Teenage boys aren't renowned for wanting to hang out with their mums, so when
Alex, 13, asked me if we could play tennis, I jumped at the chance. He's
enthusiastic about the lessons he has had at school this term, and I'm unfit
and desperate to get a bit more exercise, especially with a sport I've loved
since my schooldays but haven't played for five years. We'd probably be
quite well matched, I thought. He's faster and quicker, both mentally and
physically, but at my mature years, unlike him I'm no longer prone to
“McEnroe moments”.
Our first game was a success. We managed an hour and a half and my hunch about
our level was correct. I didn't chuck my racket on the ground in a fit of
temper once, and if there had been a soundtrack to the session it would have
been: “Run, Mum, run!”.
But if our new interest was to be more than a novelty, we both needed to
improve a lot. I was frustrated at how I still made the same old mistakes
since the Lower Fifth; and Alex is still a novice. What we needed, I
thought, was some coaching for parents and children who want to improve,
both technically and temperamentally, to avoid those two great enemies of
family games: boredom and tempers. But while my local authority has an
extensive tennis programme for adults or children, it doesn't mix the two;
surprising, I thought, since the Government is always banging on about how
we can't expect children to exercise more if their parents won't do it with
them.
Alex and I could hire a private coach, but a call to the local tennis
co-ordinator for advice was never returned. So we checked with the Lawn
Tennis Association (LTA), the sport's governing body, but it knew of no such
programmes either. So it was off to our local David Lloyd tennis club in
North London for two two-hour sessions over a weekend with Damion Jackson,
who coaches some of the country's most talented under-16s.
“I can't run and nor can you”
The day didn't get off to a great start. Alex was knackered after a week of
school exams and showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm. When I explained
brightly that he'd really enjoy it - David Lloyd was like a really good
sports centre but with an outdoor pool and tennis courts, he asked: “Are
there any beds?” His knee was hurting after running around all day on a
school trip to mark the end of the tests. “We're not going to be much use
Mum,” he said. “I can't run and nor can you.” Sometimes, I told him sternly,
you just have to rise to the occasion.
Perhaps Damion would be able to give me tips to improve our attitude and not
just our game. I want to encourage Alex, but I'm his mum, not a tennis pro,
and any “advice” might be construed as me just telling him what to do all
the time. After all, the whole point of him playing with me is to get the
better of mum for once. He knows that if he just tips the ball over the net
while I'm on the base line my middle-aged legs can't get me there in time to
whack it back. But that soon gets boring for me.
Damion was quick to work out where I was going wrong technically and helped me
to throw the ball up better when I served and to hold my racket slightly
differently for my backhand, which both instantly made a huge difference.
He explained the importance of strategy - think ahead to keep your opponent
running around the court like crazy - which Alex latched on to instantly.
“Adults have better ball judgment, but kids learn stuff faster,” Damion
pointed out. He also knows how to avoid apathy setting in by dividing the
knocking up session into different activities.
Carrot is better than stick
And he was fantastically encouraging: his calls of “Great shot, Alex” meant
more to my son than a thousand “well dones” from me. He played on Alex's
desire to beat me by yelling “You can't lose now buddy, you can't lose” if
he was in danger of defeat. “I really like Damion; he's a good coach,” Alex
said after our first session. I agreed, and appreciated the reminder that
carrot can go a lot farther than stick.
What's the best way to avoid arguments on court, I asked Damion? “When you see
parents and children or brothers and sisters falling out,” he said, “it's
usually about frustration over line calls, or accusations about cheating.”
Don't take it too seriously, is his advice to parents; turn a blind eye to
dodgy calls if necessary. “You are playing the ball, not the player. And if
you want to point out mistakes, don't harp on about it during play. You're
out there to help each other. Try to chat afterwards about how you think you
both got on and what you can do to improve.”
I felt that I learnt a huge amount in a very short time and can't wait to try
it all out again. “Your ball sense has improved,” Damion told us. “You're
both getting into better positions and you have a better understanding of
where to get the ball in.” He suggested that Alex and I play afterwards
again together and then book a lesson with a coach. At £25 to £30 an hour,
it may sound indulgent, but when you think that's the same price as a meal
for two at Pizza Express, say, it looks like good value for money.
So, what did you think of your old mum then Alex, I asked afterwards. “You
just kept hitting the ball into the net,” he replied. So you think I'm just
fat and unfit? “You're quite good,” he replied. “But I'm better.” And what
did he enjoy most about it? “Beating you.”
WARMING UP
Divide your knocking-up time into different activities to avoid boredom
Play a tie-breaker to practise your serve; the first one to reach seven points
from zero wins.
One of you feeds the ball either by hand or with the racket to the other to
practise, say, backhand or volley.
Hit the ball back and forth from the baseline, but as soon as your opponent
has hit the ball you shout “short” or “deep”, depending on whether you think
it's going to fall within the service area or beyond. This improves your
judgment of where the ball is going to land.
Try the ladder game. You both start with five points. Hit the ball back and
forth. If you miss a shot, you lose one point and your opponent gains one.
The first to get to ten wins.
With teenagers, leave enough time to play a proper game. The chance to beat
you is what drives them.
Lawn Tennis Association, visit lta.org.uk to
find a coach
HOW TO LIFT YOUR GAME
Top tips from Damion Jackson, at the David Lloyd tennis club, Finchley, North
London
Buy softer balls and try to play on a softer surface such as AstroTurf. It
slows the game so you have more time to think.
Invest in small plastic cones to mark out certain areas of the court and play
within them, such as the service area.
Buy decent tennis shoes or cross trainers because they support the foot better
than running shoes. .
Don't play for so long that everyone becomes tired and emotional. Depending on
ability, an hour is probably enough.
Davidlloydleisure.co.uk for
your local club
FEET FIRST
Fiona McWilliam explains a new approach to tennis coaching
For my children, Saturday morning tennis lessons no longer mean waiting
impatiently in line to return hand-fed balls. Thanks to an innovative
Australian coaching system, they're more likely to be practising Roger
Federer's front-foot hop or “shadowing” the coach Paul Turner as he runs
through Serena Williams's two-foot pivot.
Turner, the head coach at Brighton's Preston Lawn Tennis Club, is the first
and only coach in the UK licensed to teach the Bailey Method, a systematic
approach to tennis coaching centred on footwork using coloured discs placed
on the floor as a guide. Get this right, he says, and everything else
follows: “Fix the balance and you fix the swing. If you're in the right
position, you can't help but hit the ball well; just look at Federer.”
David Bailey, based in Sydney, is a former International Tennis Federation
junior tour coach who distilled the movement patterns of leading players
into the Bailey Method's 15 footwork “moves”. Turner met Bailey in Australia
in 2006: “I was struck by how quickly adopting these moves can improve
a player's game.” Yet never before, he maintains, have footwork and movement
been addressed specifically in coaching.
Turner teaches what he believes are the 12 most important Bailey Method moves
- four attacking, four defending and four rallying. His students start by
shadowing the moves without a ball. They then progress to self-drop and
fed-ball drills and, eventually, live-ball hitting, all of which can be
practised effectively in large groups or individually, with or without
supervision.
Children learn components of the moves through games and drills (see picture),
which my four offspring (13, 11, 8 and 6) find great fun. It has also
improved their playing enormously; after three months of lessons with
Turner, Digby, 13, is close to beating me.
Jacqui Rice, mother of rising tennis stars Allie, 13, and 11-year-old Sam,
says her children have advanced enormously since Turner started teaching
them nine months ago. “It has changed them as athletes, improving their
general fitness and speed.”
For more information, go to tennisactive.
co.uk ; thebaileymethod.com
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