How Are Juniors Training Tennis In Europe And Why Are They Better Than Americans?
I have a more general question and is related to training. As is obvious Europeans, in particular Eastern Europeans, have been excelling far greater over the years than Americans.
How are these younger players, in particular young girls, training? Are they working on either physical training 2/wk, and on their tennis skills 3/wk, or are they training on tennis every day?
Also do you have any suggestions for training a G12? Currently, we balance out my daughter by receiving lessons only 2/wk for an hour, so she can do other activities like girl scouts and soccer.
I have heard on serious tournament players are working everyday. We are realistic on our daughter’s tennis ability and only want to give her the tools she needs to be the best that she can be.
I can tell you how the top juniors in Slovenia train and it’s very similar in other European countries.
For example top 10 girls in Slovenia under 10 years all practice every day at least 90 minutes. Most of them have special fitness training (coordination, playing games, balance, reactions, …) twice a week for 90 minutes too.
Later, at around 12 to 14, most practice in the group 5 times per week for 90 minutes, 2 times per week 1 hour private lesson with a coach working on technique and 2 times or 3 times per week doing fitness as mentioned above.
Of course, most of the weekends they either play a tournament or a practice match. They typically don’t practice 1 day per week.
At around 16, they practice (minimum) 2 hours per day in the group and 2 times per week with a coach, 3 times per week fitness training + practice matches and tournaments.
Why are the players good?
I think the issue is that many kids from Russia, Slovakia (not Slovenia) and Serbia live a really poor life or they see the general poor life situations. They know that if they succeed they will have money and better life.
Kids from USA live a fantastic life and are not internally motivated to push themselves to the limit. Giving 80 to 90% of effort for 10 years will show lesser results than giving 95 to 100% for 10 years.
Another thing is that (in my opinion – from what I have seen in USA and read on the web) the American way of coaching is too analytical and everything is explained to the player. It’s also too technical – going too much into details and the player is not allowed to develop their own style.
This limits the player’s development and doesn’t teach them the problem solving skills. They are forever dependent on their coaches. Of course, they need to find a solution to a problem while playing a match without the help of the coach…
The European teaching is more game based – meaning we teach them more how to play tennis instead of how to move their body parts.
I am not saying that we don’t teach technique, it’s just that we teach fundamentals and the players develop advanced technique themselves through playing lots of drills where we train situations and how to play in a certain position on the court.
One thing that also came to my mind; there is a LOT of feeding (from the basket) in the USA.
We rarely feed. No one feeds you balls when you play a match…
Again – I am talking about the general approach I noticed. Not every coach in the USA feeds a lot and of course there are coaches in Europe being too technical and feeding a lot…
But the general tendency and the main difference can be clearly seen…
And in case of big numbers where millions of players train, you also see the results and the big picture…
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May 7th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Tomaz,
I am very interested in the coaching styles of the Europeans. You said there is a LOT of feeding balls from the basket in the US . .. what then do they do for building repetitive strokes in Europe?
-thanks,
John
May 7th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Hi John,
3 ways to repeat strokes by not feeding:
1. The coach volleys back the ball
2. The coach plays from the baseline
3. The players rally with each other (or at higher levels, the player volleys back to the baseline player)
May 30th, 2008 at 7:17 am
hi tomaz;
do you know any good drills that you can do with rallys?
we tend to become a bit bored and loose focus after ‘just hitting’ for 3 hours baseline to baseline
May 30th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hi Anneliese,
You need to have a purpose to keep the drill interesting. Every shot is either a neutralizing one or an offensive one.
You can neutralize an opponent with a long ball, fast ball, make him move and so on. And in similar ways you can attack an opponent.
So think about what is your goal – what do you want TACTICALLY to work on and then break the situation down to more simple drills if needed. If not, just play the situation.
I would usually change the drill after 20 to 30 minutes to something else. (serve, volley, …)
May 31st, 2008 at 7:01 am
Hi Tomaz;
Thanks for the really, really quite reply!
And thanks also for the good advice. I do believe tactics is the main area my game is lacking in. It is good to hear confirmation from an outside source
I’ve already tried it out on the court and it was great!
What are the main tactical plays or ideas that you teach players? or encourage players to develop into their games?
May 31st, 2008 at 7:33 am
One of the main thing in tactics is to recognize whether you can go offense or you have to try and neutralize your opponent.
Apply this to all 5 playing situations: serve, return, baseline, net game and passing game.
Then look for ways (tactics) on how to do attack and how to neutralize. This can be done my moving your opponent, taking the time from them, giving yourself more time and so on.
I am planning some DVD’s on this topic this year so stay in touch. But what I just mentioned here is the foundation of these DVD’s. You can even make them yourself, if you just think a little bit of all the options.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
Thanks!
That sounds great; I will definitely think about those ideas, of the offensive and defensive games. Look forward to watching the DVD’s and reading more of your site!