When your playing with the wind at your back you have to get more topspin on the ball to assure you don't hit the ball long. You can get a lot of topspin on the straight back forehand that many of us use, but you have to remember to use your hips to lower your knees even more to get that spin. Try to "see below the ball." BUT DON'T POP UP, keep that front knee bent and "foot to the ground," till your follow through is complete. Same with your backhand. This will increase the amount of topspin you get on the ball.
We had a great win today over Holy Cross. We beat them 5-0, and thus was our AD Tony Mitchell's first win as a tennis coach, after too many to count as a baseball coach here at Paul VI. Holy Cross used to have a boys and girls tennis coach named Tom Camp. He's a history teacher there still but coached both teams for 30 years until very recently.
Mr Camp was the first person to introduce me to tennis at the age of 5. I did a summer session at Wedgewood Swim Club where he was the instructor. Really I was trying to get out of swimming cause those swim suits were uncomfortable.
I promised to take up tennis so I could I then get out of swimming that summer. I also thought it stupid that I just got done school and now I have to wake up again every morning at 6am for swim practice. Tennis started at 9am.
Point here you never know what path life will lead you on. I'm here now coaching you cause I fell in love with tennis the first time I hit a ball at age 5. Mr Camp was a great tennis teacher, and who knows what would have happened if he was a bad teacher. I was thrilled to get to relay a greetings message via the current Holy Cross tennis coach to Mr Camp thanking him for his inspiration. I've always wanted to do such, but wasn't sure if he was still at Holy Cross. I was glad to hear that he was, and this made my day.
The picture above is of me back then hating swimming. I was 5 and wouldn't finish my leg of the relay.
I see a bad weather report on our horizon, this is very upsetting. So if in fact we are rained out tomorrow, we WILL met in that very same classroom we always met in. Be dressed in your sweats and ready to go. We'll have a workout we must have because of lost days, and be finished at 4pm. If not we have a few challenge matches and a normal practice.
