BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATION AS WELL AS COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.
https://form.jotform.com/220894744804059
Success is a journey, not a des na on. The doing is o en more important than the outcome.
Arthur Ashe
Nothing can subs tute for just plain hard work
Andre Agassi
USPTA Workshop in Atlanta - Ma Grayson
Depth Drives Decision Making.
Most club level players are not truly aware of the depth of shots that they hit or that their opponents hit so we are making bad decisions based on bad informa on.
Most of the reac ons and tac cal adjustments we see during play are all adjustments made based on reac ons to opponents’ shots and not adjustments to take away the opportuni es that are hur ng us in play.
Be er Depth recogni on drives be er shot selec ons and counter a acks:
Step 1: Divide courts into thirds (sec on 1 front third, sec on 2 middle third, and sec on 3 back third)
Have players rally and call out where the opponents shot will be landing by the me the ball crosses the net. Most players are not very accurate with this judgement, but it does explain why they have a hard me moving back or forward in me to get a be er shot during the rallies.
Step 2: With all four players back try and get a rally going by only hi ng the ball into zone 3. The receiving team can call out the depth of shot as well.
Work on the mix of speed and height that they need to get the desired depth. Most shots will land in the middle third, but it makes them aware of the shots that they are hi ng.
Step 3: Move one side to the net (just inside service line) and keep the other side back.
Have the net team try and hit all the balls back to zone three and stay back around the service line. The baseline players are now trying to hit to zone 2 since the other team is moved forward and is not at the baseline. Preferably down the middle to reduce angle returns.
Step 4: Have all players start back and if their opponents hit the ball into zone 1 or 2 they can come to the net. If they are successful in keeping the ball in zone 3 they all stay back. Once they get a zone 1 or 2 they immediately come in. As the team moves from the baseline to the net the opposing team should adjust its shot selec on from deep to zone 3 to zone 2 due to the court posi oning of the a acking team.
Step 5: The net players are now in a posi on that allows them to use zone 3 or zone 1 if they are going back to the baseline player and they can go into zone 2 or 3 if they are a acking the other net player.
Zone two to the baseliners allows the baseline team to have more op ons than we can cover.
Step 6: One up and one back team movement based on our shots
PIZZA!!
Net players coverage on zone 2
Stay out of the box of death!
Team movement and shot selec on if we hit a zone 3
Disarm the lobber
Tennis Dyslexia
Step 7: Team pa erns of play with depth numbers
31 – deep ball and if you get a zone 2 response go short to zone 1
13 – on a short second serve of weak baseline shot go short to zone 1 and then close into volley back to zone 3 where the space was created
Run 5 ball drill and make the first shot non nego able to help make decision making easy under pressure. (Rally ball, defensive ball, volley start, angle, take lob out of the air)
We used this process for the en re ALTA season this year and we really saw a big improvement in the tac cal decision-making during match play. It also helped them understand what was available to them based on the opponents shots. Once they realized not every shot was available every me they could focus on the a acking and defense that was needed in that scenario.
UTA Cup Tournament Summary
Evan Stack and Liam VillanteEarlier in May, Universal Tennis Academy (UTA) held an intra -academy tournament (called the UTA Cup) for its 10U players, consis ng of both green and orange ball divisions. The two-day tournament was comprised of Round Robin play on Saturday, with the group winners playing final rounds on Sunday.
“We had the idea at the beginning of the year of ‘Let’s revive the UTA Cup,’ and I think it was a great success for the first year back,” said UTA coach Evan Stack. “I was so proud of how the kids competed, win or lose. They were able to implement many of the skills and strategies we’ve worked on this school year in a compe ve, yet comfortable, environment.”
“It was wonderful to see the UTA Cup brought back and to see the young players compe ng and having fun,” added UTA coach Liam Villante. “We hope this event sparked the passion and joy for tennis within the players, and we look forward to their growth as they are the future of our programs! Evan and the coaches that assisted with UTA Cup did a tremendous job.”
“We had the idea at the beginning of the year of ‘Let’s revive the UTA Cup,’ and I think it was a great success for the first year back,” said UTA coach Evan Stack.
In total, there were 34 players who par cipated in over 65 matches. For many of these junior players, it was their introduc on to tennis compe on.
“I was so proud of how the kids competed, win or lose. They were able to implement many of the skills and strategies we’ve worked on this school year in a compe ve, yet comfortable, environment.”
“It was wonderful to see the UTA Cup brought back and to see the young players compe ng and having fun,” added UTA coach Liam Villante.
Thank you to USTA Atlanta for sponsoring registra on gi bags for the players! We look forward to hos ng UTA Cup in the future, as it once again proved to be an excellent way to teach and grow the game, while crea ng las ng memories and rela onships.
The Right Approach—Rick Wille
Providing Instruc on
Kevin Theos
This presenta on provides the tennis professional op mal ways to provide instruc on for individual player lessons.
What type of augmented feedback works best?
Verbal Feedback, which reinforces what the student is doing correctly.
Highlight hi ng to targets and performance vs body mechanics.
Over me, taper feedback le ng the student ask the ques ons on their performance. This helps them improve faster as they have more self- awareness.
How do we change long term movement pa erns?
There are several ways. The coach first does a reassessment. Amplifica on of an error, amplifica on of correct movement, and emphasizing the new ways of court movement over the old ways.
Raise awareness on what adjustments are needed with footwork, follow through, and finishing with the open stance with correc ve reinforcements. Targets are always a good way to drive home these points.
Reward vs Punishment
This is a balance issue. Presen ng punishment as an outcome to poor play is nega ve. If going to have them run laps, give them reasons that it is not due to punishment. It is about ge ng in be er shape, having more match endurance, and speeding up recovery between shots.
Be crea ve with rewards.
The key is to treat every player the same differently.
How does a coach emphasize visualiza on?
Augmen ng mental imagery of a match or a certain shot is a plus, for improvement follows.
Use visualiza on as part of a 90-minute prac ce, where the
have them run laps, give them reasons that it is not due to punishment. It is about ge ng in be er shape, having more match endurance, and speeding up recovery between shots.
Be crea ve with rewards.
The key is to treat every player the same differently.
How does a coach emphasize visualiza on?
Augmen ng mental imagery of a match or a certain shot is a plus, for improvement follows.
Use visualiza on as part of a 90-minute prac ce, where the players stop hi ng for 10 minutes and are mindful of winning a game winning a set, winning a match. Improvement is certainly a result of this mental repe on. It is important for the player to do this daily.
Purpose of the analogy:
Eye training is a major key. Organize an effec ve prac ce based on caliber of play. Declare the improvements made during prac ce. Provide an analogy informing the group how much be er they played than the last prac ce specifically with footwork and number of exchanges. This will enable them to remember the gains made that are feasible from the analogy.
Provide feedback for the forward momentum achieved vs errors made. All of this presenta on was based upon evidence of scien fic research.
USPTA Georgia Board
Dave Neuhart President
Rick Wille Vice President
Carmen Garcia -Jersild
Liam Villante
Tim Smith