Optimal Training Schedule for Strong and Ambitious Junior Tennis Players

There is the third part of the interview with Chris Lewis, a tennis coach of some America’s strongest junior tennis players. Today we are talking about an optimal training schedule for powerful juniors.

From your point of view, what is an optimal training schedule for a 15-17-year-old tennis player who wants to play at a high level?

First of all, the development of a player involves five main areas of the training schedule: individual coaching, drilling, practice matches, off court training and tournament play. I will address these areas one at a time.

1. Individual coaching

By the time a tennis player is 15, he or she should have mature strokes with the technical aspects of each stroke well in place. When it comes to technique, if the coaching has been competent, all that should be required at this stage is polishing and fine tuning.

With the technical foundation in place, strategic advice should play a major role in the coach/player relationship. I would like to stress, though, that strategic advice should play a major role in the coach-player relationship no matter what the stage of development or the age of the student. As the player develops and, subsequently, the context and structure of points and matches change, so should the strategic advice.

Further to technical and strategic advice, coaching should also involve management advice; e.g., the ratio of time spent on development versus time spent playing competitively, which tournaments to play, etc.

2. Drilling

The benefits of drilling with a player or players of similar ability should not be overlooked. It is a very useful extension of individual coaching insofar as it gives the coach an opportunity to orchestrate practice in such way that players can work on things that they otherwise can’t work on. For instance, the benefits of the universally popular 2 on 1 drill are self-evident, as are drills that involve, say, four tennis players all in close at the net working on reflex volleys, or countless other drills that are set up to simulate point situations.

3. Practice matches

Practice matches give players the opportunity to work on aspects of their game in point play without the pressure of negative consequences where winning or losing counts. As such, they are an integral part of the development of any tennis player. Further, although they are not a substitute for tournament matches, they do prepare players for tournaments insofar as they will assist in getting players “match ready”. They are also extremely useful as a means of developing strategic expertise, particularly if a coach is there to observe and assist in such things as shot selection and tactics.

4. Off court training

As with on court training, off court training should be customized to suit each player’s individual needs. Just as each player has different strengths and weaknesses in their own court game, so too does each player when it comes to their physical strengths and weaknesses.

On a physical level, tennis demands such things as speed, agility, explosiveness, quick reflexes, good hand-eye coordination, stamina, balance, flexibility and strength. There are countless ways of improving each of these areas with a well-thought-out program that caters to individual requirements.

As a general rule, the more advanced a player becomes, the more there should be a tendency toward increasing the ratio of off court work to on court work. For example, it would not be appropriate for a twelve-year-old who hasn’t yet established a sound technical foundation to sacrifice an hour’s work on developing a kick serve to spend an hour doing plyometrics. However, for a seventeen-year-old with a huge serve and relatively mature game who is losing matches due to lack of fitness, an hour a day spent on off court training would probably be a far better use of his time than to be hitting three hundred serves a day instead of one hundred.

5. Tournament play

Tournament matches should play a big part in the development of every player. Nowhere do strengths and weaknesses become more evident than during competitive play. Whether it involves the technical, the strategic, the mental or the physical aspects of a player’s game, it is during the pressure imposed by match play that identifying these strengths and weaknesses is easiest. The knowledge derived from observing performance under pressure is an essential part of the continued development of a player’s game. They are the best means of benchmarking progress as results are 100 per cent objective. They don’t lie. They let a tennis player and coach know where things stand, and what response is required.

From a developmental perspective, I have found that for a player to get the most out of tournament play, his or her win/loss ration should be in the vicinity of 80/20. Nothing motivates a tennis player more than the satisfaction of winning; however, if a young player never loses, what often happens is that complacency sets in and the player becomes less and less receptive to advice that will help in the longer run.

Now, for 15-17 year old tennis players, the question asked is how much time should be devoted to each of the above categories if optimal development is the goal?

While the balance of time spent on one category or categories will vary from individual to individual, by the time a player is 15 or 16, in an ideal world where finance was not an issue and the ultimate goal was a high level pro career, here is what I would recommend:

– Individual Coaching – 8-10 hours per week.

– Drilling – 8-10 hours per week.

– Practice Matches – 2-3 per week.

– Off Court Training – 5-8 hours per week.

– Tournaments – 16-18 per year.

Finally, if you are reading this, I invite you to add your own thoughts about the optimal training schedule for strong junior tennis players. I find this topic to be a fascinating one so please share your ideas in the comments section. I will look forward to reading them.

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