Weekly Plan for Week of February 8 - 11

Hello everyone.  I am certain the content of the quote posted here is something that we have all heard before.  It is easier said than done but one that is extremely important to walk the talk for players and parents.

In the last several weeks and leading up to the Indoor Nationals, there are the Selection and Provincial tournaments to be played.  It is vital that our players stay on tasks and keep working to improve their skills.  In tennis, we are either progressing or digressing so let's continue our quest for success by working with intensity and putting in the right effort every time we step on the court.

We started the ball rolling last week by:

• giving each player a tennis journal.  In the journal, players are strongly encouraged to write down any information they received in regard to tennis and to read their journal during matches.  As a team, we did goal training for the week to specify exactly what the players want to achieve that week individually.  And at the end of practice, the players were asked to self-critique themselves which is for their eyes only.  We also did short term tournament goals pertaining to each tournament with the intention of narrowing the focus to greater performances.

• we did mini sessions of visualization.  Visualization is an advanced form of psychology to performances.  We all know how empowering visualization is to our success.  I am hoping in the near future we can adopt a consistent visualization practice into our training agenda.

So, what does this week's training look like?

Preparation Phase

With the frequency of tournaments it is almost impossible to peak for every one of them.  Without a doubt the Nationals is the tournament for our players to be at their peak.  And the next Nationals give us approximately 8 weeks to prepare.  The different phases of the training is 

broken into 4 phases - preparation, pre-competition, competition, and transition (recovery). And we are in the preparation phase for the next three weeks.  The focal points for the preparation phase is as follow:

• volume
• consistency
• rhythm
• tempo
• serves
• returns
• some points

The idea behind the preparation phase is to build stamina in tennis and in fitness.  All the drills will involve a lot of hitting and repetitions.  And fitness revolves around long intervals to build up their VO2Max which means lactic acid will be knocking on those legs.  So, players need to foam roll and stretch and ice the legs down at the end of the day.  Maybe an ice bath before bed?:-)

Several weeks ago, I posted some service patterns for players to practice on their own at least three times a week.  We have already seen much improvement from the serving department.  So, well done players!  Keep up the good work.

 Thank you everyone for reading this blog.  As always, please feel free to reach out with comments.