MICRO-STEPPING AND ON COURT SPEED IN TENNIS

Can specific series of micro-stepping exercises increase on court speed in tennis players?

Yes—It can. It was observed with  two un equated groups with pre- post test design involving tiny steps of progression[3to4inches]with toe, ball of the foot at forward, sideward, backward progressions and ball-heel-ball-toe, heel-ball- toe with only forward progressions and inter-spread with striding for 30 meters proved to be beneficial in improving the on court speed of tennis players. Speed on court was tested by using modified line running test.

Jasmin papa, Prince jeya kumar; Effect of specific micro-stepping exercises on movement speed in tennis, Un published Mphil dissertation, Annamalai University,2007.

  

Tennis service consistency and accuracy –Are they related?

Yes, irrespective of the velocity of the service execution, the capacity of the player to serve the balls to the designated deuce/ad courts and to the fore/back hand corner.[See the attached diagrams]This phenomenon was empherically tested and the obtained correlation between the accuracy and consistency was positive.

Asok kumar, Prince jeya kumar; Relationship between tennis service consistency and accuracy, Un

     Published Master’s degree dissertation, Annamalai University,May 2008.

Coaching point: In order to develop accuracy in service the player should have to serve continuously to the deuce and ad courts with medium velocity and with correct form[velocity of serve may vary individually according to their skill level] till to the point of exhaustion.

EARLY SIGNS OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

Often athletes show a strand of mild deviant behavior in a subtle but unexpected manner and this can be assessed with some expertise in sports psychology. Occasions like racket abuse in tennis,failure to put up well in sports uniforms, reluctance to complete the day's training load routine, a slight inclination towards drugs, liquor or excessive dependence on girl/ boy friends or an occasional spurt of violent behavior etc. It is the responsibility of the coaches and the managers to identify these early warning signals of a player who might ultimately show more and more problems in the future.SUCH SITUATIONS SHOULD BE DEALT WITH AT MOST CARE AND USE APPROPRIATE EXPERTISE TO AVOID ANY FUTURE CALAMITIES.

TENNIS STROKE VELOCITY AND PERFECTION

A perfect ground stroke may require normally the perfect progressive velocity of the segments.The axis of rotation from the medial line at the sagital plane[vertebral column] to shoulder[segment -1]shoulder to elbow [seg-2]elbow to wrist[seg-3]wrist to the point of contact of the ball[seg-4] These segments should progressively accelerate, and the velocity of the successive segments should be sequentially higher than the previous segment so that the racket head will reach the highest velocity at the point of contact.If any of the joints, rigid or lacks sufficient range of movement may hamper the stroke velocity and perfection.We may have to see the complexity of the dynamic situation of various types of ball trajectory,and direction.A player who can perform with this kind of perfection on most of the strokes will really enjoy the game and less vulnerable to injuries of any kind.
EARLY STAGE TRAINING CAUTION:Never insist kids to hit hard, rather insist upon playing highest number of shots relaxed with progressive velocity perfection.

RECOVERY- SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT

Any type of sports training load in the form of repetitions will place the human physiological systems on a heavy demand.The human organism will strive to overcome the training stress by adaptation and super- compensation phenomenon.This process will not happen in a uniform level in all the cases who underwent the same load of training,hence a coach must subjectively evaluate the level of recovery by asking questions, to find out the sleeping habits,level of appetite,raise in body temperature etc,these are the symptoms of lack of recovery. In such situations training load should be reduced and a training load rhythm should be fixed with at most care to suit the individual level and needs.

TALENT SPOTTING

Sports trainers while spotting talents among growing children should look for locomotor [movement]ability.Tests on this quality and other manipulative movement pattern should be evaluated on a very large number of children and the base line values developed, before assessing taking the cream of talents for a particular sport.Tests on short distance running,hopping,two legged jumping,backward running,two hand throwing at different directions,jump and turn in the air to 180/360 degrees and other similar exercises or in the form of a battery of tests can be administered to spot the talents and innate motor qualities periodically-and feed back given to parents,for a sustained motivation and transparency in the coaching process.

TRANSFER EFFECT OF SPORTS SKILLS

Wherever there is similarity in pattern of movements like volleyball spiking and javelin throw,Tennis service and volley ball service,Movements and shots in Squash and tennis ,Badminton and Tennis, Table tennis and Tennis, plays a role in reciprocally effective in the actual playing/competing situations in the aspect of improving the accuracy and uniqueness in surprising the opponent and topple the rhythm. This may prove to be very useful and produce good results.Sports/Tennis coaches should be aware of this effect may be called''SKILL TRANSFER EFFECT''and training to improve this aspect should be made an important part in training routine.