Lee Couillard, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii explains why physiology and muscular strength must be considered before teaching a certain grip to a student. In this video, we can watch the serve progression of an 8 year old all the way to the age of 15. The student starts out with a fry pan handle grip at the age of 8 and then changes to the continental grip when he's physically strong enough to be successful using it. Later, the student makes another change from the pin-point to the platform stance to simplify the motion.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii shows the shoulder over shoulder movement (cartwheel action) used in the serve motion.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii shows the different types of tosses used on the serve. There is no one single technique used on the toss, however, a toss that allows for the full synchronization of the of racket arm, trunk rotation and leg drive is most important. Because of the different types of service motions (abbreviated or full service motion), the toss will vary from player to player. The key to an effective serve is coordinating all the movements in a seamless manner and the toss is a critical part of this sequence.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii shows a clip of Dr. Martin Baroch taken from the 2008 USPTA World Conference in La Quinta, California. In this clip, Dr. Baroch emphasizes the importance of keeping the head up or "Chin Up" on the serve at the contact point. I highly recommend video taping the serve to detect this as it is very difficult to see this in actual time.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Pro, Punahou School shows a serve comparison of a 3.5 player and two nationally ranked 18 and under players. In this video, we can see the noticeable difference in the ball toss and leg drive of the 3.5 student in comparison to nationally ranked boys 18 and under players and one professional player.
Dr. W. Ben Kibler is the Medical Director for Lexington Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Lexington, KY and a long-time member of the USTA National Sport Science Committee. Dr. Kibler is also a founding member of the Society of Tennis Medicine and Science as well as a fellow, and former vice-president, of the American College of Sports Medicine. He is a team physician for numerous professional teams, colleges, and high schools in the Lexington area.
Dr. Kibler has presented and written prolifically on all areas of sports medicine, but specializes in the upper extremity, shoulder pathology, scapula, and biomechanics of tennis. He is known worldwide as an expert in shoulder mechanics and injury. Dr. Kibler attended medical school and completed his residency in Orthopedic Surgery at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN and has been affiliated with Lexington Clinic since July 1977.
Dr. Kibler is also a member of the following professional organizations:
- American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
- American Orthopedic Association
- American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine
- American College of Sports Medicine
- American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons
- Society of Tennis Medicine and Science
- International Society for Knee Arthroscopy and Orthopedic Sports Medicine
Dr. W. Ben Kibler is the Medical Director for Lexington Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Lexington, KY and a long-time member of the USTA National Sport Science Committee. Dr. Kibler is also a founding member of the Society of Tennis Medicine and Science as well as a fellow, and former vice-president, of the American College of Sports Medicine. He is a team physician for numerous professional teams, colleges, and high schools in the Lexington area.
Dr. Kibler has presented and written prolifically on all areas of sports medicine, but specializes in the upper extremity, shoulder pathology, scapula, and biomechanics of tennis. He is known worldwide as an expert in shoulder mechanics and injury. Dr. Kibler attended medical school and completed his residency in Orthopedic Surgery at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN and has been affiliated with Lexington Clinic since July 1977.
Dr. Kibler is also a member of the following professional organizations:
- American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
- American Orthopedic Association
- American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine
- American College of Sports Medicine
- American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons
- Society of Tennis Medicine and Science
- International Society for Knee Arthroscopy and Orthopedic Sports Medicine
Nick Bollettieri (www.nickbollettieri.com) is one of the most influential people in the world of tennis and a legend who has transcended the sport. In 1978, he founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (NBTA) in Florida. The NBTA was the first full-time tennis boarding school to combine intense training on the court with a custom-designed academic curriculum. What was once a program of primarily on-court training has evolved into a multi-faceted approach which includes blending the technical and strategic on-court training with specialized performance physical training and mental conditioning. The Bollettieri approach not only builds athletes on the court, but more importantly, prepares them for a successful life off the court as well.
At 77 years old, Nick is still going strong, rising at 4:20 am every morning to get to the gym by 5:00 am. He starts coaching at 5:30 am, stopping only for a quick lunch before finishing his last lesson at 7:00 p.m. Nick teaches private lessons, as well as oversees the progress of numerous professional players, the Elite Juniors, and the general Academy groups. He also travels around the country and internationally on an annual basis conducting clinics, making appearances, and giving motivation speeches for all audiences.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii explains the "wrist snap" on the serve. Dr. Martin Baroch mentions that elite players do have faster racket head speeds on their forearm extension, pronation and upper arm internal rotation. It is important to note that all the body movements are needed to produce an effective serve and that one should not primarily concentrate on just pronation and upper arm internal rotation.
Here is a short clip about pronation from a recent lecture by Dr. Martin Baroch at the USPTA World Conference held at the La Quinta Resort & Spa in California.
Dr. Martin G. Baroch (Dr.MGB) - Coach, Educator, Speaker, Physician, Producer, Consultant, Mentor, Critical Thinker and Philanthropist, for over 20 years fully active and independent in the tennis business and in all of its facets worldwide. Besides tennis also widely involved in other sports (mainly skiing, soccer, ice hockey, track and field) as well as in human performance & health enhancement areas, sports related management & marketing and liberal-conservative politics. Currently one of the top independent tennis speakers worldwide.
"It is my enormous pleasure to share with you my knowledge and worldwide experience in various areas helping you to make tennis, other sports and human performance working in an efficient way for you, however you are a tennis/sports professional, tennis player of any level, athlete, coach, manager, politician or an average person. Besides the worldwide unique comprehensive knowledge of the entire tennis field, my other main areas are in logical, practical and easy to understand application of medical, sport science as well as management and marketing know-how into the daily sports life, sports business and healthy performance oriented lifestyle. Interdisciplinary thinking based on common sense and making things happen are then my real passion."
Main Affiliations:
* Czech Professional Tennis Association (CPTA) - Founder (1992), First President (1992-94), Vice-President - Director of Education, Head Tester (1995-current)
* United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) - Professional 1, International Head Tester, Member of National Education Committee (Certified member since 1992)
* Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) - Professional 5 A (Certified member since 1990)
* European Registry of Tennis Professionals (RPT Europe) - Adultennis Trainer
* Swiss Tennis Teacher's Association (TVS) - Certified Member
* Swiss Tennis Association - Registered Player, Official
* United States Tennis Association (USTA) - Member
* Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) - Member
* APE Tenis Espana - Honorary Member
* Society for Tennis Medicine and Science (STMS) - Member
Main Education:
*
European Registry of Tennis Professionals - Adultennis Course, 2004
*
Swiss Tennis Association - Tournament Director/Referee, 1998-2001
*
Professional Coaching School of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports at Charles University, Prague / Czech Republic - 1st Class Czech Coaching Licence in Tennis, 1993-5
*
Association of Swiss Tennis Teachers - Tennis Teacher's Course, Switzerland, 1993
*
USTA - Sports Science Courses, USA, 1992-4
*
USPTA - Course and Testing, USA, 1992
*
USPTA/USPTR - Business Management Courses, USA, 1991-2
*
USPTR - Course and Testing, USA, 1990
*
Faculty of General Medicine at Charles University, Prague/Czechoslovakia - Doctor of General Medicine - MD, 1984-90
*
Tennis Coaches School - Czech Tennis Association - 2nd class License, Czechoslovakia, 1988
*
Tennis Coaches School - Czech Tennis Association - 3rd Class License, Czechoslovakia, 1986
Languages:
* Czech - native
* German - fluent
* English - fluent
* Serbo-Croatian - active
* French, Italian, Russian - traces
Main Experience:
* MGB Sports GmbH/LLC - corporate structure above all business activities - Owner/Director - since 2001
* Martin Baroch Tennis Academy & Human Performance Center - Owner/Director - comprehensive tennis programs for all levels of highly motivated tennis players, education courses for tennis teachers and coaches (base of the CPTA education courses), performance guidance for other athletes and corporate athletes as well as healthy lifestyle - Czech Republic 1991-3, Switzerland since 1993
* Coaching/consulting during Grand Slams, ATP/WTA, Challenger, Feature, Satellite & National tournaments as well as ITF/TE events worldwide - since 1991
* Professional coaching of pro tennis players (among clients - Petr Korda, Martin Strelba, Jan Krejci, Sandra Kleinova, Kristina Triska, Eva Birnerova, Hana Sromova, Vania King) - since 1987
* General performance and psychology coach - Swiss alpine ski professionals Karin Roten (1996 Giant Slalom Vice-World Champion), Jörg Roten - 1995-7
* Seminars and lectures for tennis coaches - USA, Japan, Mexico, Europe - since 1993
* Tennis lectures at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports at Komenskeho University, Bratislava / Slovak Republic - 1993-4
* Producer "A Tennis Champion Is Born" - documentary movie & video broadcasted Europe-wide and sold world-wide - 1994-5
* Writer - Tennis related instructional and educational articles - Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, USA - since 1991
* MGB Management & Marketing - tennis facility, program and marketing consulting - Switzerland, since 1999
* MABARO Management International sro./LLC - sports education, sports marketing consulting, real estate consulting - Prague/Czech Rep, 1992-3
* Tennis Promotion - Consulting for HEAD, ADIDAS - Czech Republic, 1991-3
* Tennis Club Board - TC Aquaviva Leukerbad / Switzerland - Vice-President/Director of Competition, since 1999; TC Slavia Prague / Czech Republic - Junior Commitee Chairman, 1988-90
* ITF's Federation Cup - Member of Organizer Team / Referee's Office - Prague / Czechoslovakia, 1986
* Sports Doctor of the Czech National Training Center for Biathlon - Jablonec / Czech Republic, 1990-1 (as military service)
* Grassroots and public events - Czech Rep., Switzerland, USA, since 1990
* Tournament Director - Swiss National Tournaments, since 1999
Significant Tennis Innovations:
*
"Private Video Tennis School" - 1991 - Documentation of players ongoing technical development for further references
*
"Dynamic Total Body Tennis" (DTBT) - First presented in 1996, continuously updated health-conscious tennis teaching system with efficient body use for each stroke
*
"Last 20% Decide It All" - 2003 - Effects of full engagement at quality of the tennis strokes and the performance outcome
Lee Couillard, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School interviews Jim Osborne Jr., '69 Grad, Punahou School . Jim was a former Davis Cup Player. Interview Part 2. In this video, Jim discusses the pin point stance on the serve and how he copied Arthur Ashe to learn this service motion.
Hawaii's greatest tennis players was a late-bloomer, Punahou graduate Jim Osborne Jr. had many interests in high school, but once he made up his mind to pursue tennis, success was his. The U.S. Tennis Association from 1968 to 1970 ranked him among America's top ten singles players. In doubles competition he was ranked in the top ten eight times. He was Hawaii's first player to compete at Wimbledon, and the first to be named to the U.S. Davis Cup team. He defeated the world's best players during his career, including Arthur Ashe, John Newcombe, Roy Emerson, and Stan Smith. Him made eight appearances at the U.S. Open. In 19966 he also became the first Hawaii athlete to compete in any sport at the Madison Square Garden in New York. But despite all of titles, Jim was not the winningest player in Island history. That title goes to his mother Muriel, who by 1971 had over two hundred trophies!
Lori LaFevre, USPTA shows an excellent way to get your students to get into the "Trophy Position" on the serve. Put a ball on a cone and have your student lean over to grab the ball and it creates the proper throwing motion for the serve.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii shows an aerial view of a kick and flat serve, courtesy of fuzzyyellowballs.com. Reading your opponents toss and body posture are important clues for getting in the correct position to return.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Head Tennis Professional, Punahou School has a student try to hit over a fence to get the student to "Hit Up" on the serve. The racket angle at contact is forced to change to a more upward motion if the student is to be successful in clearing the serve over the fence.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Wilson TEAM Member, "YIP" Team Member shows a quick tip on breaking a "hitch" on the serve. This exercise should be done very slowly.
Lee Couillard, USPTA - Wilson TEAM Member, Balle de Match Member shows a tip to break any hitches in the service motion. Please wait while the video downloads...
Ben Kibler, MD breaks down the abbreviated service motion. In conclusion, there is no apparent advantages or disadvantages to the abbreviated service motion.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Wilson TEAM Member, "YIP" Team member explains the importance of unweighting the front foot on the serve to get hip rotation similar to the baseball throw.
Lee Couillard, USPTA, Wilson TEAM Member changes a students serve from a pin point to a platform stance and then has a follow up with footage of the student serving two years later.
Lee Couillard, Wilson TEAM Member, USPTA splitscreen Scott Carnahan and Max Mirny. Scott Carnahan clocked the fastest serve in 1976 (137 mph) with a 65 square inch Yonex OPS aluminum racket.
Lee Couillard, USPTA gives a serve tip on the ball toss. Students are split-screened with the Pro. Be sure to take a side angle when watching your students serve.
Serve Tip by Lee Couiilard, Wilson TEAM Member, USPTA. Students demonstrate the HALO technique on the serve by raising the back of the hand on not the palm on the backswing of the serve.