Feed the Need: Tournament Fuel Strategies

I have already blogged about off-court advance preparation for playing a multi-day tournament. But I am often asked by parents about what their players should eat during the event. Naturally this depends on the player, but the same common sense fuel strategies that apply to other sports will also work for tennis.

Hydration and Electrolytes
WATER!! Water is so important for all of us humans, regardless of our fitness level. Be sensible. Encourage your child to never pass up an opportunity for a drink of water. Specifically I am thinking

of getting a drink 'on the switch', when players switch ends of court after every odd number of completed games. On the switch is the only time players are allowed to stop for a drink. If you don't get a drink then, you can't just stop and get one whenever you are thirsty. I have some students who think they are showing me how tough they are by never wanting to take a drink break. This is a recipe for cramps and failure. Of course, too much of a good thing can be harmful as well. Gulping gallons of water can lead to uncomfortable fullness, too many bathroom breaks/interruptions, and in extreme cases, extreme consequences too unpleasant to mention here. Okay, I will mention: yes, people have died from drinking too much water. A good strategy is to sip at every opportunity and drink when thirsty. Also take a drink of water if feeling hungry - thirst sometimes masquerades as hunger.

Sports drinks - I have already talked about electrolytes and why they are important here. Suffice to say moderation is what we are after. These drinks contain electrolytes, but they also often contain lots of sugar and artificial coloring. I have also found many of my students, like myself, don't care for them or tend to get a stomach ache when drinking them during competition. Not sure why, just FYI.

On to solid nutrition options:

Fruit - bananas, orange slices, frozen grapes, melons, basically any hydrating fruit your child enjoys. I once had a pound of plums disappear at a Jr. Team Tennis practice like they were little round purple bars of gold.
Yogurt - satisfying and easy to digest. Just don't overdo it as many yogurts can be high in sugar.
Nutrition bar - individually packaged, easy to toss in the bag, doesn't need a cooler. What we are going for here is a slow, even release of energy for your player. Nibble, don't gobble.


The Free Lunch
Tournaments often provide lunch for the players. What is offered varies widely. I have seen everything from cold cut subs/sandwiches to pizza to meat-and-three (it's a southern thing). You want to avoid the afternoon slump or worse, cramping, that can arise after eating a heavy meal for lunch. Definitely no fast food. Avoid anything that will require lots of effort for your digestive system. This diverts energy from other parts of the body which may be needed for chasing down lobs! You can call the tournament director and ask what they will be serving, or just bring your own snacks JIC (Just In Case). If it were up to me, I would offer cold cuts/subs for all tournament lunches. Good combination of carbs, protein and veg, not too heavy, and most people like them. When our facility hosted the Jr. Team Tennis Nationals recently, they also had a smoothie vendor. Smoothies are a tasty and more or less healthy snack option, but again, enjoy in moderation.

What NOT to eat is so much easier. Avoid the usual suspects:

Fast food
Sweets
Fried food
Soda

Also avoid any foods new to your player that might be offered at the event. The chicken Caesar garlic wrap with tzatziki and quinoa may seem healthy and smell delicious, but tournament day is not the day to test if your player's stomach can tolerate whole grains and Greek food.

Bottom line: during the tournament, you want to eat like a world class athlete.

 WWFE (What Would Federer Eat?)

Net Work

This simple but effective drill idea is from the 3rd Toad tennis blog. Its purpose is to get players comfortable with coming in to the net. Works for both singles and doubles. Also great for fitness and footwork.

Two players rally from the baseline cooperatively. After the third rally, one player moves in to the net and point is played out competitively.

For more than two players, divide players into more or less equal groups and have them rotate in after every point. Continue until all players have had a chance at both positions.

Variation: baseline player who wins point trades places with net player.

Team Triples

Team Triples is a twist on the Triples game, a player favorite. I saw it mentioned in the August 2014 issue of Tennis Industry Magazine. I love their idea of making it a team format for a tournament. I especially love the idea of playing it with orange balls!

To recap how Triples works: there are three players on each end of court forming a triangle - one at the T, and two at the baseline where the singles sideline intersects with the baseline. Players self-feed with a bounce feed. Both sides rotate one position after every point. Full court (including alleys) is played. First team to X wins.

Using a slower ball on a full 78-foot court introduces a fitness element. Having the players self-feed introduces a strategy and directional control element.

The article did not give details about who feeds or how, other than suggesting players feed rather than coaches. When we play regular Triples, I usually feed straight ahead to the player across the net from me at the deuce side baseline. We play first to X, best two out of three, and the players rotate positions after every point, so someone new is always getting the feed. I suggest a similar strategy here so that a different person is serving every point. So consider whomever has rotated into the deuce side baseline position the feeder. Avoid having the player at the T as feeder.

As for scorekeeping, because you are rotating players after every point, I would go with a 'first to X' or rather than a traditional 15-30-40 scoring method. If using a 'first to X' scoring strategy, alternate teams feeding with each new game. If you want to play timed rounds, you don't need to have an end point to the game. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the timed round, wins. But with this scoring strategy, you may want to alternate which team is feeding with every point, so that one team is not feeding the entire timed round.

No need to organize a big tournament to enjoy this activity. Consider using this as a warm-up if you have six or more players in your group. If more than six, that's fine - just have the extras rotating in since there is a rotation after every point and things move pretty quickly.

Cardio For Two

This drill is from Cosmin Miholca's site webtennisdrills.com. Excited to try it soon with my students.

Players face each other across the net using only one half of the court. Balls must stay in service boxes; in other words, players are playing straight ahead. One player must allow every ball to bounce before hitting it. The other player must alternate between bounce hits and volleys. Failure to do so will award a point to the other player. First to 7 points wins; then reverse roles.

You could do this cross-court to mix things up a little. 

Live Ball

Live Ball is a fun activity that goes by many different names. What I love about this particular

Go here for article and video

incarnation is that the author explains why it is okay to sometimes just skip 'the most important stroke of the game' (the serve) in the interest of speeding things up and leveling the playing field. In the article, the players are very high level. But I have had success using this for students of all levels and abilities with groups large or small. The article example is with a larger group and is playing doubles. But recently I played it with two orange ball players - TWO - (singles, natch), and they both loved it. It really gets the competitive juices flowing. It is also great for fitness. I had my older yellow ball players huffing and puffing with it a few weeks ago.

To summarize the article and video: this is basically King/Queen of the Court with a 4/2 scoring scheme. Pro feeds first ball to challenger(s). Challengers must win 4 points before king/queen wins 2. If challengers succeed, they are the new king/queen.

Some fun variations:

• Set a time limit. Player(s) who are king/queen when time ends are that day's champs.
• Set a limit on how many rotations the king/queen can stay. 
• Base your feeds on whatever you are working on that class - all backhands, no bounce, etc. 

8 Ball Challenge

Here's another drill from PTR's Effective Feeding Techniques DVD. I am cherry-picking. There are tons more drill ideas on the DVD, so don't do what I did and let it sit in the shrink wrap for who knows how long - give it a look!

Coach is deep in his/her end of the court, feeding from about No Man's Land. Coach feeds a series of 8 balls to one player. In the video, Coach Oivind varies the feeds. Most are alternating ad and deuce side, so recovery is key. At least one of the balls (usually the 5th in his examples) is somewhat short but playable.

8 Ball Challenge borders on a cardio tennis drill. It should improve your students' consistency as well as fitness. I will be challenging my players to see who is the first to hit all 8 balls successfully. If your students are anything like mine, this will get their competitive juices flowing.

Introduce this drill as a dead ball drill. As your players improve, you can transition it into a live ball drill by feeding closer to the net and taking their shots as volleys.

3 Ball Scoot

This is the second idea I am stealing from Valentina Moseychuk's junior tennis warm-up video. She did not have a name for it so I am taking liberties.

Place piles of 3 balls each along one sideline, one pile per player. Players compete to be the first player to move all three balls over to far sideline and back. Balls must be moved one at a time. Balls must be set down on far sideline one at a time. Player may not begin moving them from far sideline to original sideline until all three are at far sideline. In other words they cannot carry one ball over to far sideline and bring it right back. So they should be making at total of 6 trips across court and back. Click on the linnk above and watch the video at about :38 to see this drill in action.

Feet! Feet! Feet!

Thanks, Kid Fitness 101 for today's tennis drill idea. That link in the first sentence will take you to a brief video loaded with footwork drills. I used a half-dozen or so of them yesterday to warm up my Orange and Green ball classes. They are a challenge! I used

• Hopping back and forth across the line, both laterally and toward the net, one foot as well as two
• 4 step count moves - reminded me of salsa class!
• Big Skip - who doesn't love skipping?

The kids were huffing and puffing, but energized. One of my Green ball students was inspired to add one of his own, so I will share it with you here.

• Facing the center of the court, hop so that one foot is extended over the front of the line and one behind. Alternate in a scissors motion as you move laterally toward the net. 

Thanks, Zeb!

7 Free Things To Improve Your Junior's Tennis

Anne Pankhurst

More good info from the recent PTR 10 and Under Tennis Conference in Hilton Head. Physiology and instruction guru Anne Pankhurst led a couple different sessions which you will be hearing more about in future blog posts. Anne is a big shot in this field. The Baltimore Ravens recently had her over to consult with them on their junior sports program.

One of Anne's sessions was entitled 'Helping Parents Help Their Kids in Tennis'. She included some great tips on general ABC's (agility, balance, coordination) that will help any child improve in any sport. We have talked about these before in previous blog posts, but they are definitely worth mentioning again. These basic skills are often sadly lacking in today's TV and video game-based sedentary lifestyle. All are simple things you can do with your child at home. All are things your child should be delighted to do. I sometimes call these things 'homework'. That often results in a sour face from my students until they hear just exactly what the 'homework' entails.

Parents often ask me what they can do to help their kids improve their tennis skills outside of our lessons. The easy answer is to take your child out to the neighborhood courts and play. But this is often not an option for some. So here are some beneficial activities that can be done right at home - no courts required!

Here's the Magnificent 7:

• Reaction/tracking - performing some of the 'bounce, catch' and other similar activities shows me the student is focused on the ball and is learning the proper timing and reaction based on what the ball is doing.
• Throwing/catching TO SIDE - very important if you have a tennis player in the family and want to play a game of catch, please have them catch and throw from the side rather than from the belly button. This simulates the proper point of contact when they are hitting the ball. For example, for forehands - out in front racquet distance away (arms outstretched) at 2 o'clock for righties and 10 o'clock for lefties.
• Overhand throwing - just as if they are throwing a football or baseball. This simulates an overhand service motion.
• Running - good footwork and fitness is key in many sports. Tennis is no exception. 
• Jumping - improves footwork, timing.
• Skipping - great for coordination! Skipping is harder than it looks!
• Jump rope - I brought some jump ropes to class recently to use during the warm-up. They were a huge hit. Strongly recommend adding them to your tennis bag of goodies. 

Anne said she tells parents 'don't pay coaches to do [the above activities]'. I understand her point - why waste valuable on-court time on things you can easily take care of at home for free? But let me give you a different perspective: if you see your child's coach including some of these activities, don't despair. This may be the only time some of the other students get to do them. Since they are so critical to physical development, a reasonable amount of time spent on basic athletic skills shows me the coach understands their importance, especially for very young players (8 and under). 

Alley Rally

4.5 foot strip of tennis heaven

Those 4.5 foot wide alleys on the 78-foot court come in handy for lots of things besides doubles. Alley Rally is a great warm-up and improves coordination skills as well.

Coach places spots or stripes 5-6 feet apart in a straight line in alley from net to baseline. Players pair up with a partner and face each other across alley at net. Side shuffling toward the baseline, players must toss and catch a ball to each other. Ball should bounce between them. If they miss, they return to the nearest spot and keep trying. First pair to reach baseline wins.

Variation
Eliminate the bounce and have them catch the ball out of the air.

Adapted from USTA's Learn To Rally And Play booklet

Clear the Court

Here's a simple activity to warm up the shoulder. Perfect intro to a serving lesson. Divide players into two teams, one on each baseline. Place two piles of equal numbers of balls on the court, one pile at each T (middle of service lines). Teams compete within a set time limit to 'clear the court' of balls on their side. Team with fewest balls on their side of court at end of time limit wins.

Note: players must start at baseline, run up and get a ball from the service line, throw it over, then return to baseline before throwing another ball over. For safety reasons, players may not advance past service line to retrieve balls. Also for safety reasons, this game is best not played on 36-foot courts unless you are playing with foam balls.

Adapted from USTA's Learn To Rally And Play booklet

Dirty Harry

What this has to do with
Dirty Harry I do not know

Here's a fun activity to improve lateral movement and quickness. Coach is on one side of net on one half of court (ad or deuce). Players are across net straight ahead of Coach. For this example, let's put the Coach at the net on the ad side, and players across net at deuce side baseline. Coach tosses the ball underhand diagonally to the ad side baseline. Player must catch ball after bounce, moving laterally with good quality side shuffle. After retrieving the ball, player shuffles back to starting point, tosses ball back to Coach, and returns to end of player line. One point is awarded for each ball caught. First player to earn 7 points calls out 'Dirty Harry' and wins the game.

Move to opposite side of court and repeat so that players work on moving laterally from both sides of court.

Progression
The version above is the hardest. To make it a little easier, consider these tweaks.
Easy - coach is on same side of net as players; uses smaller court or only half of court
A little harder - Coach is across net, but allows multiple bounces.

Update: I tried this one recently and it worked great! I had the students warm up by starting on the deuce side with catching the tossed ball, with me tossing from the same side of the court. First one to 7 points wins; repeat on ad side. Points only awarded if they shuffled over, caught ball after one bounce, and shuffled BACK. Then we progressed to them shuffling over, hitting ball, shuffling back. I was feeding from across the net. No points awarded unless 1) ball went over net into play; and 2) shuffle over AND BACK. I fed quickly, so they were huffing and puffing after four rotations. I will definitely be using this again.

Adapted from USTA's Learn To Rally And Play

Fuel For The Tennis Fire

Tournaments can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Lots of things to consider, including weather conditions (how hot or cold?), number of events entered (how often are you playing?), and caliber of opponents (how long are you on court?). These and other factors can vary wildly, and all impact the athlete, so best be prepared for anything.

Ongoing
Of course the best preparation is to eat healthy and maintain a good level of fitness on an ongoing basis, regardless of your tournament schedule. Common sense, people!

• Just Say No to fast food. Please resist the urge to reward your children with trips to Mickey D's. As a former parent of young children, I completely understand the temptation. Their marketing machine is powerful. Do your best. If that is too much to ask, try some other strategies, such as: 
• Avoid sugar, soft drinks and other empty calories. Think of them as no different than offering your child a cigarette.
• Check with your school to see how much physical activity is offered throughout the day. If it is not daily, supplement with tennis, soccer, dance, neighborhood play with friends.
• Encourage physical activity such as the NFL's Play 60 campaign. 
• If your budget allows, the kinetic video games(Wii, Kinect, etc.) are fantastic. Easy, fun, and the kids love 'em. Great for mom and dad, too!
• Encourage family outings that include physical activities such as walking around the zoo, local fitness trails, swims, bike rides, etc. It doesn't have to cost much. Just get off your butts. 

Lead By Example

As parents and coaches this may be the most important thing we can do to encourage healthy habits. Some things I do on court include:

• encouraging hustle - my students are probably sick of hearing this from me, but too bad: "There's no walking in tennis!"
• the athlete mentality - I take every opportunity to remind them they are athletes now - no dragging booty during ball pickup 'because you're an athlete'. When they ask if I will be giving candy as rewards or incentives like some other coaches or teachers, I say 'no, because you're an athlete and athletes shouldn't eat that stuff'.
• lead by example - hey, I'm not perfect, and I have the body I deserve. But I try not to eat or drink candy or soda in front of my students. I do carry a large water bottle with me at all times, wear a hat and sunscreen, proper footwear, etc. I am constantly amazed at how much my students model my behavior and remember so many seemingly trivial things that I say and do on court. They are little sponges. So make sure they are soaking up lots of good behaviors from you.

Tournament Prep

In the days leading up to the tournament, do your homework.

I don't like sports drinks. A friend
introduced me to these instead.
Inexpensive, easy on the stomach,
 and available at most drug stores.

• Look at the weather and plan clothing and accessories accordingly. This is not exactly a nutrition topic but since we are here:
• If it is chilly, layer, layer, layer. 
• Protect a major source of heat loss and discomfort when cold: your head. This is also a personal preference - I hate it when my ears get cold! 
• Keep your torso warm. 
• Gloves/pockets for hands as long as the glove will not interfere with your ability to grip the racquet. 
• If it is warm, remember hat/visor/sunglasses, sunscreen, hand towel, fresh change of clothes.
• Experiment with different types of socks far in advance. The day of the match is not the day to try new shoes/socks. Level of perspiration, thickness of sock and tightness or looseness of shoe are all important factors to avoid excessive sweating or excess movement within the shoe which can cause blisters. 
• While we are talking about feet - maintain those toenails to avoid 'tennis toe'. Keep them clipped short but not so short that they get inflamed. All that stopping and starting, and carrying the weight on the front half of the foot causes a lot of forward motion in the shoe. Which is another reason to make sure your player has plenty of room in the toe of the shoe.
• Plan hydration - water should be your primary source of hydration. Don't assume there will be water on the courts. 
• Electrolytes - so what the heck is an electrolyte, anyway? why are they relevant to athletic competition? Here's the scoop: electrolytes help carry electrical impulses across cell membranes. They exist in the body as different types of salts including sodium, potassium, and magnesium. When you exercise and sweat, you lose these important ingredients as you sweat. This is a major contributor to heat cramping. Sports drinks have made it convenient to replace electrolytes with liquids if you don't like eating solid foods during physical activity. Other options are electrolyte tablets and easy-to-digest bananas (for potassium). Be careful about consuming too many sports drinks when you are not planning on being active - they also tend to have lots of sugar.
• Carbohydrates - you will hear that carbs convert to energy faster than fats or proteins, which is why some athletes 'carbo load' by eating pasta or other carbs a day or two prior to competition. This may be useful to your player. But remember tennis consists of intermittent bursts of activity combined with periods of downtime/recovery, so all three of those food groups play a part in tournament stamina.
• Sleep - is sooooo important to all aspects of activity, athlete or not. Be sure you are rested in the days leading up to and through the tournament. Healing and recovery happens during the sleep cycle.

Bottom line: eat well, sleep well, play well. Common sense fitness tips will see you through on the court as well as off it.

Scoop and Scoot

These buckets come in handy, don't they?

This fun drill helps your players with their consistency and direction. There is also a handy fitness component. Best for groups.

Divide players into two groups at the baseline on the same end of the court. Each group has an equal number of balls and one racquet piled at the service line. Across the net each group has a bucket, hopper, or other container. Each team sends one player across the net as their first Chaser. Each team sends another player to service line. This player bounce feeds one ball across net to their Chaser. Chaser retrieves ball and puts it into their own team's container. Chaser then runs to end of his/her team's line. Player who had just hit the bounce feed is the new Chaser and runs to other side of net. First team to get all of their balls into their container wins.

Variation
Stipulate what type of feed teams may use: forehand, backhand, underhand serve (no bounce), serve, non-dominant hand, etc.

Adapted from The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins

Singles Go

Singles Go has elements of other drills, think Champs and Chumps + Around the World with a little Deep Desperation thrown in for good measure. It will improve your players' overheads, net game, and fitness. Coaches, get your lob feeding skills in order.

One player is selected as first Champ and begins at center of court in net position. All other Challengers are at opposite baseline. One at a time they step in to play singles against the Champ. Feeder/coach feeds first ball to Champ as a high lob.

If Champ wins the point, they stay. Losing Challenger goes to end of Challenger line and next Challenger takes a turn.

If the Champ loses the point, they run to end of Challenger line. The winning Challenger runs to Champ side of court as Feeder is feeding another high lob for them to play.

Variation
I used this drill recently with my green ball players. We were working on backhands in this lesson, so I substituted a backhand feed for the overhead. I also added a point play component, first to 10 points wins. They loved it and begged to play it through the end of the clinic, thirty minutes straight.

From The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins.

Rising Star

Rising Star requires players who can control and direct the ball, so look for advanced beginners and up to play this game. Two players minimum; or, for a good private lesson activity, have the coach feeding all balls as Player A.

Player A stands at the baseline near the sideline. Player B is at the opposite baseline in the center of the court. Player A alternates feeding ball cross court and down the line to Player B. Player B must return all balls to Player A.

As you can see, this game also requires a certain level of fitness, so limit playing time accordingly.

I found this activity in The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins. I have a link to it on my Amazon store page here.

Half-Court Hustle

Slow feet need not apply

I found this activity in The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins. It's a great warm-up activity. BTW I have a link to the book on my Amazon store page here.

One player, or coach, stands at net. Second player stands across net at service line. Net player feeds soft angle volleys, forcing second player to hustle to get the ball. Net player feeds quickly and continuously for one minute before switching roles or rotating in next player.

Progression
Too hard? use a slower ball and hand toss rather than feeding/playing with racquet

In The Middle Solves The Riddle

Look at all of that beautiful middle
space just waiting for you to hit into it

"In the middle solves the riddle" is one of those old tennis saws that may be annoying after you have heard it for the umpteenth time, but it really is true. Keeping the ball in the middle of the court is a smart strategy for both singles and doubles. Lots more real estate there, lower margin of error, less chance of donating a great opportunity to your opponent(s). This game should get your players in the Middle Mindset. You will need at least 4 players (although you could squeak by with three).

Two players begin at the net. Two more face them at the opposite baseline. Coach at net post feeds ball to baseline team. When ball is fed, net players must move laterally to their respective alley sidelines, then get back into position. This movement will create a nice big empty hole in the middle of the court for the baseline team to hit to. As with Two On One, this is a tiring drill, so keep the rotation intervals brief. Play to 3-5 points or feed 3-5 balls to each baseline team before rotating.

You could play this as a variation of Two On One if you are short a player.

California Corners

Here's another singles activity for two or more players from Aaron Fox's presentation at the 2012 PTR Symposium. It has the added bonus of also being a fitness challenge. But I guess all singles drills are a fitness challenge, aren't they??

Two players (or teams of players) begin on each end of the court diagonally from each other at the intersection of the singles line and the baseline. One end or team is designated as the Running Team. Coach feeds first ball to the Running Team to opposite half of the court from wherever they are lined up. So for example if the players are lined up on the deuce side corner, coach feeds first ball into the middle of the ad side of the Running court. Players play out the court. Player who wins the point runs back and touches the corner where they began the point, and coach feeds next ball. Coach always feeds Running Team side regardless of who wins each point. First team to 11 wins and teams switch roles (non-running team is now Running Team for round 2).

Progressions
Easier - use slower balls and smaller courts.
Harder - put restrictions on play such as hitting balls beyond service line, only forehands, only backhands, only cross court, etc.

Aaron, I hope you don't mind if I call this Carolina Corners when I use it. :)

UPDATE: My orange ball students love this game. I have been using this frequently, pairing it with whatever stroke we are emphasizing during the lesson. For example if we are working on our forehands, I play this game by making the first fed ball to their forehand.