9 minute read
Talk instead of type
PRO PLANS
By Jason Hazley Elite Professional
2-hour Lesson Plan for High School Team or Adult Team Drill 6 players per court on multiple courts Focus: Doubles; Lob offense & defense
1. Fed ball warmup 3 volleys across. 5 minutes each way. 10 minutes
2. Fed Ball Groundstrokes- briefly explain areas of focus before starting each drill
Fed Ball Drill #1 Lob offense (10 minutes) 2 lines from doubles baseline position (start players close to the doubles alley) Ball 1 Groundstroke approach shot lob downthe-line Ball 2 Aggressive volley cross court (this volley is directed toward the location of the would be opposing net person) & switch lines
Fed Ball Drill #2 Lob defense (10 minutes) 2 lines from SINGLES baseline position (start players near the center mark) 1 ball high and deep to the corner in doubles alley (to keep the players safe, give players enough time to clear out of the way after hitting before feeding the next ball) Return shot high and deep down-the-line to avoid the net person Stay in the same line. Players switch lines after 5 minutes. 3. Live Ball Point Play- one up one back versus one up one back. Rotate the 3 players on each side circularly after 2 points. Pro may feed to the net person, a deep ball crosscourt, or a lob over the net person’s head causing a switch. Encourage baseline players to come to the net off of a well-placed lob down-the-line 40 minutes. Perform drill to both the deuce and ad sides and keep score.
4. Play 10 point tiebreakers with an extra serve (3rd serve) to start the point as no serve warm-up was given. Have the 5th and 6th players play a 10 point singles tiebreak on an adjacent court if short of more players. 40 minutes
Tech Corner Rest Your Fingers, Try Google Docs Voice Typing
By Jill Duffy
Voice typing, also called speech to text, frees up your fingers and hands so that you can write by speaking out loud. It’s free in Google Docs and works with dozens of languages. We have some tips for mastering the service. Just a few years ago, if you wanted to type using your voice instead of your fingers, you had to invest in expensive dictation software to get high quality results. That’s really not the case anymore. Speech-to-text services come included in quite a few operating systems and apps, including Google Docs.
In Google Workspace, this feature is known as Voice Typing. Voice Typing allows you to write, edit, and navigate your document by speaking instead of using the keyboard. When you use Voice Typing in Google Docs, you don’t have to compose in English either. You can choose from dozens of languages, dialects, and accents.
How to Use Google Docs’ Voice Typing
On the Web 1) Log into your Google account in the Google Chrome browser. Voice Typing requires Chrome. 2) Open a Google Docs file. 3) In the menu bar, go to Tools > Voice Typing. Alternatively, use the shortcut Command+Shift+S. 4) A microphone box appears. Click the microphone to start using your voice to type. 5) The browser might prompt you to give it access to your microphone, which you should do.
Then, go ahead and speak clearly in your normal voice, and the app will write down everything you say—with the exceptions of commands, covered in the Tips section below. When you’re done, click the microphone again or say “Stop listening.” On a Mobile Device When using Google Docs on a mobile device, you can still type using your voice, but you’ll technically use the built-in speech-to-text functionality on your phone rather than Google Docs’ Voice Typing. From your point of view, however, it mostly works the same. 1) Download the Docs app, launch it, and log in to your Google account. 2) Open a document or start a new one. 3) Tap the pen icon to begin editing. 4) When the keyboard appears, press the microphone icon and begin dictating whatever you want to write.
Troubleshooting
If you have any trouble, the most common problem is that your device’s microphone isn’t set up or working properly. Check the permissions in your browser. Remember that you must use the Chrome browser to get Voice Typing. Click the three stacked dots in the upper right corner of the browser and select Settings. In the page that opens, go to the left side and choose Privacy and Settings, then in the center of the page choose Site Settings. Scroll down and click Microphone. On the next page, make sure “Sites can ask to use your microphone” is enabled. Also check below in the section called “Not allowed to use your microphone” that you do not see Google Docs. If you do see it, open the settings (click the triangle) and change the microphone option to Allow.
Check your system settings. If you can’t solve the problem in your browser permissions, then check the audio settings in System Preferences in a mac OS device or the Control Panel for a Windows computer. Make sure the microphone you want to use is selected.
How to Access Help Menus. To get additional help, hover your cursor over the microphone box. A question mark in a circle appears. Click it to open the help menu. It contains instructions for how to use Voice Typing as well as a list of all the commands you can use.
How to Change the Language. To change the language for Voice Typing, go to the microphone box and look for the triangle pointing down. Click it to open a dropdown menu of language options and select the one you want.
Tips for Voice Typing in Google Docs. In addition to writing down everything you say, Google Docs Voice Typing can also follow commands. Commands include inserting punctuation, moving the cursor, formatting text, as well as selecting words, lines or paragraphs to delete, change, or move.
Adding punctuation is one of the functions you’ll probably use the most often. To add punctuation, just say any of the following words (although note that punctuation doesn’t work for every language): • Period • Comma • Exclamation point • Question mark • Open quote, end quote • New line (to start a new line of text) • New paragraph (to start a new paragraph, as in using the Enter key)
Try It Out
By Mark Schminke USPTA Elite Professional
Magnetic and Dry Erase Coaches Board
The concept of court positioning is not complicated, and teaching court positioning is not difficult for most students to comprehend. But trying to describe court positioning with just words is inefficient and extremely frustrating for both you and your student. You could always put your student “here” if they hit the ball “here” but your student is going to get lost and overwhelmed with the constant moving. I’ve found that an aerial view of the court is the most efficient and simplest way to teach and test a student’s knowledge of court positioning. The magnetic and dry erase coaches board from OnCourtOffCourt is my go-to tool to teach court positioning because of its simplicity and efficiency.
You can see from the picture how a simple board can be used for basically all things strategy. One side of the board displays a tennis court while the other is a pickleball court. It comes with 2 blue magnetic pieces, 2 red magnetic pieces, 1 yellow magnetic piece, one eraser, and one marker. The red and blue colored pieces are meant to represent players while the yellow the ball. Here are a few ways that I’ve used my coaches board.
1. Court positioning based on where you hit your shot. I show my student where they are supposed to recover based on if they hit a ball cross-court or down the line. Having an overhead view of the court is a very effective way to see where the “middle” of the court is. Once they understand positioning I quiz them. I make the blue piece my student, I then place the yellow piece in a corner on the other side of the court, I put the red piece right behind the yellow piece, then I say “where do you go if you hit your ball crosscourt?”. My student needs to move the blue marker to the correct court position.
2. Shot selection based on zones. I cut the court up into 4 zones based on the distance away from the net. This makes it easy for students to see the whole court all at once, understanding why we want to hit differently based on our position.
3. Angles and how effective they are. I place pieces in different positions on the court, then I use the marker to draw straight lines representing ball paths. When I draw sharp angles it has helped convince my younger players who’ve had a hard time grasping the importance of angles over power.
4. Return of serve positioning. Hands down the best way to show my students where they need to stand. It excels when trying to show your player how to move forward or backward based on the server’s shot speed. That is just a painful process if you don’t have some sort of visual aid as you watch your student continuously move up on the singles sideline for second serve returns.
These are just a few of my most frequently used teaching strategies. The aerial view and moveable pieces allow me to teach a concept quickly and efficiently. For only $42.95 it’s really a nice teaching tool that will save you tons of time (and headache) on the court.
The Social List
By Tom Parkes, USPTA Elite Professional
Memorial Day Weekend “Wilson Demo “clinic & round-robin
Promote the event with flyers, emails, text messages, and information sheets/handouts.
The Clinic: 1. The clinic should be scheduled in the morning. 2. Have a Bluetooth speaker to pump the music. 3. Your Wilson rep should bring extra demos if you don’t have enough for everyone who wants to try a new racket. 4. Have your Wilson rep on the court while the clinic is going on so they can answer any questions about the rackets they are trying out. 5. Provide snacks and drinks for all participants. Cost: Clinic: Give a discount for the clinic off your normal clinic rate, because hopefully, you make up the difference in racket sales. I suggest $10.00 per person.
Round Robin: Have a Bluetooth speaker and music.
You can make this event a parent/child and/or an adult mixer. It will depend on the size of your facility.
I would start the round-robin 1 hour after your clinic. This will give you time to regroup and prepare for the round-robin.
Ask your Wilson rep if they have any free giveaway items they can provide for a raffle giveaway.
I give first and second place prizes to the male and female participants in my adult-only divisions. You could give first and second place prizes to the parent-child divisions as well.
Prizes: You can give away ½ hour private lessons to your 1st place winners. I usually turn these into hour lessons with the participants paying for the second 1/2.
My second-place prizes have been 1-hour ball machine passes, hats, and cans of balls.
Be creative with your prizes.
Close the event with a cookout afterward. This is always a great hit.
