Week 4 - Happy Thanksgiving

Weekly Plan for Week of October 3rd

Happy Monday everyone.  Now that we have all settled in with school and the academy, we are in on some exciting times coming up with tournaments and new training regimen.  

Week 1 & 2 we worked diligently on depth keeping the balls deep and working on consistency through tempo control and movement.  Week 3 (last week) we added taking time away by hitting early, not to be confused with pick up ankle shots, and moving up and back instead of just laterally.  This week we are going to focus on adapting to incoming slow and fast paced balls, how to warm up properly at tournaments when court time is a challenge, and the pre and post match discussion with coaches.

In House Topics:

• Changing of the guards and in our case changing of the coaches.  In my forty plus years in tennis as an athlete, a coach, and a parent, I have pretty much seen everything when it comes to tennis. It seems to me for those players who were able to achieve at a high level of play are those who had 3 coaches or less in their playing life time.  And those who kept switching never found the magic potion.  There was an article that was published a few months ago on this very topic that I hope you will take the time to read. Is the coach responsible for results?

• If you have not or unable to get on Slack on your phone please make sure you let me know.  All communications will be through Slack by the end of October.

• In honor of Thanksgiving Day, there will be no academy on Monday, October 10th.

Be Safe

~~~Patricia~~~

Slack - New Communication System

Hello Everyone!!!  Welcome back.  We are now into the third week of the Elite program.  Already, we have accomplished a lot in the past two weeks with some new and challenging on court drills, video taping for technical analysis, a 20 meter beep test, working in the gym, and playing lots of long matches to build mental and emotional endurance.  

In addition to the on court happenings, we have two other thrilling announcements.  We are extremely delighted to have a former ATP Tour player, Stephane Bonneau, joining the coaching team.  More details about Stephane to follow soon.  So, stay tuned to the next several blogs.

Our other announcement is the switch of communication via Slack. Please click on the link below to have more understanding of Slack.   http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/02/05/13-cool-things-might-not-know-can-slack/#gref.  Everyone (players and parents) should have received an invitation email from Yves to join Slack.  If you haven't please let me know.  Moving forward all information pertaining to the academy will be shared on Slack.  So, please be sure to download the app on your phone.

Until next time......

Patricia

Re-enrollment Due This Friday

Hello everyone!  Hope you are having a fantastic summer.  With camps, and tournaments, and family vacations I know everyone is super busy.  

Just a quick reminder for the re-enrollment deadline of the Elite Tennis Program for 2016/2017 is this Friday, July 15th.  If you have not returned the re-enrollment packet yet please do so before Friday.  And to those who already submitted it, we thank you for entrusting your student-athlete in our care.

It is important to note that after July 15th, the program will be offered to the public.  There is only 20 spots available in the program.  Last year, we had 4 over the limit and we are anticipating a full house this year.

If you are away or unable to return the form to the office please email it to Rouba at 
tennis@ontarioracquetclub.com or take a picture and text it to me at 647-546-4229.

It takes less than 3 minutes to complete the form.  So, please put it into action.  Go complete the form and send it back today.  Thank you.

By Patricia

Elite Summer Camp Week 1

Happy summer everyone.  Welcome to week one of Elite summer camp to kick off on Monday, June 27th.
Please see below for some quick facts.

07:00AM - 09:00AM    On court.
09:00AM - 10:00AM    Fitness
12:00PM - 02:00PM     Match Play Group I
02:00PM - 04::00PM    Match Play Group II

The morning session we will work on situation play follow by physical and/or mental fitness.  Due to the high volume of attendance, the afternoon match play will be held on a rotational system between 12pm to 2pm OR 2pm to 4pm.  A notification will be sent over the weekend.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.  See you on Monday.

By Patricia

Pre-Provincial Week

Dear players and parents.  The Elite program is now officially over.  While we await for the summer camp to begin in a week's time, I have set up some ladder matches to fill in the gap.  Players should have received a text with their match up by now.  Please contact each other directly to set up a suitable time.  The goal is to complete 2-3 matches with 7 point tie-breaker at 6 all.  Be sure to report the scores to Patricia to update the ladder.  If there are any issues or you need help in anything please reach out to Andrea, Peter, or me.

In addition to the ladder match play, this week will also be a good time to set up some one on one lessons to polish some technical glitches.

And parents, if you have not submitted the summer camp registration form yet please drop it off at the office or take a picture and send it to me this week. By the way, did you know that if you sign up for the entire 10 weeks of summer camp you are only paying for 7 weeks and get 3 weeks for free?  The 3 complimentary weeks are to set off for the Provincials and Nationals in the summer.  So, if you think your household athlete is going to be here for 5 weeks I'd encourage you to sign up for the entire 10 weeks.  It is extremely important your athlete has a familiar training ground where he/she can go in between tournaments to continue their skill development.

Have a wonderful week.  Until next time.

Patricia

End of Academy Year Announcement

Dear players and parents......the last day of the Elite program is coming to an end next Thursday, June 16th.  While it is sad to see the academy coming to a closed, we are extremely excited to a fantastic 10 weeks of summer camps.  If you have not registered for camp yet please do so immediately.

On behalf of the coaching team, we want to say THANK YOU!  

To the players, we say thank you for your hard work and for making us better coaches.  For when we teach, we also learn.  

To the parents, we say thank you for entrusting your kids tennis development in our care and for your dedication and support in making their journey possible.

Before we come to a closed please see below a short to do list.

1. Fun Time - Year End one point tournament and BBQ this Saturday, June 11th.  Sign-in for tournament at 4 p.m. follow by a cook out.
2. Summer camp registration?  We've built a momentum from the past year's training and we need you to make it possible for your kids to continue with their development without interference. Please turn in the registration now, if you haven't done so already.  Or contact me if you have questions.  Important!!!
3. There is one week off when the academy ends and when camp begins.  Last day of Elite program is June 16th and first day of camp is June 27th.  During the off week, please be sure to line up your lessons and match play.
4. Parents and players will be receiving an email invitation for a get together with Patricia to reflect on the year and to receive information for next academy year.     
5. Re-registration for next academy year to be released soon.

Thank you all,

by Patricia

Fantastic Week + More

Congratulations to 

Team Chimichangas 

lead by

Team captain Mike 

Hello everyone!!! I can't begin to express how excited and pleased I am of this past week's training effort. Here is a glimpse of the happenings that happened: 

1, 20 meter beep test 

2. Match play 

3. Mental fitness - How to Fail Properly (podcast) 

4. Reminder ITF Bermuda 

As coaches, we are always finding ways to push and challenge our athletes. And we did just that this week. Ok, I lied. We do that everyday and every week anyways:-). 

1. 20 meter beep test. It's been four months since we did the last beep test. We decided this week was a perfect time to do another so we pulled one on the kids. It may sound crazy but I was nervous for them. I know how hard we pushed them and how hard they worked on and off the court. So, the whole time while the kids were running I was having this dialogue in my head what if, what if???? 

To put the test to its purest form, we purposely did not disclose the result from the last log. We didn't give them an incentive. With no reference, they had to do the best that they could. Well, I am happy to say all of the them who did the test improved their fitness considerably. 

2. Match play. If you've ever done a beep test, you'd know that this exercise is one of the most demanding and unpleasurable experience. Your muscles are depleted, your lungs are burning, your heart feels like it's going to explode, you can't breathe, you are hunched over like someone just punched you in the stomach, So, after they got physically challenged we then imposed on their mental and emotional state by having them play matches. We put on a team event with singles, doubles, and mixed doubles headed up by team captain Andrea and team captain Mike. The prize for the winning team was not having to pick up balls at any practice for the entire week. And the winner goes to Team Chimichangas lead by team captain Mike. 

Upon observing the matches, there was a distinct improvement on the fitness aspect comparing to four months ago. We did the same method of testing in January playing matches after the beep test. An extremely difficult task to complete. Unlike the last test, this time all of the players competed hard. You could see they were tired but not exhausted to the point of throwing in the towels. They were fighting and competing on the court. There were no signs of negative body language. They were frustrated but they were in the matches. As an athlete, you never want to lose a match because you got tired because fitness is one of those things that is totally within your control. I believe that mission has been accomplished. From now on we will just need to maintain the fitness level. 

3. Mental fitness - How to Fail Properly. Okay, don't panic. Let me explain. With exams, Sectionals, Provincials, Nationals, and tournaments in the next few months, there will be a lot of stress on the kids. When we are successful, getting good grades, doing well at tournaments, it is easy to be mentally and emotionally healthy. But what happens when they do not get the results that they hope to get? When they fall short from their own expectations? What should we do? How can we help our kids when they fail? But wait, what is failure? 

One of the definitions for Failure on Google search is "the neglect or omission of expected or required action." So, if failing is only because I did not do the required action then I can just try harder next time, right? I don't need to feel all bad and negative about the experience. I just need to keep on working at it with intense focus, right? This is where I feel it is important for the kids to understand. Just because they didn't achieve the thing they set out to do that does not mean they failed. They don't need to lose interest in it because they think they are not good at something at the moment. We all want our kids to succeed and some time we don't know how to help. I have good news for you. I came across this marvelous podcast that I want to share with you. I really hope you will take the time to listen to it. It's about 30 minutes long. The kids already listened to it but I would encourage them to hear it again. Maybe take some notes in their tennis journal. Please click on link to begin listening The Life Coach School. 

4. Reminder ITF Bermuda. Please remember to email me at hytennis@gmail.com asap, if interested for your kid to play the ITF in Bermuda. We need a head count if we are to send a coach. Thank you. 

THE END