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Ask: What are the benefits of physical training?
Frank: During my travels teaching workshops, both nationally and internationally, I ask parents of top players an interesting question: “When was the last time your child competed hard for 15 practice sets in a given week?” The most common answer: never!
Parents, is your child fit enough to perform fifteen sets a week at top level? If they’ve never done it in practice, do you really expect them to be able to pull through under those stressful, demanding tournament conditions?
To ensure they can compete week in and week out in these conditions, serious tennis-specific off-court training is mandatory. The successful top players train on average 6 hours per week off the field. In most cases this happens before school.
Below is a list of the benefits of being fit:
- Increased self-confidence: A physically fit competitor boosted brain chemicals that promote a calming state of mind.
- Increased physical energy
- Improved endurance
- Reduced fatigue and pain
- Improved movement of flexible skills
- Increased acceleration and deceleration levels
- Strong bones and strengthened ligaments, tendons and muscles
- Reduced risk of injury
- Increased “intimidation factor”
- Improved cardiovascular fitness: Facilitates proper breathing by increasing lung capacity, which aids in improved cardiovascular function.
Now that you understand why tennis-specific training is useful off the court. Let’s look at the fitness components that occur in an experienced athlete who happens to be a tennis player.
Example of tennis-specific skills you can develop:
- Up and back movement
- Lateral movement
- Aerobic fitness
- Ability to accelerate
- Ability to slow down
- Speed and agility
- Resistance
- Recovery time (between points)
- Recovery time (between matches)
- Strength (upper body, core and lower body)
- Body coordination (gross motor skills)
- Eye-hand coordination (fine motor skills)
- Flexibility and stretching
- Anticipatory speed
Signs of an unfit athlete
Being unfit actually affects more than just the athlete’s physical performance. It has serious consequences for the player’s mental and emotional playing state. Parents, if you are unsure whether your athlete is fit or not, let me say that if they are not training off the court for at least six hours a week, they are most likely not fit enough to win entire tournaments at the high level of junior tennis.
“The real cause of a child’s emotional breakdown is often a lack of fitness.”
If you haven’t already, consult a fitness expert for evaluation and/or add one to your entourage of coaches. In modern tennis it is essential that your child is an athlete first and a tennis player second. The best college coaches are looking for experienced, talented athletes who they can transform into champion tennis players.
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