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Stroke Master My Tennis Life
STROKE MASTER
Serena Williams is a competitive opponent, but limiting her time by serving into the body is effective when under pressure or to set up a point. Stroke Master outlines the benefits.
What do you see?
It limits your opponent’s ability to effectively execute the return of serve. Serving to the body can provide you with a specific target (with greater margins) when you find yourself under pressure. It forces your opponent to play more defensively on the return of serve. It limits the potential of an offensive return of serve being hit for a cross court angle or aggressively down the line. Can set you up for an aggressive second shot, opening opportunities into the open court or back behind your opponent.
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www.tennis.com.au/coaches OCTOBER 2013 AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE
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MY TENNIS LIFE
It may have started as a reason to bypass farm chores, but tennis soon became an essential part of Kane Dewhurst’s day-today activities.
hurstaster Kane ODNSe: Tew lia M nnis Austra Australia
Encourage what’s
natural
I
started playing tennis from the age of five in the backyard of our family farm 20 minutes outside Swan Hill in country Victoria. Tennis at a young age was something I loved, but was also a great way for me to get out of doing the farm work and hang out with friends.
results. These include Jaimee Fourlis, Chase Ferguson and Eliza Long, who all won National titles is 2011–12. Other past and present players include Andrew Whittington, Majija Mirkovic, Sam Groth, Todd Millington, Michaela Capannolo and more than 20 players who have moved on to the US College system.
Getting my first ATP points, winning my first Futures event and playing in a great team tennis environment in Germany are some moments that stick with me. But the real memorable moments are the lifelong friendships I have made and kept with other players and people in tennis, who all come from such a diverse range of backgrounds.
Each one of these players at some stage walked onto the tennis court as a five year old for the first time and wanted to have fun. Working with elite players or Hot Shot beginners is just as rewarding if you are truly passionate about teaching tennis and impacting each person. The Vida Tennis vision is to create life opportunities through the sport of tennis. Whether the goal is world stage or personal best, tennis can create this opportunity for the individual. Our philosophy of “teach what’s essential, encourage what’s natural and allow for the individual” enables us to focus on each person’s needs, as everyone learns differently at different rates. The key message I would like
I have always had a thirst for knowledge and continual education in all areas of life and believe we should never cease growing, so when you combine this with my love for tennis, it was a natural progression from playing into coaching. For me the real reward in acquiring knowledge is the ability to impart this to others and help them achieve their personal goals. Whether that is the kids you teach, people who work with you or friends Vida Tennis is creating life opportunities through tennis. and family. I have been the Director of Vida Tennis Academy for 10 years now. There have been many players who have worked with Vida Tennis who have achieved some great personal 56
AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2013
all students to walk away with is have fun, enjoy tennis for life, and you will achieve more in the sport. The role of the tennis coach is much more than teaching a player to hit the tennis ball. The relationship of the student and coach is vital to improvement and creating a great environment and culture to be part of. Respect has to be earned, not given, both ways. It gives me great pride knowing I have had an impact on a child’s life as a role model or helping them achieve their goal. We are very lucky at Vida Tennis to have several elite sports people associated with us and are able to tap into their experience and expertise to bounce ideas from. John Aloisi from Melbourne
is ATI QUALIFIC ional coach, Tenn ss Club Profe lopment coach e Talent Dev nis r Vida Ten S: Directo nnis BUSINES sendon Te is Club, Es , Glen Iris n n Te a n b Alto VENUES: ton East Tennis Clu n Tennis Club, ks Club, Fran is Club, Mildura Law n Tennis Club, w n Valley Ten ollege, Swan Hill La llege o C St Kevin’s b (Bulleen), Xavier C Veneto Clu
Heart and Anthony Rocca from Collingwood have been great speaking with groups of our students and coaches. All elite coaches of all sports communicate very well and have a great ability to get everyone on the same page in a common direction. This is very important to help our team members, as well as our students, develop a vision and pathway for progression. Tennis coaching and the tennis industry as a whole is something I am passionate about. I have a Masters in Business and continue to further my learning in areas outside tennis and bring this knowledge back to our sport. Will I always be working within tennis? Maybe not, but tennis will always be part of me. I love to help people achieve their personal best goals, in all areas of life. Each person is different and possesses a different challenge. In the last year all Vida Tennis venues have had an increase in membership, coaching, participation and activity around the club. Our goal is to continue this pattern and enable more people to play tennis for longer in a great environment. DANIELA TOLESKI