Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club recently installed two new ProBounce outdoor tennis courts, which is the newest innovation in tennis surfacing. The new ProBounce courts provide the perfect combination of playability and comfort for players due to the cushioned nature of the surface.
According to Ron Steege, Director of Tennis for Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club; “We have many members with joint problems who would love to get outside and play on a hard court again. ProBounce will provide these players with a cushioned, comfortable playing surface with all the characteristics of a hard court but with the softer benefits of a clay court. We are well known as an outstanding clay court facility, having ProBouce really puts us on the map as a multisurface club that is committed to providing our members and athletes with a choice in how they train without sacrificing their health.”
The benefits of ProBounce courts are numerous; they’re quiet, aesthetically pleasing, warranted against cracking, offer the ultimate in cushioned comfort, and are ideal for play both inside and outside. These courts provide excellent ball response, consistent traction, reduced impact stress injuries, and decreased player fatigue.
Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club, located in the heart of the Denver Tech Center, is one of the premier health and tennis clubs in Colorado, and is committed to providing its members with the most advanced technology available to improve game play. Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club was the first to provide clay courts to the Denver area, and now continues its dedication towards continuous improvement with this installation of the new ProBounce system.
July 1st, 2009 in
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By Kavan Hahn, USPTA
What should I have for dinner tonight? I think I should have worn the pink skirt instead; this one doesn’t go as well with my top. I wonder who is going to be sent home on American Idol tonight. These are some of the thoughts that might be running through your head as you’re on the court, fighting to win a third set. This would be an issue of focus. How important is focus on the tennis court and what can you do to improve your focus?
If you’re more focused than your opponent you’ll have the ability to beat players that have superior talent. If you are less focused than your opponent you’ll have the ability to lose to players that have inferior talent. You want to get the most out of your skills and if your mind is wandering you’re not going to be able to achieve that.
The key to being focused on the court is to have a plan for every point. I’ll go over the doubles positions, but this can easily be translated to the singles game as well. If you’re serving in a match, it’s important to decide where you want to hit your first serve, and also where you want to hit your second serve. Some players may be happy with just getting their serve in, but all levels of players have the ability to aim their serves better than they may give themselves credit for. You must decide if you’re going to serve and volley, or serve and stay at the baseline. These thoughts help bring you into the moment of the match, and keep your attention on the task at hand. If you’re the server’s partner, it’s important to communicate with your partner so you know where they’re trying to place their serve. This allows you to develop a plan in your mind as well. If your partner serves out wide, you know that you have to hold your ground but anticipate a ball coming over the middle. If your partner is going to serve down the T, then you’ll know that you can take a couple steps towards the middle and again anticipate the ball coming over the middle of the net.
The returning team must also have a plan. If you’re the returner, it’s important to decide before the serve is hit, where you want to return the ball. You can decide either cross-court, down the line, or a lob. You don’t need to communicate to your partner if you’re going cross-court because you should be attempting that 80% of the time, but if you decide to hit down the line or lob then you should let your partner know so they can plan accordingly. If you’re the returner’s partner then you need to have a plan as well. You can decide to charge straight forward if your partner gets their return past the net player. You can decide to charge forward and cross if your partner gets their return past the net player. You’ll have to plan to stay if your partner is going to go down the line or lob on their return.
What happens if you don’t execute your plan? Don’t worry about it! You have gotten your mind engaged and dialed into the point. There are going to be many, many times throughout a match when your plan doesn’t come to fruition, but your mind is already into that point and you’ll play better because you’re no longer thinking about the meatloaf you need to put in the oven.
July 1st, 2009 in
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Coach Theo with four members of the State Champion Cherry Creek Girls Tennis Team. Pictured from L-R is Caitlyn Shafner, Lauren Broyhill, Theo, Krysta Zayac and Stephanie McCauley. Caitlyn and Stephanie won at #1 doubles, while Lauren and Krysta captured the title at #4 doubles. Congratulations to all of our Cherry Creek state title holders! We’re proud of you!
As one of Greenwood’s youngest competitors. Anna captured a second place finish this past weekend at Meadow Creek. She is seen here with a proud coach Ron!
By Ron Steege
We’re now in the heart of the USTA league and tournament season and for those of us in the league and tournament business the warm up is one of the more challenging areas to manage. It’s also one of the bigger areas of complaints that we hear about from players this time of year. The problem is that very few players understand how to execute a proper warm up and very few tournaments enforce the warm up policy that they have created, unless there is an on site referee.
The first step in beginning a good warm up procedure is to understand that what you are doing is not practice, it’s a pre-match warm up. There’s a distinct difference in your mental approach to a pre-match warm up routine than a practice. In a warm up, you are generally allotted 10-15 minutes to develop a rhythm and feel for each of the strokes you’ll be using throughout your match. This includes groundstrokes, volleys, overheads and serves. In a practice, you have much more time to devote to one area of interest and perhaps other things as well, depending on your schedule. The big difference will be in your mental focus for each.
Unfortunately, space doesn’t allow for me to go in to all of the mental aspects of a warm up. My focus here will be to help you develop a more effective routine and improve time management. My first bit of advice is to take care of as many things as possible off the court prior to going on to the court. Activities such as re-gripping your racquet, filling your water bottle, getting a towel ready, changing your shoes and of course the big time saver - go to the bathroom! These things all add up and are often responsible for players arriving to their assigned courts 10-15 minutes late.
Before any balls are hit, a racquet should be spun to determine the serve and side. If the sun will be a factor during your match, I recommend knowing your preferred side before walking on to the court and standing on this side of the net. It is common for a player to not plan this out very well and if you win the racquet spin you may be able to have both the serve and your preferred side because your opponent is likely to choose the side they’re on rather than take the time to switch sides. So as you can see the racquet spin also determines the side that you warm up on.
Usually the warm up should begin with groundstrokes. Hitting service line to service line (mini tennis) with abbreviated strokes is a good way to ease in to your shots. After a minute or two, you should move back and progress in to full swings. Groundstrokes are usually exchanged for 5 or 6 minutes, then volleys by both players for a combined 2-3 minutes including overheads. Serves are then exchanged back and forth between players for the final 2 minutes. Return of serve is usually not part of the warm up unless one player has finished warming up and the other player needs to hit a few more serves. It’s perfectly acceptable to hit returns in this case, but in most other instances it’s considered improper etiquette.
Throughout the warm up your shots should be aimed directly to your opponent for consistency and longer rallies. I recommend aiming all of your shots for extra depth since most players have a natural tendency to hit shorter during the match. When warming up your serve, try to direct a few balls to each of the corners and be sure to hit all of the various spins that you plan to use. If you are feeling some nerves, one of the best ways to ease tension is to become more active with your feet, and don’t worry about working up a sweat. This will go a long way towards developing feel and getting you more mentally in to the match and off to a fast start.
Learning a solid warm up ritual is an important element of player development. Once you find a routine that works for you it will go a long way toward more consistent results. I hope these tips help and I look forward to seeing you on the courts!
April 26th, 2009 in
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February 25 - March 1, the Greenwood Tennis Club was definitely the place to be during our 12th Annual Club Championships. We had over 150 entries across 23 divisions, many players competed in multiple events! The competition was fierce, the food at the player party Saturday night was fantastic and the prize packages for the winners and runners-up were amazing. We handed out over $17,000 in prizes thanks to our generous sponsors!
Thank you to all of the competitors and congratulations to the Champions below:
Women’s 3.0 Singles – Holly Eike
Women’s 3.5 Singles – Anna Thumim
Women’s 4.0 Singles – Jan Kennedy
Women’s Open Singles – Molly Carter
Women’s 3.0 Doubles – Holly Eike & Jaime Steese
Women’s 3.5 Double’s – Pam Moss & Tracy Powers
Women’s 4.0 Doubles – Cathy Stemper & Kim Moorhead
Women’s 4.5 Doubles – Laurie Higgens & Suzette Riddle
Women’s Open Doubles – Molly Carter & Rhona Kaczmarczyk
Men’s 3.0 Singles – Steve Arnold
Men’s 3.5 Singles – Jim Scheper
Men’s 4.0 Singles – Mark Arlen
Men’s 4.5 Singles – Dave Hand
Men’s Open Singles – Kavan Hahn
Men’s 3.0 Doubles – Tom Swanson & Gary Wolfson
Men’s 3.5 Doubles – Jim Gruber & Bob Mason
Men’s 4.0 Doubles – Jim Arneill & Bruce Baskette
Men’s 4.5 Doubles – Brian Colon & Dave Hand
Men’s Open Doubles – Kavan Hahn & Ryan Haith
Mixed 6.0 Doubles – George Fath & Debbie Swanson
Mixed 7.0 Doubles – Deb Scheper & Jim Scheper
Mixed 8.0 Doubles – Bruce Baskette & Juliet Hubbell
Mixed 9.0 Doubles – Dave McMillan & Suzette Riddle
March 10th, 2009 in
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ESPN’s coverage includes: Crew of 170 people, 52 cameras and 10 replay machines. There will be over 100 hours of live programming plus 52 taped delayed broadcasts utilizing 12 announcers. Photo taken by Lou Kusserow
January 21st, 2009 in
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