Hello CSL Tennis Enthusiasts,
I want to start off by thanking Lauren for her excellent blog post (and kind words – she put that in by herself!). The whole tennis hobby group has progressed a lot in the last couple of weeks, and we are now speeding towards culmination day.
I would also like to apologize for not updating as much as I should be; I will try to cram a lot of info into this blog to make up for that.
Since we last talked, we have had four sessions. In the first, our beginner group focused on the last shot that they need to complete their repertoire: the serve! The serve is arguably the hardest shot to hit in all of tennis and it takes a lot of timing, however, this group tackled it on full force. We first discussed the grip to the serve, which was the continental grip. The hard thing about this grip, however, is that it forces you to "pronate" your wrist, which basically means that you have to turn your wrist to hit the ball. We talked about the advantages to using this grip above others, and how it would help in the long run. We also worked on the stance, the swing, and the follow-through. After working on the serve, we also worked on the other strokes that they have been working on throughout the session. In the second, we hit every shot that they have been working on this summer. Forehands, backhands, and volleys soared through the air as the campers really were able to show off all of the things we have been working on.
In our advanced group, we began with net play. What we focused on with this group is the proper form, grip, and footwork for the volley, as well as closing in on the net in order to make a volley easier to put away. This will help the campers out as they approach our last couple of sessions, which are mostly focused on strategy and singles and doubles point play. We then moved onto the serve, again, we worked on pronating the wrist and getting more spin on our serves to make it more consistent. There was a little hesitancy to change their grip from the campers, but we eventually got them to serve well on a more regular basis.
Our latest two sessions have been marred by foul weather. In the first, with temperatures exceeding triple digits on the tennis courts, we decided to take it easy a little bit. We played a couple of fun games, and then moved to underneath a tree with some shade for a question and answer session, which also included jokes and riddles. In our most recent session, the rain halted play, and the tennis hobby group moved to the ping pong pavilion to play a tournament. The play was stellar throughout, with Diane Schiller earning the top seed with a spotless record through the round robin. However, in the championship match, Zach Smookler got revenge from his only loss during the round robin and won the championship match.
In other tennis related news, the CSL Open has begun and we have reached the quarterfinal round! 22 campers entered, but the winner has yet to be decided. Stay tuned for more info!
Catch you around the doubles alley,
Kevin Snyder
Tennis Specialist
