Everyball

Children Learn What They Live - Dorothy Law Nolte

If children live with criticism,
They learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility,

They learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,

They learn to be shy.

If children live with shame,

They learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement,

They learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance,

They learn to be patient.

If children live with praise,

They learn to appreciate.

If children live with acceptance

They learn to love.

If children live with approval,

They learn to like themselves.

If children live with honesty,

They learn truthfulness.

If children live with security,

They learn to have faith in themselves and others.

If children live with friendliness,

They learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Posted May 12, 2012

Who's the greatest?

It's been said that the greatest amongst us are those who can serve and not mind. The ones who can put others in the spotlight. The ones who can create and not fear to fail. The ones who can risk and not worry about ridicule. The ones who come with their strengths and weaknesses, their happiness and their sorrow. The ones who come humbly as themselves. That's how to be great.

Posted April 20, 2012

Thought for today

It has often been said there are 3 kinds of people:

Those that make things happen
Those that watch things happen
Those for whom things happen to them

Posted April 19, 2012

mistakes

Make mistakes. Just make sure they're new ones.

Posted April 17, 2012

Ricky roundup

There was heavy 'Everyball' involvement at the sharp end of the Rickmansworth LTA Grade 3 event which concluded on Saturday.

In summary:

Calum Mckinlay beat Joe Tingey in the 16s boys final 6-3, 6-1 having one of the best weeks of his young career in which he also took out the number 1 seed Jake Muns and number 3 seed Michael Shaw each with tie break wins. Well done Calum for an excellent week and also to Joe for consistently being at the sharp end of these events year after year.

Gavin Mckinlay and Jack Mordey won 18s boys doubles beating Calum and Joe 6-2, 7-5, whilst Tor Pisani beat Carly Williams in the U21 final 6-4, 6-3 as well as reaching the semis of the 16s as well.

Jack Mordey lost in the final of the u21s against Adam Coyne whilst Gavin lost to Adam in the 18s final in a close fought match, 4-6, 1-6 in which he performed extremely well.

Sam Gough made semis of the 14s losing to rival Michael Shaw, with Jake Williams winning the consolation final. Sam and Toby Rogers (comeback kid!) beat Halton's Oscar Glenister and Jake Williams to get to the finals of the 14&U doubles.

Below Calum and Tor take home their victory spoils.

Well done to all players!

Posted April 10, 2012

Halton's Everyball player Holly Hutchinson makes her move

Halton's Holly Hutchinson justifies her seeding and more at the LTA Grade 2 14&U event in Nottingham this week.

Holly, the tournament's 7th seed, plays Eden Richardson tomorrow in the semi-finals after taking out 4th seed Sian Payne today in two close sets, a win that will see her break into the Top 10 14&U Girls in GB.

See Holly's 1st round pre-match interview in which she beat Camille Verden Anderson 6-4, 6-2.

Congratulations also to Everyball's Joe Tingey and Calum McKinlay who will meet each other over the weekend in the boys 16&U final at the LTA Grade 3 event in Rickmansworth.

(download)

Posted April 5, 2012

'Mind the gap'

Reminded last week of the quote: 'train like you fight, and fight like you train'.

At certain stages within the training programme, minimising the 'gap' between practice and competition is critical, and has to be the responsibility of coach AND player. For the coach to use creativity around climate setting and conditioning of drills where 'consequence' is an integral part of each session and for the player to bring a 'match' like attitude of effort and competitiveness to the court.

Posted April 3, 2012

practice!

See Peter Crouch's goal for Stoke against Manchester City yesterday? Luck some say. Result of deliberate practice I say!

This is what Crouch said about it: 'When the ball dropped, I tried to pop it up and try a volley technique. I do it a lot and practice it, though they don't always fly in like that! Every day in training I practice volleying. It's something I've always enjoyed doing since I was a kid.'

Ed Smith in his book 'Luck: What it Means and Why It Matters' defines luck as circumstances over which one has no control.

Crouch's goal was not luck but the result of hours of practice, no doubt beginning in the back yard or street at home.

Posted March 25, 2012

The right to be right

I was reminded the other evening by a friend of 'giving up the right to be right'.

Imagine the quality of our relationships if we could truly live this out.

Posted March 17, 2012

Relentless work to raise your average game

I asked our squad of Top Team Seniors last night what percentage of the time they perform (when competing):

A. Really well

B. Average

C. Really poorly

Most players scored A and C around 10-20 % of the time, which leave a huge percentage of the time where we perform 'average'.

Of course we work hard and smart to increase the number of times we play really well and minimise the times we play really poorly, but if the greater % of time is always going to be spent playing 'average' then we have to ask ourselves the question, how good is our average? That is probably the true 'measure' of our games, and by raising our average performances we'll begin to take our games to the next level.

Kevin Anderson played Djokovic at Indian Wells last year and was nowhere close. He played him again yesterday, and lost in a much closer match 6-2, 6-3. He played average, but his average game has improved considerably in a year. According to Arsene Wenger, the key to last night's win against Newcastle was 'relentless work'. What does it take to raise the average level of your game? Relentless work!

Posted March 13, 2012

Mike James's thoughts on tennis, coaching and personal development