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Kids-Zone
Kids-Zone is a special area on the website that is devoted to junior activities at the club. It will hopefully be both informative and fun.
This page will be updated monthly with junior social activities, match fixtures and results, coaching tips, competitions and much, much more.
Competition
Social Activities
Junior Team Information
The season is now drawing to a close for the Junior Tennis teams although we are still awaiting final confirmation of how we have done.
Remember the Junior Tennis tournament will be starting at the end of August and entry forms will be available from the week beginning 10th August in the Club. There will be competitions at all the various age groups and we hope that you will all enter.
The Squash season will be beginning shortly and Julian Wilson will be organising competitive play. Please contact him for further details.
Tennis Skills
This section will show you the skills required that will give you a great basis to take your game forward. For this month it's some tips from Greg Rusedski to help you serve.
The key to building my serve was making sure I had a good ball toss. When I was younger, my dad used to mark a little circle on the floor so that when I tossed the ball it would always land in the same place. Then we worked on tossing the ball to the right height. If you watch most good players, they can always throw the ball up and it usually comes straight back to the same hand. I started serving when I was about six-and-a-half and I was quite fortunate that it was quite natural for me. Then through hard work I had a pretty good serve since the age of nine.
It's important to make sure you have a nice, smooth action where you can do the same motion consistently. It doesn't matter what grip you have, but just make sure you can do the same thing over and over. It comes through repetition basically. What you need to do is make sure your arms move together when you're doing the toss so they work in tandem. If your toss is all over the place then your arms are going to move differently and you'll have inconsistencies. Concentrate on the toss and on getting up on the serve when you're hitting it. Most people think that you have to bring the serve down fast, it doesn't. The arm will naturally bring the ball into court. So keep on accelerating up on the ball and use your legs to generate more power.
I always had a fast serve but I didn't always have the control! When I was about 10-years old I developed this by spending hours serving bucket loads of balls and placing targets down on the court for me to hit.I'd put a target on the backhand on the 'T', one out wide and one down the centre of the service box. To begin with it's usually easier to aim down the centre at your opponent's body. Then you can work out towards the corners while getting your first serve in.
Helpful tennis Info of the month
A guide to a Tennis Court
The singles court is 78ft long (23.77m) and divided in half by a net suspended over the tops of two posts.
The net should be 3ft high at its centre.
The singles court is 27ft wide (8.23m).
In doubles, the addition of 4.5ft (1.4m) 'tramlines' along either side court increases the width to 36ft (11m).
The court is edged by sidelines and a baseline at the end.
The service area is marked by a line 21ft (6.4m) from the net and parallel to it.
It is divided in half to form the two service boxes.
If any part of the ball hits the line, it's judged to be in or 'good'.
A Good Squash Practice
Use basic practices to groove and improve your shots. Make time for this perhaps before you play. It can have a big impact on your game in the longer term. Concentrate on doing a few practices well. My basic practice is the boast and drive routine. Starting at the front of the court I concentrate first on striking the ball, turning my shoulders, staying away from the ball and making sure I open the racket face and hit the ball sweetly just in front of my front leg.
After hitting, movement back to the T is crucial so that you can practise your positioning for the next shot. Practise getting in the right place for your shot and try to eliminate casual shots.
Drives should be hit flat and you should be always trying to beat your opponent with the shot just as you would in a match. When boasting, position is all important. To get the ball up consistently under pressure, you have to be back with the ball and far enough away from it to get a full swing in. Make sure you get behind the ball. Under pressure I tend to hit the safer three wall boast, but when I’m in a more attacking position I move my opponent up the court with a two wall shot.
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