April 9, 2008
QuickStart, Right Size Tennis, Right Away
The USTA recently launched a QuickStart tennis program, you may have seen it on the front page of the USTA web site featuring Patrick McEnroe and James Blake. I think it is a great program because it brings young players into tennis the way baseball, basketball and hockey does in those sports. ATA was a pilot program for QuickStart Tennis and we’re already incorporating many of the rally based methods into the All-Star group.
In entry level baseball, players use a shorter, lighter bat and hit a softer ball off a ‘T’, effectively letting kids play the game immediately. It may be years before players develop to the ‘kid pitch’ stage of using regulation balls and bats, and wood bats are used only at the highest levels of the game. Similar entry level structures exist in basketball and hockey, shorter baskets, smaller balls, no live line changes etc. But for years, tennis has asked entry players to start the game on a pro sized court with a pro ball and a way too big racquet. QuickStart combines the right size racquet on the right size court, a low compression ball and a smaller net, letting kids play the game and enjoy the game right away.
The rally focus is very important in the QuickStart orientation. ‘Fed balls’ are an important piece of the developmental chain, but allowing kids to hit with each other and play games over the net is more fun and an equally important part of development. The QuickStart program facilitates this and is a great addition to entry level tennis. This summer, ATA offers 10 weeks of QuickStart summer camp for young and new players.
Posted by Jack Newman at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2008
The ATA Developmental Progression
We recently had a number of young players move up in our program from All Stars to the Junior Development program. step is a bigger level of commitment by both players and parents and all parties concerned were proud of the progress of these young players to advance in the ATA program. This reminded me that we should educate parents of all players of how the ATA developmental program operates.
Our 2007-2008 program was divided into the following levels:
ALL STARS
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT
JUNIOR ACADEMY
JUNIOR ACADEMY/JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT COMBO
ACADEMY LEVEL 2
ACADEMY LEVEL 1
In 2008-2009, our program will be divided into the following programs:
QUICKSTART ALL STARS
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT
JUNIOR ACADEMY
JUNIOR ACADEMY PLUS
JUNIOR ACADEMY/JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT COMBO
ACADEMY LEVEL 2
ACADEMY LEVEL 2 PLUS
ACADEMY LEVEL 1
These levels inside the ATA program are designed to serve the needs of players as they move up the developmental ladder as tennis players and tennis competitors. Each level has specific goals in the following areas
-Technical Skills
-Tactical Skills
-Mental Skills
-Physical Skills
-Competition Experience
-Leadership Skills
ALL STARS and JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT lay the foundation of skills for a player to begin competing in tennis. JUNIOR ACADEMY and upward are for players who are committed to tennis as “their sport” and who are committed to growing as competitors. This commitment manifests itself in a number of ways
-Volume of training per week
-Consistent work with an ATA primary coach
-Coachability
-Commitment to participation in junior team tennis
-Commitment to consistent tournament participation
Each of the programs offered are in place to allow players to succeed and move forward. There is no time line like there is in school, where each grade is usually one year long and then on to the next. Some players might spend 1-2 years in ALL STARS, 1-3 years in JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT, 1-2 YEARS in JUNIOR ACADEMY, 2-4 years in ACADEMY LEVEL 2 and 2-5 years in ACADEMY LEVEL 1. Some students may fly through the levels, especially if they start a bit later. What an 8 year old can do in 1 year and what a 13 year old can do in 1 year are two very different things because of their respective physical, mental and emotional development.
If you are interested in learning more about how the ATA program works, or how to best move your child through the program, please contact me or any of the ATA coachesand we would be more than happy to help you through this journey. Remember, as I always say, the sport of tennis is more like a marathon than a sprint.
Posted by Jack Newman at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2007
USOPEN Monday September 3
I have been at the USOPEN with the Doyle family, who received this trip from last year's scholarship shootout auction. We arrived in New York on Saturday. Austin and I went directly out to the open to watch matches. Yesterday the entire Doyle family and I were at the US Tennis Center all day watching the day and night matches. Lots of excellent tennis. While we were there, we joined up with ATA player Este Kaufmann and his dad Pete. We watched some young american's do well and we watched some of the top players in the world.
This morning, 2nd on after 11am we are going to watch ATA's Ashley Weinhold in her first round match in the junior portion of the USOPEN. She is playing singles and doubles. This draw features the top 64 junior players in the world, 18 & under. Ashley plays a seed today, but I'm not sure seeding means that much in this tournament since many of the girls have been playing primarily a professional schedule. We will also try to catch the Roddick and Federer matches today. Lots of great tennis at the USOPEN today.
Posted by Jack Newman at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2007
USOPEN Tuesday 5:30pm
A "good experience" is what you get, when you don't get what you wanted. Ashley wanted a win today but got a good experience instead. She got to compete on a large stage. She got to test herself, not against the best in Austin, not against the best in Texas, not against the best in the USA, but the best the world has to offer. She got to compete against the #6 ranked player in the world today. And, while the score was not close 1-6, 1-6, there were signs that Ashley can sucessfully compete with players of this calibar.
Chadvetdze is #6 because she has a 105+ mph serve that she can put wide or down the middle or into your ear. She has one of the best backhands in the world that is hit as hard as most pros forehands with excellent spin and depth. Her overall depth on all shots and her overall committment to hitting a high quality ball every shot simply was too much for Ashley to handle...today. A month from now, a year from now, 18 months from now might be a different story. As each player makes the transition to new levels, whether that's from ZAT to champ or champ to super or super to national or national to international or international to professional, there is always a period of time of gaining experience at that new level as the player learns what is necessary to be sucessful. It's called paying your dues. Everyone has to do it, Ashley paid some dues today to become a professional player.
She can take what she learned today and apply it to both the women's doubles and mixed doubles. She will be playing both of those events, in addition to the Girls singles and Girls doubles. She will be competing throughout this week and next in all 5 events in this Grand Slam. I believe she is the only player for a second year in a row playing in all five events.
Ashley says thanks to the many of you who have sent best wishes and positive energy.
Posted by Jack Newman at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)
USOPEN Tuesday 12:20
Arrived at US Tennis Center to grab some lunch. Ashley is 4th up on Louis Armstrong Stadium, we have a 2:30pm practice planned. Her match can come up at any time as it is dependent upon the prior matches. If the previous matches go fast, she will be on early, if they go slow she may go on late and be moved to Ashe stadium.
Posted by Jack Newman at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
USOPEN Monday 6pm
The schedule for tomorrow is out. ATA’s Ashley Weinhold will be the 4th match up on Louis Armstrong Stadium court. If matches on that court go late, she would be moved to Arthur Ashe Stadium. Armstrong is the stadium court we already practiced on early this weekend. Ashe is the big stadium at the USOPEN. Either of those will be one of the biggest tennis stadiums in the world to play on. What a great opportunity for Ashley to experience the biggest stage of tennis.
Ashley plays the #6 seed Anna Chakvetadze, who is currently #6 in the WTA world rankings. Chakvetadze has five years of tour experience. The pundits are saying Ashley does not have a chance, but we all know that on any given day, any athlete can have a great day or a lousy day. If Chakvetadze has a lousy day and Ashley has a great day, the pundits will have to eat their words.
To give you an idea of start time for tomorrow…third matches up today are finishing right now at 5pm New York, 4pm Austin time. We expect Ashley to go on sometime tomorrow between 3 and 5 pm New York time. You can track it on the USTA website which has live scoring and you can catch it on television on USA network.
Posted by Jack Newman at 5:19 PM | Comments (0)
USOPEN Monday 2:30pm
We were able to watch two young American's today at the USOPEN. Donald Young won in 4 sets for his first grand slam singles victory. Unfortunately Alexa Glatch lost 1 & 1 to #10 seed Bartoli. The last two games Alexa really relaxed and played well, it was jut a little too little, a little too late.
We also caught up with Lee Hamilton, the executive director of the USTA. Lee is a former president of the Texas Section of the USTA and before that former president of the Dallas Tennis Association and an Ashley Weinhold fan. Lee has promised to be at Ashley's match tomorrow.
Tomorrow's order of play will be released between 5-6pm New York Time, check back later for Ashley's match time.
Posted by Jack Newman at 1:46 PM | Comments (0)
USOPEN Monday 10:30am
Ashley and Madison had pratice court 20 this morning. We arrived early and got onto the court by 8:20am, it was a luxery again today as the girls did not have to share a court. If you are willing to pay the price of being early, you can get a court that you do not have to share. It was a solid 1.5 hour practice, both girls raising their intensity level in preparation for their matches tomorrow.
We are getting ready to go out and support the young Americans in the draw.
Yesterday I visited the USOPEN weight room for a workout. It is about 4 times the size of the ATA gym, with lots of equipment for the players to use. While I was there both Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic did a workout. While their time in the gym was not that long, their focus was very clear.
As Ashley goes through the last 24 hours before her match at the USOPEN, she will try to do everything right. She will try to relax as much as possible, get a good meal tonight and a good nights sleep. She will get a short practice in prior to her match and then wait for the call.
More later today....
Posted by Jack Newman at 9:38 AM | Comments (0)
USOPEN Monday 8am
We made an early trek to the National Tennis Center this morning to get an early morning practice. Both Ashley and Madison Brengle play tomorrow, but a large number of young American's play today. The girls wanted to get their practice in early so they could support their friends who are playing. You can see the order of play at this URL:
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/schedule/index.html
First matches go on at 11am. We will try to watch Alexa Glatch who Ashley is playing girls doubles with and Donald Young, who Ashley played Mixed doubles with last year. We will also try to see some of the big names of tennis today
The schedule for tomorrow should come out sometime this afternoon and I will post it to this blog as soon as it comes out.
Posted by Jack Newman at 7:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2007
USOPEN Sunday 10am
This is the first entry in my blog from the USOPEN. I am here with long time Austin Tennis Academy student Ashley Weinhold, her parents Guy and Lisa (ATA Pro Shop Manager) and John Des Dunes, Ashley's USTA Coach.
After arriving Saturday afternoon, we all met at the US Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. The first order of business is getting credentials. These are badges that you wear around your neck that get you access to various areas of the tennis center. Coach and Player guest credentials get you everywhere except the locker room. This is a great perk because it allows you to go into the players dining room where you can rub elbows with Roger Federer or Raphael Nadal, both of whom I saw in the dining area. Also the prices are subsidized in the players dining room, so you don't have to play $12 for a hot dog.
After getting credentials we went to practice. The practice was on court 19, probably the furtherest you could get from the center of the facility. (I guess this is where 1st time main draw players get assigned). Ashley and Madison Brengle (another young lady in the same USTA program with Ashley) had 1/2 the court for 45 minutes and that is it, the next group comes on and boots you. The girls practiced hard for that 45 minutes as you can imagine.
Afterward Ashley and Madison went to the USOPEN players meeting while Guy, Lisa and Coach Des Dunes and I met to discuss next year's program for Ashley.
John and I took a trip to the tournament directors office to talk to the practice court scheduler. Because Ashley is playing a top seed in the first round, we pled her case to get some practice time on one of the stadium courts where she might be assigned to play. All the courts were taken except Louis Armstrong from 8-9am. We grabbed the opportunity. We told the girls that the only time available was 6am, they reluctantly agreed to a 6am practice and were delighted when we let them know it was actually 8am. After that we departed the tennis center, Ashley was invited to a party hosted by Wilson, which she attended and was there with some of Wilson's top pros like Roger Federer.
We met at the girl's hotel this morning at 7am. One of the perks of being a main draw player is that you have an official car at your disposal. So we had a car pick us up at the hotel and drop us at the US Tennis Center. We arrived at 7:30am. We were the first players and coaches at the tennis center this morning, something all our players can relate to. We then went to Louis Armstrong Stadium. It is the smaller stadium and holds about 9,000 people when completely full. We used the whole 1.5 hours of practice and the girls did their normal routine and then played about 15 games..about a set and 1/2. This was a great practice due to a number of factors: 1) the girls did not have to share the court. To get the stadium to ourselves for an hour and half is a true practice luxery at the USOPEN, usually only afforded to top seeds.
The rest of the day the girls have off. We will plan a practice for tomorrow and will go out and support the other young American players what are competing in the draw. The schedule for tomorrow should come out later today, check the USOPEN website.
Ashley's first round match will take place some time on Tuesday.
Posted by Jack Newman at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)
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