Coach's Corner
Here are the thoughts of Coach John on..........
The upcoming 2006 season...
Since we are the defending state champs and have everyone bach from last season, expectations are high. The guys must remember what got us those rings...we out worked the other teams. There were teams that were more talented than us and had better players, such as Jordan-Matthews and Elkin but he hit more balls in practice in a meaningful way and I believe that was the difference. You could tell in our matches, from top to bottom our guys were more consistent. This season we have to get back to that. I have some new drills up my sleeve and some new things that should be fun and help us to get better. It's going to be a fun ride this season, but also it will be sad realizing this is our senior's last go-'round, I've been with these guys since the 6th grade, the 2007 season will really be strange without them. As special as it was to win the state title, two in a row will really be great.
The 2006 schedule...
Last year we played more matches than any other team in the state in any division, something I did not realize until after the championship match. Last year our non-conference foes all won at least one round in the 3-A or 4-A playoffs, except Page, and FCD was the private school state champs. This season's schedule will be very much the same. Page will be improved from last year and see a return to powerful Hickory on our schedule. A little side note to the Hickory match, their #1 guy has signed with UNC. So like last year, we will play one of the most challenging schedules in the state and certainly the most difficult among 1-A schools. Someone once asked me if I thought we could go undefeated this year, but this is never my goal. We only want to go undefeated in 1-A, it is more important to play those tough schools to experience some great tennis than to schedule a bunch of non-conference cupcakes which will not push our players to get better.
Player development during the season...
It is my philosphy that to ready to compete at the highest level in this game you have to hit a lot of balls in a meaningful way. This means you have to get a lot of repetitions in so that your strokes will not break down in a match. This may be boring and seem like drudgery at times but this is what has to be done to compete at a high level. The same is true for other sports too. Many folks just have no idea what athletes that compete at a high level must go through in order to be champions. During the season I do think it is a good idea to change a players strokes or grips unless theere are some real problems. When you change such things the player will get worse before he gets better, and we do not have the time during the season for that cycle to play out. Therefore, even though we have players that could benefit from some grip and stroke alterations it is best the work on them in the summer or winter. For, example, I believe our #2 doubles team could have been state champs if they used the correct grip on their serves. Their second serves really let them down when it counted. Their serves will not get better unless their technique gets better. Someone may say, what if they practice it a lot will it not get better. Practice does not make perfect it makes permanent, meaning you must have good technique to really improve along with getting in the repetitions.
The upcoming 2006 season...
Since we are the defending state champs and have everyone bach from last season, expectations are high. The guys must remember what got us those rings...we out worked the other teams. There were teams that were more talented than us and had better players, such as Jordan-Matthews and Elkin but he hit more balls in practice in a meaningful way and I believe that was the difference. You could tell in our matches, from top to bottom our guys were more consistent. This season we have to get back to that. I have some new drills up my sleeve and some new things that should be fun and help us to get better. It's going to be a fun ride this season, but also it will be sad realizing this is our senior's last go-'round, I've been with these guys since the 6th grade, the 2007 season will really be strange without them. As special as it was to win the state title, two in a row will really be great.
The 2006 schedule...
Last year we played more matches than any other team in the state in any division, something I did not realize until after the championship match. Last year our non-conference foes all won at least one round in the 3-A or 4-A playoffs, except Page, and FCD was the private school state champs. This season's schedule will be very much the same. Page will be improved from last year and see a return to powerful Hickory on our schedule. A little side note to the Hickory match, their #1 guy has signed with UNC. So like last year, we will play one of the most challenging schedules in the state and certainly the most difficult among 1-A schools. Someone once asked me if I thought we could go undefeated this year, but this is never my goal. We only want to go undefeated in 1-A, it is more important to play those tough schools to experience some great tennis than to schedule a bunch of non-conference cupcakes which will not push our players to get better.
Player development during the season...
It is my philosphy that to ready to compete at the highest level in this game you have to hit a lot of balls in a meaningful way. This means you have to get a lot of repetitions in so that your strokes will not break down in a match. This may be boring and seem like drudgery at times but this is what has to be done to compete at a high level. The same is true for other sports too. Many folks just have no idea what athletes that compete at a high level must go through in order to be champions. During the season I do think it is a good idea to change a players strokes or grips unless theere are some real problems. When you change such things the player will get worse before he gets better, and we do not have the time during the season for that cycle to play out. Therefore, even though we have players that could benefit from some grip and stroke alterations it is best the work on them in the summer or winter. For, example, I believe our #2 doubles team could have been state champs if they used the correct grip on their serves. Their second serves really let them down when it counted. Their serves will not get better unless their technique gets better. Someone may say, what if they practice it a lot will it not get better. Practice does not make perfect it makes permanent, meaning you must have good technique to really improve along with getting in the repetitions.
posted by Scott John | 3:54 PM
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