Bill Patton's Articles – November 2011 Archive (7)

From defeating the second place team 5-2, when it easily could have been 4-3, we never again lost two matches to the 2nd place team.   That's a nice feeling.  We break our season down into four pieces.  1. Pre-Season Preparation. 2. First Half of League Season. 3. Second Half of League Season. 4. Post Season.   When you are planning all year for postseason, it's a lot less of a pressure feeling when you arrive.  It's a little tougher on teams that win league, but have not really thought "We…

I love high school tennis.  23 seasons of coaching high school tennis have been enough to this point, but if I can find a way to get back in, while still serving my club to the utmost, then I will. 

I think any high school coach can take something from this blog post. 

I had been coaching at Kennedy High School in Fremont, where we snapped the Boy's 37 match league losing streak, and the girl's 71 match league losing streak, and were featured on High School Sports Focus (a…

The weights don't lift themselves.  Now is a good time of year to get in the gym and do two things:

1. A six week toning regimen for very healthy muscles.  Tennis Specific?  Anywhere from 3 - 5 sets, of light weights and anywhere from 12-20 reps.    I like to start a weight at 3 sets of 12, then build up to the same weight at 4 sets of 15, then go up in weight.

2. Four week power lifting program.   After you get all toned, you can do the same excercises  2 or more sets…

What are the best ways to win a tennis match?  What do you need to achieve?  If you want a workout, thats one thing, but if you have multiple matches in a day, then conserving energy is very important especially for the junior player who may have two matches in a day, or the league player who drives from this match, to that one. 

1. Over Power your opponent.   If you can overpower your opponent, then do it!   Hit the big serve, get the short ball, stay in control of the point then hit…

It's great when we can meet to discuss our philosophies, mission statements, objectives, goals and find a common ground.   Then truly creative things happen and everyone gets energized.  

B

"It's amazing what you can accomplish, when no one is worried about who gets the credit"  Woodrow Wilson.  

Truly most of our best experiences come as part of a team.   When you do something alone in isolation, and want to share that with others, they many times find it hard to care.  However, when you and your teammate work together and could not have done it alone, each one covering the others weakness, then there a true excitement of WE did it. 



Every enterprise I take on,…

It's an interesting thing to rebuild something.  Like an engine of a car, there is a rebuilding process.  First you have to take everything apart, maybe insert some new parts, or simply clean an polish the parts that were still good.  Of course, during the time of the rebuild, the engine is not working, and you may have to use alternate modes of transportation for a while.   

If you use a sports team model of rebuilding, then you go through the process of having to develop chemistry…