'String Theory in Paris' - New York Times Article Reprint

This new string by Babolat is quite fascinating and now I'm excited to try it out. The article below further explains what all the buzz was about with this new string. Some of you may have heard the announcers reference this new string during the French Open TV coverage. Sam Stosur, this year's French finalist, as seen above, using Babolat new 'RPM Blast' tennis strings. She beat Serena Williams and Justine Henin in succession, that was a first in a major, before losing in the French Finals to Francesca Schiavone, who used the same strings.

I'm not much into strings even though I just started using a popular polyester blend, which had been hyped the past couple years. A 16 gauge synthetic gut has usually been fine with me and my racquet. But upon seeing Robin Solderling, confidently smacking second serves in the 135mph range, in the fifth set of his semi final match in Paris. I thought there could be something to this hype of the increased feel, spin and control that the unique shaped strings offered.

Maybe these new strings helped Robin beat Roger in the quarter-final round. He was 0-12 before that match against him. Roger, Serena and Justine all use Wilson strings and racquets. Technology's affect on tennis is fascinating, as I wonder how Wilson will respond now. I put a short Babolat promo video, at the bottom of this post, with Roddick, Nadal and other pros describing the benefits of the new 'RPM Blast' tennis string.



Francesca Schiavone, kissing the clay after her French Open Final victory, the first time an Italian women has won one of the 4 Grand Slams.


June 3, 2010,
By THOMAS LIN, New York Times

The two long shots Samantha Stosur and Francesca Schiavone stormed to their first Grand Slam singles final on a wave of confidence and underdog grit. But they have something else in common. They both use Babolat’s black, apparently well-named RPM Blast strings, made popular this year by the men’s semifinalist Rafael Nadal.

Babolat’s Web site describes the strings, announced in February, as maximizing spin and feel because of “cross-linked silicone” and “high density co-polyester.” Its octagonal shape may also have something to do with its perceived ability to generate extra spin (RPM = revolutions per minute) and improve control. Nadal, Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, sponsored by Babolat, all wield this string.


The Sports Illustrated writer S.L. Price described Stosur’s switch to Nadal’s black synthetic string:

With all that, at Roland Garros Stosur also had an edge that is, the last few days, all the talk among equipment geeks. Just after losing to Williams at the 2010 Australian Open, Stosur swapped out her longtime blend of gut and Luxilon — the synthetic string that, for the last few years, enabled pros to hit harder, with more control and spin, than ever before — and replaced it with a new black synthetic from Babolat. That the new string is also used by a revitalized Rafael Nadal, not to mention Francesca Schiavone, the Italian who upended No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki to set up one semifinal against Elena Dementieva, is lost on no one.


One of Wozniaki’s advisers, Sven Groeneveld, sat behind the court for that quarterfinal match Tuesday, watching the straight-hitting Wozniaki get constantly yo-yo’d into the doubles alley by Schiavone’s hyper-rotating shots. By Wednesday morning he had tested the new Babolat strings himself, becoming convinced that the new strings allow for a larger sweet-spot, an even broader grip on the ball — or as Nadal put it, “the ball stays more time on the racket, so is easier to have the control”. Then Groeneveld all but declared them a new state of the art.

Before we start assigning too much credit to a piece of equipment, it’s worth remembering that Roddick, seeded sixth, lost in the third round. Tsonga, seeded eighth, retired in his fourth round match because of injury.




Babolot Promo Video - RPM Blast Tennis String

Video Essays - Coach Wooden, Pyramid Of Success Author, Dies At 99

An Athletic Director explained to me once that the sports field was the biggest classroom in the school. Please look at the picture below for a second, the pyramid, which you've heard me profess it's virtues many times by now, in practice and here on the blog, over how ever many seasons. This has been my guide, as not only a teacher here, on the tennis court, but really a map which I hope you can draw guidance from, and see it's human values as a simple connection to both life and sport and inspire you to strive for success in both.

One quote, that you'll see in the pyramid below, which I particularly love, "The little things, make the big things happen," was one I often referenced, during our tennis season(s). Now think about our service toss practice, and how many times we practiced it, as one example. His two convergent theories, 'The Pyramid of Success,' and 'Twelve Lessons In Leadership,' intertwine life and sport. The 12 points are noted below in the pyramid in the picture. Maybe watch the first video than come back and read my piece here.

Sadly, Coach Wooden died last night at age 99. An amazing life span lived by an amazing person. The two short videos below are now being shown over and over again on ESPN in light of his death. Your sure to hear about his passing on the TV this weekend. Enjoy the videos and see why he was so special and you'll gain a further understanding of the substance and importance of Coach Wooden.

Coach Wooden and his famous pyramid were simple truths which he idealized to encourage life successes and growth with team sport as metaphor. He took 14 years to ferment and distill his ideas, wherein he carefully arranged and coordinated his best ones to act as support blocks within the shape of a pyramid, which symbolically pointed to success for the individual and team.

Coach Wooden hoped all his pupils accepted and try to embody the virtues contained in the pyramid. His team speeches would often start with one word from the pyramid. It now seems the staying power and strength of those speeches is attributed to the simplicity of those words which you see in, and outside of the pyramid. Coach Wooden used these same words as individual building blocks for whatever the subject of that particular speech might have been about on. Think a coach giving a pep talk at halftime, where Coach would use one of said words and talk about its meaning, characteristics and maybe give real life examples of such.

He hoped that his players would carry these same virtues off the basketball court and into their lives. The video essays by his former pupils will support this statement. The teachings of the pyramid did stay with them and continued to strengthen their moral fiber as they journeyed into adulthood. The pyramid continues to influence and shape their lives, and even their families lives to this day. The pyramid is dynamic and the more I look at it, and read it, the more fascinating and thought provoking it becomes. Its' complexities and possible adaptations appear to be many. You could use to achieve success in the business world for sure.

For example look at the pyramid from a slightly different perspective. You then identify an individual with a block. Wherein each pyramid block needs the other for support, as each teammate needs each other for the team to thrive. Wrapped within this is the individual always striving to improve and reach the top and the betterment of himself and the team.

If this support and competition naturally exist within a team, then the team can do nothing but succeed. The team's success, often tied to wins, but mostly the team member's growth and improvement occurs organically, if they use the pyramid as a guide for improvement on the tennis court or in the classroom. Winning has always taken a back seat in Wooden's theories, wherein the strive to win really is the never ending journey towards improvement. That we all should appreciate those moments of improvement within the journey. "Success is the piece of mind in knowing that you made the effort to be the best that you are capable of being." (Wooden quote)


In his pyramid winning is secondary to preparation, wherein preparation points to winning. The top of the pyramid. This is why I feel strongly about practice and the time we spend preparing in various ways. One of Coach Wooden's sayings is, "failing to prepare is preparing to fail." If I as your coach and you as the athlete are always striving to learn more and better prepare our athletic craft in partnership, then winning to some degree will happen. We will all improve, and it can never and should never be wholly defined by wins and loses.

If you look at the middle block of the pyramid you'll see it contains the word, "Skill." Under "Skill," it states, "what a leader learns after he's learned it all is what matter most. I see this to define the role of the coach. That no matter how much knowledge I have as teacher of whatever it is that I am called to teach, moreover I must continue to challenge myself to learn more and improve my ability to teach all.

Coach Wooden really had been working on his theories, and their arrangement, since childhood, inspired by the teachings of his father, a struggling farmer from rural Indiana. He wanted to take his father's faith, influence and ideas and adapt them in his own way, to assist his adolescent desire to find success on the basketball court. Basketball is now and was then king in Indiana, where Coach Wooden grew up during the depression. The pyramid was the formula he eventually came up with many years latter, as he transitioned from player to coach.

Though he has passed, his pyramid will live on through the Paul VI tennis teams and countless other athletic teams at various levels, but really anyone striving to be a better person, who may or may not play a sport. I am forever grateful that I learned of him and his wisdom so many years ago. Back then, when I was a junior in high school, I was only an athlete with no inkling I'd ever be a coach. I just knew of his UCLA teams, and their record 10 NCAA national championships, by watching ESPN specials. However his pyramid, when it was first described there, seemed like such a logical connection between sport and life. I had heard other youth coaches make the parallel between life and sport often, so now I was quite intrigued in my newly discovered 'sports theory.'

There were a few ideas within the pyramid that I already knew of and believed to be true, but how the connections were made and shaped in a singular working theory fascinated me. I went to the library to read further, as I always loved books on any and every sport. I took away a few points from this reading that have stuck with me ever since.

That the experience of athletic practice and competition, contained so many possibilities for individual and team growth, beyond winning or losing. When you can teach yourself to give up both you gain a feeling and freedom that is priceless. That a new path is possible and there is no end to it, and fear(losing) has been removed as a road block in your journey to a more dynamic self.  I now, many years latter, meet this challenge anew as coach. It is crazy where life can lead you, without you even knowing it at the time, as all of this is just an extension of my childhood love of anything sports related. I still have it and now I can put it to use here, as your tennis coach.

Thankfully I will have his pyramid to continue to help guide my improvement as a teacher, coach and person, each and everyday. I also hope I can continue to grow by using his inspiration in order to have a positive effect on anyone I come in contact with through tennis.





Wooden Video Obituary - You can't miss the pyramids, as images shown in the backround, as persons are interviewed about Coach Wooden.



William Nack - Senior Writer Sports Illustrated -
Video Essay on Coach Wooden



A Cool Gatorade Commercial - directed by Spike Lee - a poem read by John Wooden with Michael Jordon and other college basketball images

2010 Olympic Conference National Division Tee Shirts, Hoodies and Jackets Are Available For Purchase

Hey all you Olympic Conference Tennis Champions, parents and team members. These are the images from the jacket and tee shirt. The Tee Shirt(PVI logo pic) will note, "2010 Olympic Conference National Division Champions," On it. Mr Burns has been quite kind to take the time and locate a athletic apparel company in Sewell, NJ who can produce such Tee Shirts, Hoodies and Jackets for anyone who wants to purchase and have as a great memento. We've earned this honor, to wear such posh apparel by the great season and 5-1 record we had in the National Division.

Its kind of cool to think that we are in the same company as Cherry Hill East(American Division) and Shawnee(Patriot Division) as 2010 Boys Tennis Conference Champions. Remember that this is the first time in 15 years that a boys tennis team could call them selves 'Champions.'

I think you would all look quite cool sporting such threads around PVI, and your athletic and academic peers will know that you were a member of a select few that walk your PVI halls this year. Everyone who buys such will look quite hip.

Mr Burns and I talked and we both agreed that we hope and want our tennis team parents, and even your grandmother in Florida, to buy any piece of apparel too. I really hope our team parents will make a purchase. All the parents who supported the team this year were a necessary part of our success equation, thus you all deserve and would look great in something that said 'Champions.'

Here's the letter that Mr Burns wrote to me as I know he sent you all an email too.
The price list he gave me is below. I hope to see you all at the June 9th spring sports banquet.

I think you'll all be happy to hear that I specifically requested all the tennis tables get fresh Maine lobsters and specially aged Porterhouse steaks for dinner. Mr Burns agreed that this was a great idea and a deserved treat for winning the conference. It appears he loves a good surf and turf as much as I do, and now we'll all get that same pleasure at the banquet. I want to thank Mr Mitchell who has assured me that our request will be obliged, and only because it took 15 years for another number to be place on our banner in the gym. The others PVI parents and athletes who are being served chicken may not like us, but I won't mind if you don't. My mouth is watering already, mmmm!!!


To All,

I case you didn't have a chance to check out Coach's blog recently, I stopped by MBM Sports and got a quote for the Tee-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and jackets.

The tee-shirt is gray with a PVI logo on the left front and on the back center "2010 Olympic Conference National Division Champions"

The hooded sweatshirt is navy with a PVI logo on the left front and on the back center "2010 Olympic Conference National Division Champions"

The jacket is made by Holloway and is a warm-up jacket embroidered with PVI Tennis on the front and "2010 Olympic Conference National Division Champions" on the back.

If we order 20 to 24 of the tee-shirts/sweatshirts, the tee-shirt will cost $12.25 a piece and the hooded sweatshirt will cost $24.50. The cost goes down the more we order. The Holloway turbo jacket cost is $54.50 (if we order 6 or more).

If you order all three, the total cost would be approximately $91.25.

MBM Sports will accept any form of payment (including checks). Parents can make the checks out to MBM Sports. They said it will take 10-14 days from the time of order to the time they are done.

Please email me what you want to order as soon as possible. You can give your order/check to me on Wednesday at the Sport's Banquet or mail it to me at 34 Daytona Ave, Sewell, NJ 08080.

If you have any question please email me at - jimburns@att.blackberry.net

Thanks,
Jim Burns

French Open FYI - The Red Clay Is A Needed Disguise

Here's a great article from the NY Times that I cut and pasted here because I love the French Open and the red clay they play on. There's an art form to keeping clay courts at its best for tennis play, as you'll read and see here. Do watch the French Open Finals, women's - Saturday at 9am on NBC 10, and men's - Sunday 9am on NBC 10. Its great tennis, enjoy!!!

New York Times Article - May 31, 2010 - John Branch

PARIS — It really is not red clay. The famous courts of the French Open are white limestone, frosted with a few millimeters of powdered red brick dust. This was evident as Bruno Slastan, second in command of court maintenance at Roland Garros, scraped the surface of Court Suzanne Lenglen with his shoe. With a few swipes, the reddish powder gave way and revealed a firm white base below. (See the profile of what makes up this red clay surface in the picture to the right)

The “brick broken,” as Slastan, a Frenchman, gamely explained in English, is a cover-up, applied for three reasons. It keeps the otherwise white courts from blinding players and fans. It allows the players to move and slide. And it looks cool. In other words, the beauty of the Roland Garros courts is only skin deep.

It is created by a powder with the look and feel of ground cinnamon. For 20 euros (about $24) at the souvenir stands, fans can buy a flacon de terre battue — a glass, bell-shaped flask filled with a few ounces of pulverized brick from a factory about 60 miles north of Paris.

Roland Garros estimates that it uses 99,000 pounds of the crushed brick each year on the courts. All those tons are spread to about the depth of a tenth of an inch across 20 courts. Each of the courts, including the surface surrounding them, measures nearly 10,000 square feet.

Every morning during the tournament, the courts are dusted again, ever so lightly. Much of it ends up in that night’s laundry, especially on the players’ socks. But the crushed brick is just deep enough to allow footprints and, quite helpfully, ball marks. It is shallow enough not to make the court too spongy or slippery, or to allow all of the powder to accumulate into tiny piles that could affect the way the ball bounces.

“With one millimeter, if you slide, you see the white limestone,” Slastan said. “But with a few millimeters, you don’t see the white limestone on the television.”

Before matches and between sets, a couple of workers smooth the red surface by dragging rectangular swatches of chain-link across the surface, a quick fix commonly used on baseball infields. Other workers hurriedly sweep the dust from the white lines. The result is a satisfying dress-up, like a just-vacuumed carpet.

By the end of a set, the baseline areas are trampled from the foot traffic. There is a worn line on either side of the net where the ball boys and girls zipped back and forth. The space between the net and the baseline is a Pollock rendering of the recent action.

Tennis began as a lawn game in England. But in warmer, drier climates, grass courts are not practical. “It’s too hot,” Slastan said. “In England, it is raining very long.”

Most courts at Roland Garros are constructed of several layers of materials, about three feet deep. Most of that is filled with small stones topped with smaller gravel. (The two main show courts and three other courts are built on slabs of concrete, topped with a thick layer of sand.) The base is topped with a six-inch layer of volcanic rock and three inches of porous limestone.

Drainage is the reason play after a rain delay can begin just minutes after the tarps are pulled. “All clay courts are different,” Venus Williams said. “None play the same. This one plays the best.”

Each April, a tractor churns the limestone, like plowing a field. The limestone on Court 11 has been there 20 years, Slastan said, but the other courts received fresh limestone about 12 years ago. Over time, it takes on a pink hue as it mixes with what is left of the previous year’s crushed brick. The courts are pressed back into shape with rollers and exacting planes. For a day, they are white.

But about a ton of the crushed brick is pressed onto the surface of each court with rollers, then drenched in water. The process is repeated several times until a thin, compact layer of red frosting tops each court.

Lines are measured and scraped out of the red surface, down to the limestone, and then painted white with the same type of thick paint used on roads. Getting all the courts ready takes about a month. When the French Open begins, four workers (six on the show courts) are assigned to the care of each court.


At the end of each day’s play, the courts are doused in water, then covered for the night. The limestone can dry and crack if allowed to simply bake day after day, Slastan said. During the first few days of this year’s French Open, the courts were dry and played fast, but rain and cooler weather slowed the action.


Early each morning, long before the crowds arrive, 55 pounds of crushed brick, packaged in a plastic bag like topsoil, is spread evenly around the court. The courts were pristine and ready on a recent morning.

A couple of players and coaches came to practice at Lenglen Court. Slastan spotted an enemy of his handiwork a specific style of shoe that, he said, scrapes the court’s surface more than others. He watched with a bit of resignation as the players dug up his handwork.
“They attack,” he said.

Ice Tea FYI And Recipe Which I Made For Our Matches

I am certain you are all missing your fix of White-Pomegranate Ice Tea. Tea of any type, be it Oolong, Rooibos, Green, White and Black has a ton of great health benefits and some scientific evidence now points to cancer prevention.

Tea has long been know for being high in antioxidants that can strengthen your immune system and fight off any number of infections. You'll even read, if you double click the article/picture to the left, that tea can lower your cholesterol. Combine that with the simple experience of a flavorful cup of any variety you desire, its easy to see that tea is an amazing beverage.

I see regular tea consumption as a form of preventive health maintenance, but if your under the weather drink much green tea and water. The enclosed article will give you some more information to that point. Most teas have some caffine, with White and Rooibos having none, but such is far less than coffee and most sodas have. I love Ice Tea and especially as it gets hot out.

Wegman's Market has a excellent tea section, which is the largest in our area. I am a big fan of Wegman's whole leaf teas, many of them are organic, which you'll see in large metal tins there. These whole leaf teas are even cheaper than their other packaged teas. I listed some places below where you can get whole leaf tea and other necessities for brewing.


Whole leaf tea is better and more beneficial than bag tea, and their is scientific research to this point. I use a mesh strainer to help make the tea and remove the leaves. Wegman's has disposable tea bags in their teas section, right below the metal tins containing the loose tea. These bags make is easier to brew a bigger batch for ice tea, and simplifies the clean-up. I wrote a couple of emails to their corporate HQ's in Rochester, NY requesting these disposable tea bags. You can also get these same bags at Target for cheaper.

There are tea making instructions on the bags you use to purchase their whole leaf teas. Please remember to always follow the instructions about temperature, steep time and amount of tea leaves used per 8 ounces of water. These specifics are important to making the tea taste right, and not overdone,bitter or burnt. Tea bags usually have a teaspoon of chopped or broken tea leaves in them. But all tea is good, and surely better than a Mountain Dew or even a Red Bull.

I always used organic unprocessed sugar to sweeten our ice tea. I feel strongly that organic sugar is far better for you than regular processed sugar. Processed sugar is in almost everything we eat. I also think that we and maybe you have far too much bad sugar, which is in much of the foods we eat but mainly the garbage sodas that I am even guilty of on occasion.

My ice tea not only had all the great benefits that tea offers you, but Pomegranate(fruit) is a 'Super Food' and does wonders for you to. I hope you enjoyed the ice tea these past two seasons, and it made you think of a simple way to kind of eat healthier. I'll make some different teas' next year, more whole leaf oolong and green tea.

Think about eating good sugars more which come in the form of blueberries, apples and oranges. Eat more WHOLE FRUITS. There is sugar in these fruits and they TASTE SWEET. Please remind yourself of that fact once in a while. I'd recommend to spend some time in the summer learning how to cook, as this will give you a whole new perspective and appreciation for food and what you put into your body. Remember no good tennis player could fuel their body with soda and chips and expect it to do anything but harm there physical and mental performance during practice or competition.

Eating healthier is not just a fad, its something your parents do and something you'll all do more of the older you get, if you don't already. There is more information available to us about the ingredients in our foods. I think it helps all of us, including athletes live healthier and more productive lives, as it gets harder to ignore how many health issues can occur through food and diet.

As you get older and more thoughtful about your diet, do think and understand more about how much bad stuff you may put in your body on a daily basis. I'd say to you to please think of more ways that you can make or find something that may be tasty and or sweet, but not have say high fructose corn syrup in it. Get into good dietary habits now by being a little more thoughtful each and everyday about the accumulation of things you put in your body on a daily basis.

High Fuctose Corn Syrup is a very, very, very bad ingredient that is in way to many things we eat and drink, and it is the main ingredient in all sodas. It's even found to a lesser extent in some bread and many other foods we eat. Remember these sodas we drink (coke,pepsi)could be used as a paint stripper, now imagine what it does to your stomach. Try pouring it on an old piece of painted wood and lay it in the sun for a couple hours and see what happens. Maybe even try to clean that soda stain off with some soap and water and see how hard that is. Its and eye opening experience for sure.



I love this cold brewing method you see to the left.









Other places in our area that have good tea sections are:
Asian Food Market
100 Barclay Walk
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-2108
(856) 857-1388

Han-Ah-Reum Asian Market - in Danzizen & Quigley's shopping center
1720 Marlton Pike E
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003-2301
(856) 751-6659

Teavana‎ - Cherry Hill Mall, go through Nordstrom's into the mall, a bit to the left
2000 Route 38
Cherry Hill, NJ‎
(856) 663-3380‎
www.teavana.com
this is a great specialty tea store that sells much loose tea and brewing supplies

Mulberry Tea House‎ - An authentic English tea room experience
60 South Main Street
Medford, NJ‎
(609) 714-0640‎
www.themulberryteahouse.com

TBar - and if your in Philly, this and the one below are excellent tea bars
117 South 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA‎
(215) 625-3936‎
www.tbarteas.com

Premium Steep
111 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA‎
(215) 568-2920‎
www.premiumsteap.com
'Holy Detox' one of their signature herbal teas, with Tulsi (holy basil). This chai style blend is awesome as it seems to simply attack any sickness or cold i've had. I swear by it and its their best selling tea for this reason as others concur. It's perfect for ice tea to, with lemon myrtle, rose hips and spearmint. Click here to learn more about Tulsi, its a facinating herbal remedy.

www.hinduism.about.com/od/ayurveda/a/tulsibenefits.htm