Hey hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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Speaker:Tip number 91.
Speaker:The question is, how to play doubles with a partner you've never played with or don't
Speaker:know well.
Speaker:Yes, make sure you open up the communication and the dialogue.
Speaker:I feel like I'm in deja vu right now.
Speaker:No, the first thing was just to practice round.
Speaker:Now we really know what we want to say.
Speaker:Yeah, make sure you keep dialogue.
Speaker:And I should have said, keep positive dialogue between you and your partner and the change
Speaker:of ends, make sure you keep talking about tactics.
Speaker:That way you're not necessarily internally thinking of yourselves or time, you're focusing
Speaker:on working things in and how to beat your opponents because that's pretty much what doubles
Speaker:is all about.
Speaker:Alright, and how to get the most out of my tennis lessons as a tennis lesson taker.
Speaker:Yeah, I would just try to keep the dialogue open with your coach.
Speaker:Sometimes it don't feel like clients talk enough and the coach obviously, I'm not the tip
Speaker:isn't for the coach, but hopefully they take a second to listen to you because it is
Speaker:very interesting when you hear what a client is going through, how much better the coach
Speaker:can shape what needs to be done to create the success for both of them.
Speaker:So I would say to get more out of your lesson, take the time to open up and share what it
Speaker:is you feel and think because that doesn't happen, that doesn't happen too often.
Speaker:You know, 60 minutes, my coaches, they like, okay, they want to hit many balls and they want
Speaker:to use much out of their lesson, but really, sometimes you get to take a few seconds just
Speaker:to hear and feel things and then you can shape it and progress even better.
Speaker:Alright, and that's 92, number 92.
Speaker:But if we jump to number 93 of our 100 tips that we're doing, you've got the opposite
Speaker:end of that one, which is a similar tip for the coach to open up and share more, right?
Speaker:Yeah, just with the coach on the coach side, just making sure that you're trying to hear
Speaker:and ask them what they're feeling and thinking because you'll be surprised as you're repeating
Speaker:one, two or three things that we'd say, hey, you're only focusing on this, they could be
Speaker:focusing on 10 things or they could be focusing still on the last lesson that you did and
Speaker:you feel like you're progressing forward, you know.
Speaker:So I think hearing and getting that dialogue up and it can really help progression a lot
Speaker:faster.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Alright, and can I play with just any racket or is there an objective answer to the right
Speaker:racket for me?
Speaker:Okay, so first question there is you can play with any racket.
Speaker:Anybody can play with any racket.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:But really sucks when you're hitting with an aluminum no-string tension out of Walmart trying
Speaker:to hit the game really tough and I've taught this, I've shown this to many, many people.
Speaker:But there is now the proof of the science is, yes, there is a certain racket, certain string
Speaker:tension that does advantage a player.
Speaker:You know, your game style or if you want to progress, I've seen a lot of people come to me
Speaker:and go, I want to learn tootspin.
Speaker:I want to, I want to hit through the ball, I don't like it.
Speaker:Your racket is, you know, your head is too heavy to get that acceleration.
Speaker:So it has changed a racket, ball and the technique changed, the game changed, the light changes
Speaker:straight away.
Speaker:So yes, there is definitely something about the right racket for the right player.
Speaker:And your example of you found the right racket for you and you've stuck with it for more
Speaker:than a decade, right?
Speaker:Yeah, I've been with probably my retrofederistic 15 maybe longer than that, maybe 20 years.
Speaker:And it's, you know, I've experimented as a goal there, so maybe I should hit with more
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:I keep going right back to the field racket, you know, go right back to my control.
Speaker:So it's, yeah, it is a very important thing.
Speaker:You can stick to a certain racket if it's working, but you do have the options to understand
Speaker:that there are different rackets for different game styles.
Speaker:No question.
Speaker:And personalization matters.
Speaker:I give the plug to guys like Craig Brottman who are experts in racket personalization.
Speaker:So if your coach isn't an expert in that, you can always find someone to help you out
Speaker:with that.
Speaker:Next one is for a young parent or at least a parent of a young child before tennis lessons.
Speaker:Is there anything I can do with my say one or two year old to find out if they enjoy tennis,
Speaker:to maybe encourage it a little bit without duct taping a racket to their hand?
Speaker:What can we do as a parent to help them become a better athlete?
Speaker:We talk about throwing that kind of thing.
Speaker:What's a tip for a parent of a young kid?
Speaker:We do tennis channel on every TV right now.
Speaker:Let them see nothing else but that.
Speaker:And then just have rackets on the ground, little plastic rackets that they can't affect or
Speaker:hurt anything, but just little rackets around on the ground.
Speaker:You watch them just pick it up.
Speaker:They'll pick it up and start swinging it away.
Speaker:And if they really don't, then there's a good chance to just not sport driven.
Speaker:I mean, we can look at people in the world these days and it's tend to art or sport, but
Speaker:there's sort of the two directions that people tend to go, or I guess books or movies,
Speaker:they say that as well, but at the same time, what I've probably seen the most of is some
Speaker:kids just not in the sport.
Speaker:They don't like the competitiveness of it.
Speaker:I've learned, I've seen some great athletes that are like talented, but just not into the
Speaker:whole ego and sport really does drive them.
Speaker:Yeah, having the killer mentality.
Speaker:All right, so number 96, you've got a few tips for us going 96 through 99 and then we'll
Speaker:save our one tip to rule them all for the end.
Speaker:Yeah, I just said coaches and coaches, make sure you try to hit in different areas of
Speaker:court, make sure you're always in volleyball so that the parent or the child or the athlete
Speaker:or the student can walk off the court feeling that they've accomplished what they can do in
Speaker:volleyball as to what you're working with.
Speaker:So always incorporate a live ball situation in each lesson is what I would recommend to coach.
Speaker:And sometimes if you feel like they just can't get the live ball, then like I said, feed
Speaker:in different areas and get them to still work on the things you've gained to work on and
Speaker:then go into the live ball.
Speaker:Make them just realize that three balls is great.
Speaker:It doubles.
Speaker:You hit three balls cross-court, that's about all you got to get.
Speaker:Some guys are going to come on and someone's going to volley or someone's going to laugh
Speaker:or someone's going to error.
Speaker:So if someone hits a three ball rally back with you, that's a pretty solid.
Speaker:So go through those things, create sure to see big punch out to him.
Speaker:He's going to prove that the game is zero to four shots.
Speaker:So coaches stop in the 50 balls in a row.
Speaker:It just doesn't happen that way.
Speaker:It's especially enough for our machines.
Speaker:So zero to four, the sport is on and off as well.
Speaker:30 seconds off, 30 seconds off.
Speaker:30 seconds off, 30 seconds off.
Speaker:We don't hit balls for 10 minutes straight.
Speaker:I mean, just because you're conscious of these things, because it will improve your lessons
Speaker:and people will just come back for more.
Speaker:So anyway, there's my tips for coaches.
Speaker:And you've got a non-negotiable tip for parents.
Speaker:Yes, for parents, just understand what non-negotiable is up, right?
Speaker:And then what I mean by that is come up with things that are either at home, from the court
Speaker:or at school, you know, just things that come up with three or five tops.
Speaker:And then when the child is doing better and better and feels like they're being very
Speaker:consistent, someone will ask for it for more.
Speaker:Someone will actually, you just go, "Okay, you've done really well.
Speaker:I'm going to give you a high five for those five that you've been following.
Speaker:Now we're going to go with the next five."
Speaker:You know, and you just see them getting better and better.
Speaker:But the expectations are so high all the time, if there's too many, or if there are too
Speaker:many non-negotiables that keep changing, right?
Speaker:If the bar keeps changing for a child, that brings down their self-esteem.
Speaker:It makes it harder on them because they feel like they can't achieve everything that
Speaker:the parent is looking for.
Speaker:And that goes for coaches as well, but we're focusing on the parents.
Speaker:If I would suggest three to five tops, they'd just stick to them.
Speaker:And on the other hand, a child can give you three to five as well.
Speaker:And that really, of course, because now you've got, you know, a buy-in on both sides.
Speaker:That can be really cool.
Speaker:If you sit down with your child and say, "Okay, what's three to five things?"
Speaker:And he might just say, "I don't like you pacing on the court.
Speaker:I don't like you saying anything while I'm playing."
Speaker:You know, there's all these things that can happen by actually listening.
Speaker:And then it goes by poison, right?
Speaker:If the parent is doing what the child is asking, then the child should do what the parent's
Speaker:asking.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think that's two tips because the parent needs to be able to do it for the child,
Speaker:make sure your bag is ready in the morning, whatever it is, whatever they're responsible
Speaker:for, responsibility is key here, but then allow the child to give you some because that creates
Speaker:a more manageable relationship to be able to say, "You know what?
Speaker:I've given you some non-negotiables.
Speaker:Do you have anything for me?
Speaker:Let's negotiate our non-negotiables."
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's not really a negotiate because you're non-negotiables and yours.
Speaker:And they're non-negotiables of theirs.
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:So there's not really, the only time we've been non-negotiable.
Speaker:And negotiation is if they say, "I want to refresh restring every single time."
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:An unreasonable one needs to be negotiated.
Speaker:That's all I'm saying.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Sure is.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So one more and then we've got our best or one tip to rule them all at the end.
Speaker:You got one more for me?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I would just say adults, just think about, if you're an adult, think about your age
Speaker:bracket, 30, 40, 50, 60s, there are certain restrictions.
Speaker:When you start to get restricted and when I say restricted is joint mobility or just cardiovascular
Speaker:or, you know, eyes, right?
Speaker:Our eyes as we get older, we don't perceive the ball or see the ball as well as we should.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So try to adjust for that.
Speaker:Do not play like you played in the 20s, play in the 30s.
Speaker:If you're 50, you've got to adjust to figure out a different game style.
Speaker:And that could be compact.
Speaker:That could be all sorts of different things.
Speaker:But just start to identify that because I see so many people adult wise, they get frustrated
Speaker:and like, "Oh man, I used to be able to do this all the time."
Speaker:It's like, not that 80 group anymore, you know, things aren't the same anymore.
Speaker:And you can get that same benefit if you make some adjustments.
Speaker:So when you coach on that, get them to see and help you on that.
Speaker:And so anyway, that will be my tip for an adult tennis.
Speaker:And we've done two specific episodes on that topic.
Speaker:We've done a "What to Change" after 40, 10 minutes of tennis and a "What to Change" after
Speaker:50, where we've had discussions specifically on those two.
Speaker:So that's really good.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Alright, so last one that I will ask, which is our number 100.
Speaker:You can only give me one tip.
Speaker:If you can only give, I don't know, anybody, one tip.
Speaker:Is there anything, I know, it's impossible to ask.
Speaker:It's like, "King of Tennis," right?
Speaker:If you could just give me one tip and you couldn't tell me anything else.
Speaker:Is there one tip you would pick?
Speaker:Uh, yes.
Speaker:Don't get in the game if you're not prepared to move.
Speaker:Like, I got to move to Puerto Rico to go hang out with you as my coach.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Jeez.
Speaker:I've been moved physically.
Speaker:You've got to be able to move.
Speaker:You've got to be able to, you need some athletic ability about you to learn this sport.
Speaker:Because I've seen too many try to get into the sport and end up with poor injuries and
Speaker:invest a lot of money and do a lot of things and end up actually going the opposite way
Speaker:to tennis.
Speaker:Tennis is a sport if I've tried to mention to a lot of people, if you can play, you're in
Speaker:an elite area of the population of the world.
Speaker:For the reason of how complex this sport is, how physical the sport is, and if you can play,
Speaker:you're in an elite community that there's not many of us all around the world.
Speaker:Yes, it is a big sport around the world, but it doesn't mean that everybody can play tennis.
Speaker:Now, that being said, your stay will kill me right now because they want everybody playing tennis.
Speaker:But on the other hand, I've just seen too much opposite happen.
Speaker:I like to see people get themselves a little more in shape.
Speaker:Do this, do that, and then play tennis, not the other way around.
Speaker:I'm going to go play tennis to get in shape.
Speaker:Now I've got an over problem, now I've got a shoulder problem, now I've got a knee problem,
Speaker:and I did my ankle last time.
Speaker:It's like, okay, so let's just think about this first.
Speaker:So that would probably be my biggest tip is just be sure that you're in good shape.
Speaker:And it doesn't mean you have to be a marathon athlete, but just know that it is very difficult
Speaker:to learn to play the sport without some kind of athletic but physical ability, I should
Speaker:say.
Speaker:Remember that it is a sport and appreciate that.
Speaker:Justin Yeo, this has been way more than 10 minutes of tennis.
Speaker:But we got through 100 tips, I appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you, Sarah.
Speaker:We will follow up.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:We're at 100.
Speaker:I'm going to throw a one last one in there.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You've got to love it.
Speaker:You just got to love the game.
Speaker:I mean, watching the USU for recently, look at all the actors, look at all the movies
Speaker:does, look at all the other sports people that come to come and watch.
Speaker:You know, they love the game, they love the competition, they love what it draws, the drama,
Speaker:the whole works, you got to love the game.
Speaker:And that's probably my other one is if you're not in love with it, it's a really hard sport
Speaker:to get into.
Speaker:Go play chess.
Speaker:Go find something else.
Speaker:Go find something.
Speaker:Go play pickleball.
Speaker:Maybe you'll love that because that's an interesting new love that everybody has.
Speaker:Find something you do love.
Speaker:Get a hobby that you enjoy.
Speaker:There's probably the key there.
Speaker:Yeah, just love it.
Speaker:It's really one of, after watching the USU, the biggest thing I could recognize, you know,
Speaker:I'm curious is out hitting the ball with Matthew of balcony on the center core.
Speaker:These people just, they passionately love what it brings the game.
Speaker:So that's probably one of the things I would say is make sure, you know, that's what you
Speaker:feel.
Speaker:Otherwise, find something that does.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:101 tips.
Speaker:We did it.
Speaker:Justin, we'll talk about doing another 100 tips.
Speaker:Thank you, sir.
Speaker:10 minutes to 10.
Speaker:I'm going to be stolen.
Speaker:We'll see you next week.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
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