Tennis Parenting: TWO RULES On and Off the Court

Tennis Parenting: TWO RULES On and Off the Court

by | Tennis Coaching | 0 comments

After watching the latest My Daddy / My Coach live lesson (where I teach my two daughters), one of our site members asked: how come the girls seem to behave so well, with patience and listening to all my instructions?

He wanted to know the “behind-the-scene” tips I tell my daughters considering that, as a parent, it is not so easy to teach your own children.

Well, first of all, they see the camera pointing at them and know this should be a serious tennis lesson. (:

Besides this, we’ve had many “talks” to try to make them understand the difference of me as a tennis coach and me as a father:

– I try not to talk too much about tennis in the house.
When we watch tennis matches, together, on TV, we do that only if they willingly join me; I never tell them to watch tennis with me. 
Teaching, by example, is best: when I express my passion for tennis, they think it is fun and will want to join me. Only then I point out some of the technical and tactical elements the pros do. 
Tip: Whatever you communicate to them, keep it short: under 15-20 seconds. Otherwise, their mind wanders off.

– When stepping on the court with my two daughters (by the way, they are 9 and 8 years old), I expect and tell them to listen to everything I say: when I speak, it is an instruction that I demand that they should pay attention to.
Sometimes, after I give them tennis advice (tactical or technical) I ask one of them to repeat what I said. In this way, I keep them focused on my instruction and make sure that none of the tips or tricks I tell them are going to waste. 
This works great and I encourage every coach to apply it in their tennis lessons.

Spend quality time with your child while teaching them a valuable sport. Enroll today in My Daddy / My Coach program!

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

How to FINISH the Point Behind a SHORT BALL

How to FINISH the Point Behind a SHORT BALL

by | Tennis Coaching, Tennis Training | 0 comments

Do you struggle to put the ball away after you set yourself up for a short ball?

Let’s say that you stretch your opponent with an aggressive serve or groundstroke and their reply is a blocked shot that lands inside your service court – It’s a sitter, a ball waiting for you to step into and hit it aggressively, to finish the point with, or produce another weak reply from your opponent.

But you don’t have the understanding or the technique to execute a short ball put-away…

Not to worry anymore!

Below, you will find a video showing you how to execute a short ball put-away shot and three drills that you can apply if you have a tennis partner willing to help you practice it – it’s only 9 minutes long! 🙂

This video is taken from one of the tennis lessons, part of the My Daddy / My Coach series that I had with my two daughters, ages 9 and 8 years old:

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

Parent-Child Relationship in Tennis

Parent-Child Relationship in Tennis

by | Tennis Coaching | 0 comments

As I was working with my students the other day, one of the parents was constantly pointing out to his daughter the mistakes she was making.
Only because the respective parent was a good friend of mine, I did not invite him to leave the court. But I did have a friendly conversation with him and his daughter:

I took them aside and explained that it is okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them.
It is impossible to play tennis without missing shots once in a while.
But as long as we take a few seconds to evaluate the root of our mistakes, we’ll turn the mishit into a lesson.
We should not dwell on mistakes, we should learn from them and move on.
Our mind has to be clear of any negative thinking. Whatever happens, we must turn it into a positive experience.

Is it hard? Yes, in the beginning. But with a bit of an effort, we condition ourselves to stay on the positive side which in return attracts peace of mind and enjoyment for what we do.

Recommended for tennis coaches:
The beginning of summer is the time for introducing tennis to new players. Camps are a great way to show kids how fun tennis can be.
We have a special section inside the Tennis Drills and Lesson Plans program, dedicated to running a successful 5-day tennis camp.

Want to learn the secrets of effective tennis coaching? Enroll into 10 Lesson Plans / How to Teach Tennis and discover how to inspire and teach your students!

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

My Neighbors’ Animals Don’t Love Tennis! :) Bloopers

My Neighbors’ Animals Don’t Love Tennis! :) Bloopers

by | Tennis Coaching, Tennis Training | 0 comments

Throughout the previous year, I have recorded many videos for you to improve your tennis skills.
But that was not easy. Why? Because my neighbors’ farm animals kept interrupting.
That’s right, those animals had no sympathy for my work. Can you believe that???

These are some of the behind-the-scenes bloopers from shooting the WebTennis24 videos. Have a little fun at my expense. (;

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

How I Taught a 70-Year-Old Man to Hit With Topspin

How I Taught a 70-Year-Old Man to Hit With Topspin

by | Tennis Coaching | 0 comments

A few years ago, the father of one of my students told me he wanted to take a couple of tennis lessons so I could teach him how to hit with topspin. This gentleman was about 70 years old and a reputable doctor in Southern California.

My first approach with him was to check his grip. I explained to him that in order to create more topspin on his groundstrokes, he needed to make a grip adjustment.

He was using a continental grip (on his forehand); I slowly helped him to make the transition to an eastern and then to a close to semi-western grip.

That, followed by a couple of other minor technical improvements (stance and swing), gave him a very good understanding and feel of how to hit with more topspin, and power, and keep a lot more balls in.

It took us a few sessions (about 10 – with a lot of questions and frustrating moments here and there :)) but then he ended up surprising his doubles buddies with his new strokes; as a result, his confidence and enjoyment for the game got to a new high level.

You see, many times the minor adjustments that we make in our tennis technique can be the foundation of our overall capability to play at our full potential.

Want to learn the secrets of effective tennis coaching? Enroll into 10 Lesson Plans / How to Teach Tennis and discover how to inspire and teach your students!

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

I’ve Found This to Be the Best Serve Toss Tip

I’ve Found This to Be the Best Serve Toss Tip

by | Tennis Coaching, Tennis Training | 0 comments

Tossing the ball to serve shouldn’t be hard. I’m not saying that I always do it perfectly but I’ve discovered that one of the easiest ways for a good serve toss is to focus on the outcome: how you want the ball to leave your hand.

Oftentimes, we think about the wrist, fingers, tension in the hand, but we should actually visualize instead what we want to accomplish. 

In the case of the serve toss, my intent is for the ball to go up having… very little rotation on it. 

This little powerful tip has worked magic for me: the arm relaxes, the grip on the ball is light, and the hand opens so that the fingers do not affect the release of it.

Try it next time you practice your serve or when you’re in a tight match situation – push the ball up with almost no rotation. You might just fix your inconsistent serve toss forever.

Learn tennis techniques with crystal-clear explanations and visual aids. Join Visual Tennis Lessons program and simplify your learning journey!

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

How to Minimize Waiting in Line When Teaching Large Groups

How to Minimize Waiting in Line When Teaching Large Groups

by | Tennis Coaching | 0 comments

I am extremely grateful to see more and more tennis parents and coaches reaching out to me for advice based on my playing and teaching experience.

This time I’d like to bring to your attention a question a tennis coach recently asked: how to run your tennis classes so that the students do not have to wait in line for too long?…

Waiting in line is not only boring but also disruptive to the rest of the players, especially when those who wait begin chatting and the coach’s instructions are not being heard by the other players.

The following are some tips that I have used in my classes to keep all my students happy and get the best of my instruction:

1. A coach should never accept more than 6 players on the court (unless you are conducting a cardio tennis class where the coach feeds more and teaches less).

2. While some players (first in line) hit the balls that the coach feeds, the others in line should shadow the first player or do some tennis-related exercises (ladder, cones, etc.) – make sure your students are aware of proper spacing so that no one gets hurt.

3. A coach should line up the players (if there are more than three) in two lines and learn to double-feed (two balls in the air at the same time) so that two players (one from each line) practice their strokes at the same time.

4. Choose games that involve as many players as possible: 2-3 points before rotating and bringing new players on the court. Those waiting can be put through some drills (cones, ladders, etc.) or have them act as ball boys/girls for the ones who play.

Feel free to send me your suggestions if you have more tips in regard to keeping the class going and getting everyone involved.

Become a more effective tennis coach with our vast library of 900+ drills and lesson plans. Join our program and take your coaching to the next level!

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.