Why Tennis4Life?
Creating Ageless Performance
Tennis4Life is designed to enhance skill development and reduce injury for players of any age.
Developments in racket and string technology means that tennis can be played, and played well, from ages 9 to 90.
In many ways competitive tennis is a microcosm of life–you have to keep your eye on the ball, achieve a balance between competing priorities while experiencing the ups and downs of the match, much like the rhythm of life. And like life, tennis is a tough game to play well even when you are born with good genes.
The great majority of players focus on stroke development without really understanding how to develop their own game, i.e based on their innate abilities or limitations. Jimmy, my first pupil, was a lefty with one eye and took up the game to play with his mates — yes, social interaction is another benefit of tennis. Through Jimmy, early on I learned the lesson of the Peanut’s cartoon: the impact of the dominant eye particularly on backhands.
Our skills pathway includes three essential skills which underpin any tennis stroke: ball watching, balance and rhythm — and the development of the core supporting muscles to both enhance those skills and prevent injury. Because the same racket technology that allows us to play well into elder age, accelerates the risk of injury for players at all levels of the game; e.g. tennis elbow!
Tennis4Life’s Brains Trust is a group of like-minded experienced coaches and health practitioners, sharing best practice ideas in skill development, biomechanics and injury prevention/recovery.
How will they help you make the most of what you’ve got??
Watch out for the next Tennis4Life post.
