Send any tips, quotes, trivia, lesson plans or helpful ideas to whitworthp@gmail.com.  Use TIPS in the subject line. We hope you enjoy this issue and find ideas that will help your business.   All past tips are online at www.usptasouthern.com.
 
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QUOTES
“Hiring someone who does not have a service attitude, and then trying to train them to serve, is a little like the expression, ‘You can’t teach a pig to sing; it’s just wasting your time and annoys the pig.’” – Peter Burwash - The Key to Great Leadership
 
"If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don't, you will find an excuse."  Anonymous
 
 
 
IMPODERABLES
 
If you think nobody cares if you are alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
 
TRIVIA  - US OPEN
 
1) Who played in the most Men's Singles finals? 
2) Who played in the most Women's Singles finals? 
3) Rounded to the nearest thousand, what is the seating capacity in Arthur Ashe Stadium?
4)  In what year was a tie-break first used at the U.S. Open? 
5)  Who won the most Men's Doubles titles? 
 
 
 
More Camp Tips
MINI TOURNAMENTS
Run Mini-Tournaments periodically throughout the summer.  Many of our campers are not yet regular attendees to our clinics in the fall and spring but come out during the summer and/or aren't exposed to 'playing' tennis outside of clinic times.  This gives players the opportunity to play "Tournaments" without having to pay entry fees, and also with players they already know.  Use different formats, court sizes, balls, and offer prizes for the winners.  This all keeps the kids on their toes, interested, and wanting to play more tennis!
 
Off-Court or On-Court Conditioning
Many children learning tennis don't know or understand the benefits of training in addition to hitting the tennis ball or playing matches.  We usually start each camp day with 15-20 minutes of footwork drills, conditioning, coordination drills or races just to get the blood flowing and the feet moving.  Use rain days to your advantage and do some sort of off-court work with your kids (medicine ball drills, close touch volleys, rules quizzes or games, etc.)
 
Kendon Warren, Atlanta Ga
 
 
Fun Games

+ or – 5

This is a drill that requires a lot of concentration to win.  Our ladies and juniors really love to play this game.  The way the game works is you have two teams with two players on the baseline versus two players at the net.  The object of the game is for one team to be winning by five points to win the game.  I have the baseline team be + team and the net team be the – team.  You feed the ball to the baseline team and play out the point with anything goes.  If the baseline team wins you go +1.  If the baseline team wins the next point +2 and so on.  If the score is +3 and the net team wins the point then you subtract a point from the score to go to +2.  In the same way if the net team wins the 0 point the score is –1.  Continue playing until one team gets to + or – 5.  This means that no team is ever out of the game and forces the team close to the 5 points ahead to really try to close out the game.  In clinics we have the winners move up and the losers move down.  You can really have some long games and it is good to help coach different situations in the game that come up. 

Offense vs. Defense

This is a drill that we use for our quicker players as this is a very tough drill and a great workout.  You will have two teams again and you spin the racket to see who wants the offensive or defensive position.  The net is the offensive position and the baseline the defensive position.  Once the sides are chosen the rules are as follows: The net team can only win a point by hitting a clean winner against the baseline team.  The baseline team can only win a point by making the ball bounce against the net team.  Feed the ball in play to the baseline team (can vary and feed the need team) and play out the point.  The first team to five points wins the game and then you rotate.  This is another great drill to make the players think about what they are trying to set up with the point and also to hustle for every shot.  You can really use this drill to discuss the important of the drop volley and angle volleys.  This is also a great way to talk to your players at the times they are deciding to go for shots and what alternatives they can also use.

Ian Thomson  Johns Creek, GA

Pre Schoolers Pay Off
Pre school’s get out at 1:00 pm in Charlotte.  Mom’s with older kids then look for activities for the little one until the older sibling gets off the bus.  Or they are always trying to set up play dates to consume the afternoon time.
 
So I offer a Pre school motor movement tennis class from 1:30 to 2:30. But of course the moms have nothing to do so they get their own lesson at the same time.
 
Class Name: Parent / Child
Most churches run a pre school program and are looking for additional services to offer to their kids.   With the quick start equipment, you can go to them and get even more kids involved.  Use their gym and never get rained out !
 
John Trimp  Charlotte, NC
Quick Kids Coaching TIps
1. It is important to do quarterly progress reports with the development plan.
2. Get involved with the Quick start program.
3. Make sure we are not only helping  kids become players, but better people.
 
Greg Amerson, Atlanta,GA 
 
 
Trivia Answers
1)  Bill Tilden played in 10 finals. 8 in a row from 1918-25. Bill Johnson lost in 6 finals,  1916, '20, '22-25.
2)  Molla B. Mallory played in 10 finals. 1915-18, '20-24, '26
3) The seating capacity at Arthur Ashe Stadium is 23,000
4)  The tie-break was first used at the U.S. Open in 1970
5)  Who won the most Men's Doubles titles?  Richard Sears and James Dwight won 6 in a row from 1992-1887. Don't you remember??