Are The Indian Coaches Committed to producing Tennis Champions?

[jayakris]

Thanks for that advice on "academies" in Florida.  They are money-grabbers and nothing much more.  Just stick to a good coach locally.  I too have heard good things about Ilyas Hussain, Rishi Sridhar etc.

Jay

[Kumar]

Is ball machine a useful and viable tool for coaching players?

[eastind]

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking about a short term stint in the US at first say a couple of months next year and in the meantime improve on his strokes, fitness, game plan etc. he also would have grown some more in the meantime.
He is to play the National series and the Nationals in Mumbai starting Monday and he will have to see where he stands and then address the shortcomings.
In the meantime Iam looking forward to hear more views.

[S_K_S]

Have a look at http://www.britishtennisparents.com/ for general pointers

[eastind]

Hey eastind,

I know a couple pros training in Florida, let me see if I can find out what general costs are for full time training at a place like Bolletieris or elsewhere.  I'm pretty sure a full-time residential program is pretty pricey, but I do know some of these academies do offer scholarships when they see talent.  A couple of years ago the Bosse foundation, offered a several year $100,000 sponsorship of Rupesh Roy full with acoomodations and training and coaching.  There are options out there for kids that are talented, it takes some luck and time to find.

I do think there are good coaches in India that can at least develop children at younger ages.  For example, I've heard good thing about the Vijay Amritraj tennis academy.


http://www.indianetzone.com/1/tennis_ac ... aments.htm

One place you may want to check out in Chennai, is TTT (Triangular Tennis Trust), I asked and a friend in india with good knowledge recommended this place.


 

Hello amr090
TTT is too crowded and they already have an elite group of players, so they will not put my son in that elite group and he will have to practice with the other junior kids. So that is not an option.
If you could give some information about other training centres in florida for a short term training stint it would be helpful.
Have you heard about Ricc Macci's academy, I heard that Sharapova trained there.

[amr090]

Sure I can find out.  Even if TTT has a group of elite players, arent they always looking for new talent?  If they find a kid that is really good it doesnt make sense that they wouldnt add him to the pool of elite players?

Also maybe he would have to start out with other juniors and once they see his talent they would move him into the elite group?

[jayakris]

Same question I have, that Arun just asked.  Send your son in and get him to beat the crap out of the juniors there and they will move him into the elite group (unless they are stupid), I would think?

Jay

[eastind]

That elite group is with them for more than 5 years, so all newcomers are relegated to play only with the junior children because they wouldnt want their children to lose to a new comer. Same story with rishi sridhar, he already has a very talented 15 year old rishab dev, so all his attention is focussed only on him so much so all the 14,15 years olds have left his centre disgusted with the attitude.

[amr090]

but my point is, if you put your son with the juniors and he is talented he should start blowing the off the court, thereby getting attention of elite grop coaches, thereby eventually moving to the elite group.


it is understandable for them to not move him into the elite group without him proving his worth i guess.  but as good as your son seems to be once he displays his talents he should have no trouble moving up.

[eastind]

I have been reading most of the posts in this forum and I have read Sunil Yajaman's Career Path for aspiring Tennis Players.
He has said that the child must have learnt all the strokes by the time he is 12. In reality even by the time they are 15 they are learning new strokes, playing drive volley and backhand slice requires strength and the kids get power only when they are around 14. The coaches say that you need to be strong to play these strokes and they start to teach these only when they are 14.

As a tennis parent we are in the dark about what really must be done, should he play 4-5 hours per day or would 2 hours be enough, if he plays for 2 hours then would the practice be enough when kids from Delhi, A.P and Mumbai are practically living on the courts. If the kid practices for 4-5 hours then would it lead to burn out and injuries.

When to start training with weights. There are really many contradicting reports, some say you should start be the time the kid is 17-18 and some say you can start by 13.

What type of tournaments to enter and how many, when should he start playing ITF tournaments and should we look for performance or results. Till what time should we be satisfied with only performance.Would a foreign training stint be helpful and would a short stint or a long one do. After the nationals U 18 last year in Delhi I read an interview in the paper given by Prajnesh Gunneswaran, he had said that he was training in Spain and that if he trained in India he would lose to European and American players. The next day I read in the same paper given by his Indian coach that he had given him tips and taught him to play aggressively and that was the reason for him doing well. This is confusing to a tennis parent.

It would be helpful if AITA organises some counseling for the Children and the Tennis Parents. Tennis champs like L.P, M.B and younger ones like Karan, Yuki can also share their experience.

[jai_in_canada]

It is indeed very confusing for tennis parents.  I personally have no confidence in the coaching available in India.  Obviously, developing technique is key in the early going. And kinesiology is key in this regard. But also mental approach, attitude and fun are important elements in the early development of kids.  How many coaches in India can impart all this?  To be fair, however, how many coaches anywhere are able to do this?  Still, I believe that the biggest impediments to developing Indian talent is lack of trained coaches and lack of a systematic junior program (tournaments & centers of excellence) such as had by France, Sweden, Argentina, and Russia. Even Serbia and Croatia seem to be doing well in this regard.  Spain has a slew of top players, so they must be doing something right.  The AITA is dysfunctional, otherwise, they would actively study these models, develop one tailored for India, go after sponsorships which are more available in India today than ever before.

But, specifically for an individual parent trying to guide their child - I have no idea what the best approach is in India.

[v george]

Try to watch the movie "Unstrung"  going on in espn2 now about aspiring American juniors produced by Jim Courier. It is an eye opener.

[jai_in_canada]

Unfortunately I could not watch "Unstrung" because I have no cable.  (OK, no jokes about "Are there TVs in Canada?"). 

But I would like to invite v.george's (and others') comments on this article.  It does not solve eastind's immediate dilemma with respect to his son's next steps.  However, it is along the lines of what we discussed re. developing coaches and junior programs.

Future of tennis in India is bright: US tennis coach

[Sunil Yajaman]

I have been reading your opinions on Tennis coaching in India and they are quite interesting. Having head the Coaches education department of AITA and being a member the AITA Coaches Committee, i just feel it is my responsible to put in my views. WHat I'm sayting is my personal view and may not necessarily be on behalf of the entire Indian TEnnis coaching fraternity.

Every coach I'm sure is trying to do his best but its also a fact that everyone has a limitation. Tennis coaching is just like education, a child starts with Nursery & moves on to graduate. In every step, a particular teacher can only teach that stage. It would be  unrealistic to expect that a Nursery school teacher to be a good High school teacher. Moreover, every coach has his own philosophy towards coaching which may or may not be acceptable to a particular player or parent. This is a main reason why players change coaches. It is not possible for a coach to develop the best chemistry with every player and vice versa. Ultimately, I believe that it is this chemistry which helps them move up. When a kid starts playing Tennis, often it plays with the right technique that is comfortable for it. It is only when we start teaching it too much, it breaks their natural process of learning. A coach's role is more supportive and help them more tactically (I often use the example of a baby learning to walk). Technically, anyone needs to be worked only when it breaks up or if it could lead to any injury or hampers development.

It is also not right to judge a coach but as a parent, it would be better to analyse if it is going right with the child. Some of the questions that you may need to find answers to are:

1. Is the child having fun?
2. Likes to go to the coaching center?
3. Enjoys being with the coach?
4. Is the child improving?

If answers are 'no' to any of these, then it is certain that you look for a new coach.

Another important point would be to know the philosophy of the coach and his approach towards Tennis coaching. If a coach is giving any assurance or guarantee that the child will become a champion, I would hesitate sending my child to him!

It is not necessary that a child improves or becomes a champion only if he goes to the best academy in the World. What else may be the reason for Australia / Britain not producing World class players in the recent years though they spend millions of $ on development? What is important is that the player who is like an uncut diamond who is given the right shape and this can happen anywhere. A lot depends on how passionate the child is to climb up the Tennis ladder. Tennis is an easy game often complicated.  It is mainly responsible of the coach to keep it that way, but with over ambitious parents, I have noticed that the coach does too many things sometimes to please the parent with the fear of losing the player (business).

Parents should also be realistic to understand that his child lacks the ability to become a successful International player! Not every horse can be transformed into a race horse. Just proper technique cannot make one a champion, it is combination of many factors.

Lastly, as parents, you need to have patience as it is a long journey. Becoming a Tennis champion is not a destination but a journey to be experienced and enjoyed by all.

As a Tennis parent, you should also enjoy this!

Regards,

Sunil

[jaydeep]

Nice piece of post Sunil!