Everyball http://everyball.net Mike James's thoughts on tennis, coaching and personal development posterous.com Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:01:13 -0800 excuses! http://everyball.net/excuses http://everyball.net/excuses Spent the day yesterday with some top sport psych guys from Holland and Belguim.  

Some good material but one thing made me chuckle; we were talking about 'excuse making' or finding something to blame a poor performance or result on, which of course we can all fall into the habit of doing now and again.  Anyway, psych speak for excuse making is 'external attribution'.  Makes it sound so much more clinical and intellectual.  So remember next time you're digging for some excuse for whatever reason, you are indulging in the art of external attribution!  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:48:35 -0800 work, work and then work some more! http://everyball.net/work-work-and-then-work-some-more http://everyball.net/work-work-and-then-work-some-more

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Snow, ice, blizzards, -10 degrees

Not enough to stop us getting the work done!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:27:10 -0800 Everyball players make their mark during half term http://everyball.net/everyball-players-make-their-mark-during-half http://everyball.net/everyball-players-make-their-mark-during-half
Report by Phil Hill, U14/Tennis Europe Captain, AASE Manager, Everyball International Academy at Halton

Everyball Players Lauren Armstrong and Kiran Kudaravalli won the U12 & U16 titles respectively at the LTA Grade 3 event at Gosling, Hertfordshire.

Lauren Armstrong beat the no1 seed Michaella Brown (7.1) 7-6 (5) 3-6 11-9 championship tiebreak in 2 hour 39 minute epic before beating in the final Emily Small 6-1 7-6 (7.2 no 4seed). Lauren had performed well all week including an 2 hour 40 minute battle against Celine Zoetelief Tromp (6.2) before eventually losing 1-6 5-7 in the U14's! 

Kiran was equally impressive having beaten Luke Power the no 4 seed 6-2 6-3 and no 5 seed Jake Munns 6-1 6-4 to reach the final to then eventually beat Chad Richards no 6 seed 7-6 6-7 14-12 in championship tiebreak saving 3 match points in the championship tiebreak! Another 2 hour 42 minute epic!

There were also good Performances by Thomas Schmidt , Sebastian Harris and Indu Ragunather and Alice Patch, all eventually losing in the  quarter finals of their respective age groups. Finally, Daniel Dean competed well in the Winter National Tour Event at Gosling winning two matches and losing two.

These were my observations having watched our players all week at Gosling:

Areas of improvement after Spring Term block 1 of training were:

- Consistency in the rallies and ability to maintain quality trading when both back
- Good use the double opener - when serving 1st serve and when both back
- Ability to compete for every point and maintain focus/attentional control.
- Finishing at net

Areas to be addressed in next block of training: 

- Bravery and aggressiveness on 2nd serves
- Reading and movement up the court to the midcourt ball
- Use of drive volleys
- Developing control and feel when forced into the net together with smarter tactical decisions.

Holly Hutchinson continued her run of good form with another Grade 3 title in the Girls 14&U Grade 3 at Northwood, Middlesex with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Nanami Yamaguchi.

Well done to all players for your effort and performances.

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Indu Ragunather sits with Coach Phil Hill reviewing her performances last week



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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:47:44 -0800 Morocco experience http://everyball.net/morocco-experience http://everyball.net/morocco-experience Everyball's Liberty Crawford gains valuable experience in the Women's 25K in Rabat, losing in the last round of qualies to 430 world ranked Italian Carolina Pillot.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:27:56 -0800 Holly wins Grade 3 Regional Tournament http://everyball.net/holly-wins-grade-3-regional-tournament http://everyball.net/holly-wins-grade-3-regional-tournament Everyball's Holly Hutchinson won the 14&U Regional Grade 3 tournament today in Kent with wins over Elizabeth Hodge , Hannah Ferrett, Jennifer Gogova, and Holly Thompson who she beat in the final 6-1, 2-6, 10-4.  Holly said: 'I played confidently and fought really hard all weekend.  Yea, definitely proud of the work I put in.'

Nice job Holly!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:01:09 -0800 Everyball's Liberty Crawford off the mark in Morocco http://everyball.net/everyballs-liberty-crawford-off-the-mark-in-m http://everyball.net/everyballs-liberty-crawford-off-the-mark-in-m 16 year old Liberty Crawford is off the mark in her first Women's 25K event in Rabat, Morocco.  She won her first qualifying match today against Salma Charif of Morocco 6-4, 6-2.  She  plays Italian Carolina Pillot ranked 430 in the world (WTA) tomorrow for a place in the main draw.  

Nice work Lib and good luck!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:56:11 -0800 Stats don't always tell the story http://everyball.net/stats-dont-always-tell-the-story http://everyball.net/stats-dont-always-tell-the-story
England v Scotland yesterday:

Passes: Scotland 238, England 72

Minutes in possession: Scotland 35, England 23
Tackles made: Scotland 62, England 142
Scrums won: Scotland 7, England 4
Line-outs won: Scotland 16, England 10

Score: England 13, Scotland 6

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:50:42 -0800 Balance... http://everyball.net/balance http://everyball.net/balance
From The Times today - Michael Johnson talks to Usain Bolt.

'I had the chance to put some questions to Bolt this week as he relaxed in his home town.  That is one of the things I like about him.  Most people think that, to perform at this level, you must wake up early, train all day, adhere to a strict diet and get to bed early, then do it again the next day, with no time for anything else.  I felt that it was important for me to enjoy my life as well and I am certain that balance contributed to my longevity in the sport.'

'For me, balance is very important,' Bolt said.  'I train hard when it is time to train hard.  But I also like to enjoy my time off track.  I am not someone who likes to sit around and think about track and field all day, every day.  I think I would run worse if I had nothing other than that.'

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:51:52 -0800 Let go http://everyball.net/let-go http://everyball.net/let-go Was reminded yesterday of the phrase 'let go'.

Do this:  Write down LET and then underneath the 'E' write GO

Are there situations where 'letting go of ego' would lead to a better result? Coaching relationships, parenting, situations at work....

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:06:30 -0800 Aussie Open final http://everyball.net/aussie-open-final http://everyball.net/aussie-open-final I couldn't not blog after that!!!!

Amazing, amazing match, full of everything we'd want to see as coaches, players and fans.  Over the next days, I'll pick out a few gems from the player's themselves, but my brother sent me this yesterday which made me laugh:

'This from the guardian live text commentary on line this morning:

First set: Djokovic 5-6 Nadal*
Cometh the crucial moments, cometh
the Djokovic bouncing of the ball
before serving. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. 15-0 . Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. 15-
all. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. 30-15 . Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. 30-all . Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
30-40 , as Nadal produces one of his
best forehands of the day. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.
Bounce. Bounce. Break Nadal, as
Djokovic goes long. Nadal will serve
for the first set after 66 minutes.'

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:49:51 -0800 The 'real deal' of competition http://everyball.net/the-real-deal-of-competition http://everyball.net/the-real-deal-of-competition
Few sporting moments from this weekend...

Australian Open - Gael Monfils plays Mikhail Kukushkin in the 3rd round.  Monfils is down 4-5 in the fifth set, but 30-15 up serving.  Misses his first serve and hits a good kicker out wide to Kukushkin backhand who returns ok cross-court.  Monfils steals around his backhand to hit a big inside-out forehand to take him to 40-15 and a chance to level the match, when suddenly one of those big yellow balls is thrown onto court from the stands.  Umpire calls for a let and Monfils serves again, only to double-fault.  Visibly rattled, he loses next point and then double-faults away the match.  He's on the next flight home.

Man City looking good at 2 nil early on in second half of game v Spurs this afternoon.  A mad few minutes and Spurs are level with goals from Defoe and Bale and at 2-2 Spurs are on top.  Defoe narrowly misses a great chance to get on end of a Bale cross as game draws to a close.   Then a last ditch ball into the box and King fouls Balotelli to give away a penalty, which the latter calmly puts into the back of the net just before the final whistle blows.  City stay 3 points clear at the top of the table whilst Spurs title challenge is thrown into doubt.

Jude James (my 7 year old) steams down the pitch from one end to another for his U8 Berkhamsted Raiders team and is blatantly fouled in the box (his description) by both goalie and defender and, no penalty given.  Raiders lose 3-1. His brother Joel, meanwhile, with his U9 Team goes into overtime in a cup-game with opposition scoring the winning goal 2 minutes from the end.  

This is, as a colleague of mine Paul Dent puts it, the 'real deal of competition'.  My response to Jude as he complained to me later: 'If you choose to play the game, you need to understand that these types of things may happen, so that when they do, you can handle it.'

Not sure he quite understood what his Dad was getting at and a cuddle seemed a better option, but hey, I tried and the cuddle was nice!

On the court or on the pitch, the hand we are dealt is not often a fair one, but if we're smart enough with the cards we do have, we can still manage to influence results in a positive way. 

Smacks as bit of life.  

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Murray to play Kukushkin in the next round In Australia

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:59:42 -0800 Sand dune training 'everyball' style http://everyball.net/sand-dune-training-everyball-style http://everyball.net/sand-dune-training-everyball-style

JoelSandDunesTrainingJan2012.mov Watch on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:07:42 -0800 Thought for the day http://everyball.net/thought-for-the-day http://everyball.net/thought-for-the-day A scientist makes loads of mistakes and calls it an experiment. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:49:42 -0800 Tip for the week taken from Brad Gilbert's 'Winning Ugly' http://everyball.net/tip-for-the-week-taken-from-brad-gilberts-win http://everyball.net/tip-for-the-week-taken-from-brad-gilberts-win
I'm sometimes accused of 'winning ugly' which I take as a great compliment.  It means I've 'found a way to work it out' even if I haven't performed at my best that day.  Brad Gilbert of course was the master of this and I take the tip of the week out of his fantastic book.

For some pros (the ones not making any money) and most recreational players there are two kinds of points: ad points and all the rest.  Wrong.  I treat the point the can get me or my opponent to an ad point as a major moment because it offers a major rewards.  That reward is the opportunity to win (or convert) a game.  I call any point that precedes an ad point a Set-up Point.  The point played a love-30, 30-love, 15-30, 30-15, 30-30, and deuce are all Set-UP Points for one or both players.

When I'm looking at one of those scores bells are ringing inside me, especially at 30-30 (or deuce) when we both have a chance to step up and get to an ad point.  Each one is a big swing because it decides who gets a chance to cash in on the game.  And if the set or match comes with winning that game the Set-up Point's value is multiplied (I think of those moments as Super Set-up Points).

If I win a Set-up point at 30-30 or deuce I'm only one point away from winning the game.  My opponent is three points away.  A big difference.  If I win a point at 30-15 (to go up 40-15) the spread is even bigger.  Psychologically it's all positive......

So, this week,  just look to improve your 'awareness' of the Set-up Points and next time, we'll look at how best to 'play' them.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:30:51 -0800 More! http://everyball.net/more http://everyball.net/more I was reading some notes today by a guy called Mike Hawthorne, principal of an International School in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  He has been involved in education all his life but generally reckons he has more to learn these days than before he started.  I identify with that - the more you journey on, the longer you spend in a particular discipline, the more aware you are of how much more there is to learn!  That's good, exciting, and humbling.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:05:54 -0800 More from Rafa http://everyball.net/more-from-rafa http://everyball.net/more-from-rafa 'Another thing about watching my matches again closely, dispassionately, is that in appreciating and respecting the skill of my opponents....I learn to accept losing points against them with more serene resignation. Some players rage and despair when they are aced, or when they are the victims of a magnificent passing shot. That is the path to self-destruction. And it is crazy, because it means you believe yourself to be capable, in some kind of ideal tennis world, of subduing your opponent's game from start to finish. If you give your opponent more credit, if you accept that he played a shot you could do nothing about, if you play the part of the spectator for a moment and generously acknowledge a magnificent piece of play, there you win balance and inner calm. You take the pressure off yourself. In your head, you applaud; visibly, you shrug; and you move on to the next point, aware not that the tennis gods are ranged against you or that you are having a miserable day, but that there is every possibility next time that it will be you who hits the unplayable winner.' - RAFA

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:47:00 -0800 Humility http://everyball.net/humility http://everyball.net/humility
Humility is for me a hugely admirable quality and one I aspire to even if I don't always live out.  On reflection, however, I begin to see it as a basic mental skill that any athlete must develop in order to maintain emotional control and composure in the important moments in a match.  The quality of being modest and respectful, of understanding and treating others as 'better than you' is a liberating, freeing mentality, one that allows you to simply 'play'.

In 'Rafa - My Story' Nadal says this: 'In the end, you have to understand that the difference in ability between the top players is marginal, practically nothing, and that the matches between us are decided in a handful of points.  When I say, and when Toni says, that a large part of the reason why I have been successful is my humility, I don't mean it in a sappy, PR-savvy sort of way, or because I am trying to make out that I am a well-balanced, morally superior sort of individual.  Understanding the importance of humility is to understand the importance of being in a state of maximum concentration at the crucial stages of a game, knowing you are not going to go out and win on God-given talent alone.'

Nadal seems to have this amazing ability, even when number 1 in the world, to play the role of the under-dog, somehow communicating to himself and the crowd that he shouldn't really win, and that he'll only do so by fighting for his life!  And from that humble position, he is able to carve out even the most unlikeliest of victories whilst gaining massive support from the crowd and those closest to him.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:25:47 -0800 Happy Christmas! http://everyball.net/happy-christmas http://everyball.net/happy-christmas
Dear readers, practitioners and supporters of 'Everyball',

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas and the very best for 2012.

With our appreciation and thanks for working with us,

Mike and the Team at The Everyball International Academy, Halton Tennis Centre

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Just one of the highlights of 2011 were our 12&U National Premier 'Aegon' Team Tennis Winners.  

Pictured here at the National Tennis Centre, Roehamption (left to right) are Michael Shaw, Jake Williams, Alex Chan, Jack Malloy, 
Oscar Glenister, Sam Gough (not pictured Sebastian Harris, Barney Smith).  Holding the flag, coach and captain James Morgan.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:06:39 -0800 Tip for the week http://everyball.net/tip-for-the-week http://everyball.net/tip-for-the-week What are your 4 choices when you win the toss?

1. Serve
2. Return
3. Choose ends
4. Let your opponent choose

Deciding what to do on winning the toss can have important implications on the start of the match and as we know getting off to a good start is a good start!
Elect to serve if you're feeling confident and want to make a real statement with the first game; strong servers often like to get the first game under their belt using their weapon and therefore play with the confidence of always being 'one game up' with the opponent having to hold just to stay level. Elect to return if you want to put your opponent under a little pressure to 'hold' their first game; you'll often get a cheeky 'break' early on this way. Choosing a particular end may have implications outdoors, but no obvious ones indoors where there are no weather considerations. On the other hand, letting your opponent choose sends the signal out that whatever your opponent decides to do is fine, it's going to be to your advantage anyway!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:16:02 -0800 No more 'knock ups'? http://everyball.net/no-more-knock-ups http://everyball.net/no-more-knock-ups Appears Andy Murray and John McEnroe are in favour of scrapping the pre-match knock up.  Think it's a great idea!  See BBC Sport and Jonathan Overend's Blog from 21st December.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/796703/DSCF1071.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4woWlOpJx4L7 Mike James Everyball Mike James