Athletes will be Athletes and Kids will be Kids

I want to talk about ball striking.   One thing I learned at a recent PTR Racquets Conference at Saddlebrook is the importance of letting athletes be athletes.   Once you establish a baseline of technique, the optimization of that technique stems from how that athlete can leverage his or her strength, balance and momentum through that technique and into the ball.

Here, the right-handed player hits a left-handed one handed backhand. Not exactly the conventional technique.

This photo demonstrates how one athlete is doing just that, albeit with an unconventional approach to ball striking.   Here, the right-handed player is hitting a left-handed one handed backhand.  As coaches, we probably would not teach it this way, but this player is learning through experience.   This shot, as one can tell from the open racket face and the trajectory of the swing path, launched  high into the air. It actually got caught in the gym divider.   When the class realized the ball was not coming down, joyous shrieks and screams erupted from the group.   It was bedlam and euphoria wound into one glorious tennis triumph.  Novak Djokovic himself would be thrilled if his ball-striking pleased the crowd as much as this kid’s did.   

Novak Djokovic himself would be thrilled if his ball-striking pleased the crowd as much as this kid’s did.   

So I return to one of the great learnings at the recent conference: “Let athletes be athletes.”   Or in the case of this gym class demo, which, for most students, was their first time ever playing tennis, let kids be kids.   Let them hit the ball however they want and wherever they want because usually it’s the kids themselves who know how to have the most fun.   And fun is what I’m after when I introduce the sport for the first time.