Tennis Mis-fit Mom

Little Harpeth

2011-08-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

Things didn't go quite as hoped for this weekend, between storms, the humidity causing the shoulder to swell up and moving to the faster indoor surface, it was a struggle.

The first match was pretty standard- Amadeus was able to begin applying the new serve he has been working on, along with being more agressive at the net and took the first set 6-1. Then the matches went on a rain delay as severe weather made it's way through Williamson County. 2nd set was played indoors at the Williamson County Indoor Sports Center- faster courts, but he was able to pull out the win at 6-2.

The 2nd match was not to go as well. Despite his best efforts, he just couldn't wrap his head around how to combat his opponent. And, his opponent was hot, having watched Andy play since the boys were in the 10s and even watching him just a few weeks ago, something clicked and his game has jumped up about 10 levels. It was a fun match to watch but definitely have some things that need to be figured out this week.

Along with the faster surface, Ama once again, re-ignited his tendinitis and the shoulder was swollen- this is the part of the recovery process that we're not looking forwards to.

This week, he'll have an opportunity to train with one of his first coaches up at Summer Crest in Ridgetop to help him get ready for the clay tourney in Louisville this weekend.

More from the tournament.

Back from GA

2011-07-21T09:23:00.002-05:00

It was a great weekend in Rome, GA- temperatures were actually pleasant and Amadeus had a fun birthday weekend. Saturday started off rough as he was pummeled in his opening singles match - it was one of those times where you see your player doing everything they can but not being able to comeback from an opponent who just hits winner after winner. On a positive note, Amadeus wasn't setting up most of the winners- the kid was just good.

Then, the part he enjoys most- playing doubles. We did luck of the draw and were very fortunate with the partner that Ama was given. The boys met Saturday afternoon for the first time, warmed up a bit and then played and won their first doubles match 8-3.

Sunday morning and doubles again at 8:00 a.m. this time against two players that Ama has known for year, including his former doubles partner. The opponents were seeded 9. Ama and his partner were underdogs. The boys had a strategy- applied it and after nearly 90 minutes (for an 8 game pro-set) they came out on top winning 8-7 (6). It was an exciting match and the boys all played at their peak. It was also fun for Ama -as his birthday present!

Singles didn't work out quite so well- I think the excitement of winning, along with a tweaked hamstring and he had enough.

Monday morning back to the round of 16 for doubles and the boys were outplayed by the 5 seeds but it was still a fun match.

Now, a 3 week break to train, finish up summer school and prepare for the fall. Oh, and work on those college applications!

Training, Tournaments and Heat

2011-07-09T22:00:00.002-05:00

You can almost feel the heat coming off the courts from the tournament last weekend. Several players went to Bowling Green, KY for the annual Hilltopper Classic- we went as this was the tournament that set off the interesting chain of events last year when Ama tore his cartilage during the quarterfinals. Our concern was getting past the psychological block that tends to exist when you return to the scene of an accident. Although he didn't play his best tennis he did make it through 3 rounds of singles and 2 rounds of doubles winning 1 singles match and 1 doubles match.

This was one of the hottest weekends we have had so far and while Amadeus had been hydrating all week, by his 2nd match he was already beginning to show signs of dehydration. Fortunately, he remembered what the symptoms were and took a bathroom break during his second match to run water over his hands and bring his temperature done. Unfortunately, a few other players weren't so lucky with two being taken by ambulance to the hospital when they collapsed.

Sunday, was the start of a new day and Ama began the match strong but by the second set the shoulder was not able to move and the hydration issues from the day before were also starting to kick in so he withdrew. It just isn't worth risking the shoulder at this point.

The "moral" of the story- drink several gallons of water prior to the match and drink plenty of water during changeovers. He's also working on strategies for keeping cool on court including keeping the Frog Tog wet and around his neck. We took this weekend off but will be heading for GA next week where the weather will be just as hot, I'm sure.

We also have been using Motor Tabs in the water to help keep potassium and electrolytes balanced but they are becoming hard to find so I'm starting to wonder if they have been discontinued. I've gotten recommendations for some other items as Gatorade and Powerade just don't sit well on his stomach.

More next weekend.

A short break from Tennis

2011-06-23T08:40:00.002-05:00

Taking another short break from tennis, some self imposed (i.e. the surgeon said to rest the shoulder for about 10 days after the qualifier and no competition to the end of the month) and some due to weather (i.e. it's been raining off and on for the last week).

So, we did something fun instead. Last year, Ama was not able to have his Laser Tag party due to the shoulder surgery as a birthday present so this year we opted to have his party early both to celebrate his early completion of finishing his high school requirements and for his 17th birthday.

Several gathered together at the Drakes Creek Activity Center to have a 2 hour outdoor laser tag adventure. Based on their comments and the pictures from the event, a great time was had by all.

Now, if the weather holds up he'll be back on the courts playing at the Bison tournament this weekend.

See you on the courts!

Back from the Qualifier

2011-06-10T08:46:00.007-05:00

It was another hot weekend in Tennessee this past week with temps soaring into the high 90's (pretty unusual for the first week of June). With a new shoulder, a new attitude, and a new strategy, Amadeus took the court for his last year in the 16s. The goal was to "make it to Monday" and he did.

Doubles started out on a rough note, even though the guys had been training together for a few weeks, mentally they weren't prepared and ended up losing in the Round of 16 2-8. With several more tournaments on the horizon, I feel confident they will get it together.

Singles began on Saturday with Ama getting lucky and not having to play until 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The match was fun to watch and he was able to pull off the win 6-0, 6-0. Not having to play in the Rnd of 128 was also a plus as it gave him time to rest his shoulder.

Sunday morning dawned hot and sunny and the day started with an 8 a.m. match against one of the seeds. While Amadeus was playing well, he needs to find a way to combat near perfect shot selection and placement by the opponent. In addition, his opponent was a heavy hitter and both the coach and I were a little concerned about how this would impact the shoulder. Final score 0-6, 2-6.

Moving into the backdraw, Ama played one of the few local players (most of his opponents this year ended up being from Memphis). The coach and Ama discussed strategy for the match, which included trying to get off court as quickly as possible to preserve the shoulder for Monday, Ama was able to do that and in true fashion, frustrated yet another player, who, by the end of the match was yelling out things like "Why am I here?" and "Why do I play tennis?"- the players on the other courts seemed to get a smile from that as well as everyone has probably experienced that level of frustration at one time or another.

Next match was Monday morning at 8 a.m. - a tough player with more high level tournament experience- had good depth of shots but Ama was able to take that match 6-2, 6-1. By the middle of the match, you could see that he was in quite a bit of pain and the shoulder was not going to hold up much more. After the match ended, the trainer came to take a look, said the stability was good but the swelling could be a problem. Ice, NSAIDs and rest (at least as much as possible before the next match 2 hours later).

The 2nd Monday morning match was the end of the run, losing to another seeded player 1-6, 1-6 you could tell that Ama was doing everything he could to stay in the match but the shoulder wasn't cooperating- footwork was great and so was his stamina. The ref was surprised he was even still on court.

Finished the match, came off court and the shoulder was swollen to about 3x it's normal size. Headed home and a call to the surgeon - right now he's on a regimen of ice 4x a day, anti-inflammatories, no practice until next week and no tournaments until July. Luckily, most tournaments won't see him playing 7 matches in 3 days and as the shoulder continues to heal that should be eliminated.

Next updates as we continue the re-hab process.

Countdown to the Qualifier

2011-05-29T22:30:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone and the qualifier is less than a week away. Last year was such a time of change with the qualifier signifying lots of changes and loss on our end. This year, we're looking forward to it as a time of fresh starts.

Because of the surgery and the very long and slow rehab process, Ama and his coach have decided that playing in the 16s is better than the 18s, even though the points won't matter since he ages up July 1, playing more high quality matches is the goal right now- the focus is to move back up to his former level of play (and ranking level) by August and that will be done through a process of selecting the right tournaments (and not over doing it), proper training, and continued work with his P/T and our doctor. The shoulder is strong and healing but there are still issues with swelling, especially on cold and damp days. Plus there is also the mental side of the game- after losing so much time, learning how to win again is a key element.

This year, he'll be playing doubles with a new partner and so far, it seems like a promising partnership. The boys have similar personalities and their games complement each other. If things go well next weekend, the plan is to try a few more tournaments and see what happens.

This week, the focus is on match play and fine tuning some elements of each boys game. First matches take place Friday night so we'll see what happens (and keep our fingers crossed that the rain stays away).

Time for a Tennis update

2011-05-23T23:41:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy several months around our house, Ama continues to rehab his shoulder and battles with tendinitis- although no where near as severe as last summer. He's been working on his footwork and we're starting to see some major improvements to his game with those changes.

It's been a somewhat frustrating road to recovery for him as each positive change in a stroke or strategy still requires several hours and lots of practice matches to ingrain. He had a great trip down to Florida in April and had a chance to work with his former coach for a week along with a former top 150 pro player who's making a comeback on the Challenger level. Both David and Joe had some great things to say about Ama's game and David was very impressed with how much he has improved in the last year. He also made a very astute observation- between injury and not knowing anything about tennis, for all practical purposes Ama has only played seriously for 3 years- with that in mind, the fact that he is ranked where he is, is a testament to his drive to succeed. The next year will be a big challenge as Ama works to get back to his former form and ranking.

In addition to the Florida trip, he's played a few local tournaments and ran into some mental roadblocks, we've got a plan in place for that as well.

On a non-tennis note, he was inducted into the National Society for Leadership and Succes last month and has just about completed all of the credits he needs to graduate from high school. He'll be finishing up at Vol State and then we'll see where he lands.

Weather permitting, the next 10 days will be spent training for the qualifier and working on his doubles game with his new doubles partner. More as time and tennis permit.

GRIPS is coming to Nashville

2011-04-27T08:14:00.003-05:00

Attention Junior Tennis

Players & Parents

Just a quick reminder that

Hadley Park Junior Development Program

will be hosting a GRIPS Tennis Clinic for

junior tennis players age 7-17 of all levels on

Thursday, April 28th indoors at the

Hadley Park Indoor Tennis Center.

The event is FREE for all kids from 5:00-7:00pm.

Junior tennis players and parents get a chance to meet

Aaron Fox

(Co Founder of GRIPS & PTR Tennis Professional)

and get some insight into the

"Fastest Way to Improve your Tennis Game".

Join other junior players on court for "drills & skills"

sessions where you can see the GRIPS program

and how it can improve your game.

For more information about GRIPS go to

www.gripsprogram.com

and check it out and as always pass this

along to your tennis playing friends.

Future GRIPS "Play Dates" for junior tennis players in Middle Tennessee include:

* Saturday, May 14 at Mt Juliet Park Tennis Courts from 3-6pm

* Saturday, May 28 at Bluegrass Yacht & CC from 1-4pm

* Friday, June 3 at Hadley Park Tennis Center from 2-4pm

* Friday, June 10 at Bluegrass Yacht & CC from 2-4pm

* Sunday, June 19 at Mt Juliet Park Tennis Courts from 2-5pm

For more information about GRIPS "Play Dates"

email TENNISUN@aol.com

What Was Learned at the Essential Tennis Clinic

2011-04-12T10:56:00.005-05:00

I'll be replacing this picture with something better when I get some new pics but I did want to lead off with an image.

Amadeus had the opportunity to participate in a clinic hosted by Ian Westerman of Essential Tennis and Will Hamilton of FYB a few weekends ago. The clinic was offered by Ian as a special incentive for followers of his site that registered for the the Tennis RX program. The clinic was outstanding with players from around the DC area participating.

The focus was both on diagnosing your own game, watching your opponent to figure ways to best deconstruct there game, and lots of time at the net working on footwork, serve and volley and more.

If you ever get the chance to take a clinic with either Ian or Will (or both), it's something I would really recommend.

Also, (and this is just based on my experiences), check out the Essential Tennis podcasts and the Doubles Domination courses when they are available. Some very useful information for players at all levels.

Dear Jon from PBG

2011-04-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

Dear Jon from PBG,
How delightful that your player is going on to play for a D-1school, you must be quite thrilled by that otherwise, I can think of no other reason why you feel compelled to continually post cruel and snarky comments to this blog. I also am a bit perplexed as to why you would be surprised by my choosing to moderate comments left by a complete stranger who appears to have nothing better to do than leave vicious comments about someone he doesn't even know. As I told you earlier, this blog is for friends and family not people who just want to tear someone down. I'm glad you don't think it's much of an accomplishment for a 16 year old to be on track to finish their Associate's degree before high school and I'm thrilled to know that you hold such a low opinion of anyone who has a wide variety of skills and abilities. Unlike you, I have a very clear idea of what my son's abilities are and have never had aspirations for him to play at a D-1 school, although you probably find that hard to believe based on your comments.

As I've already mentioned, this blog is for friends and family, if you don't like what is being written then don't read it .
Your comments will not appear here and I've wasted more than enough time on your childish and unprofessional behavior already.

You are not welcome on this site so please quit bothering me and wasting my time.

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And Now for Something Not Tennis Related

2011-04-06T14:52:00.003-05:00

Each year, the office of Student Services at Volunteer State Community College hosts a luncheon to honor and recognize the accomplishments of the student leaders on campus. I've had the privilege of serving as a Club Advisor for a number of clubs over the years, but by far, my favorite club to advise has been the D&D club. The members consistently step up to serve the college above and beyond the call of duty and that can be seen by their involvement in the SGA as well.

This year Amadeus was nominated for the Bob Ruff Student Leadership award, one of 9 students nominated out of a study body of about 7000 and I believe he is the youngest nominee in the history of the college. Not bad for a high school student :)

Not that Many Read this Blog but Moving to Moderated Comments

2011-04-04T13:36:00.002-05:00

Wow, this blog was created primarily for friends and family who want to keep up with Ama's experiences playing tennis and his recovery from surgery last year. After getting some very rude and nasty comments, I'm moving to moderating comments and if I don't know who you are, most likely the comments will be deleted.

I can see no reason for someone to post nasty comments about my son, his name, or his tennis ability or ability in general when you know nothing about him.

BlueGrass Tourney This Weekend

2011-03-30T17:07:00.002-05:00

Amadeus is looking forward to more tournament play this weekend, provided he can shake the Strep infection he's been battling since Monday. The good news is the tournament will be relatively small but even better it's going to be a BlueGrass Yacht and Tennis which is only 5 minutes from the house.

Hopefully, there will be a few more players to sign up for the 18s by the time registration ends today, otherwise, he'll play in the 16s but at this point, match play is critical as part of the recovery process.

Working on a strategic plan for success at qualifying and hopefully Southerns in June. More over the weekend.

1st Tournament Win Since The Injury!

2011-03-27T17:46:00.004-05:00

We've learned quite a bit about what it takes to come back from any injury and one of the things that has become very clear, is jumping right back into higher lever regional tournaments is neither good for the body or the confidence. After discussing this between ourselves and with his coaches, we made the decision to stick to the local level tournaments for the next few weeks. The purpose for this is to provide Amadeus a chance to test his physical pain levels or lack there of, get used to hitting the ball again with lots of pace, and to focus on the mental game as well.

This weekend provided a great chance to work on those things as he made it to the finals in the B18s and ultimately won the tournament.

The semi-final match started off shaky, eventually Amadeus found his confidence and focus and also figured out what he needed to do to win the match, much of that consisted of attacking his opponents backhand and it worked.

In the final, both players were pretty evenly matched and I had mentioned going into the match it would be a grinder, the boy last played each other a year ago and points were long. After going up 4-0, Amadeus had a reprise of his semi-final match at Wildwood where he lost several games in a row until he was down 5-6. He won the next game breaking his opponent to force a set tie-break. Again, slightly scary as he went up 6-1 before he ultimately won 7-4. The second set was different as Ama began to actually call out balls out and play his game, by 5-0 his opponent had mentally and physically packed up and the last game of the set was very easy.

It was good to see the mental part of the game coming to the forefront and the conditioning beginning to pay off, too. After the match, we stopped at Cool Springs for lunch and to pick up a new pair of sunglasses. Ama's reward, was a much needed massage as his shoulder, even with the tape was still quite sore and somewhat swollen.

Theoretically, he plays another local tourney this weekend, but not sure if it will make as of right now. Then off to Maryland the following weekend for the clinic with Ian Westerman and Will Hamilton.

Fitness Focus

2011-03-20T14:54:00.002-05:00

The focus now turns to fitness along with stroke production. Working on footwork along with creating a specific workout plan that targets both strength and cardio. Ama will be using TrainingPeaks, to record and track both his fitness and food along with regular conditioning workouts.

The short term goal is 200 jumps a day on the jump rope (6 days a week), along with using light weights and bands to increase his upper body strength. This is in addition to his still required home P/T of band work and shoulder stability exercises.

In addition to the fitness, goal setting, tweaking the serve and changing the forehand are all part of the plan to prepare for the summer season.

The Bumpy Road to Recovery

2011-03-13T12:11:00.003-05:00

Progress- being able to analyze your game when things go wrong.

Professional- being able to analyze your game when things go wrong and then correct it so you can get back on top.

I know it's frustrating to Ama that it's taking a while to return to his former levels of playing - the ability is there but the timing is still off. Plus, the stiffness and swelling that accompany his shoulder whenever he plays for more than 30 minutes or so. We both realize that it's a process and it will take time, but sometimes, it's hard to know when the time will "be right". Currently the goal is to be back in top form for the qualifier in June.

This weekend he played 18s at Wildwood. Won his first match pretty easily and the slice and serve/volley was working in top form. No dealing with the elements as the match was also played in the bubble.

Semi-final match was played outside with gorgeous weather- sun shining, hardly any wind, and a comfortable surface. Played the number 1 seed and was up 5-0 when his opponent realized what was happening and totally changed his game- coming back to win 7-5; 6-0. To Ama's credit, he was not afraid to change things up to try and get back into the match- although the 20 or so winners that his opponent hit made that just a bit difficult.

Positives from the match include his improved footwork- he was getting to balls and putting his racket on things that he wouldn't have even gone for a month ago, his slice was working like a charm and his serve was right on the money.

After the match, he was able to chat with his coach and he recognized that his energy had slumped (not sure why), that he was out played and that part of that was due to his setting up the shots that allowed for the winners. In my book, this is huge progress as a year ago, he never would have been able to analyze what happened and create a plan for the next time.

I think that this new ability is due to several things including his participation in the Tennis RX program offered by Fuzzy Yellow Balls, his focusing more on the mental side of the game, and the new coaching team he has put together.

Next up- Maryland Farms Spring Fling at the end of the month- the goal is to make it to the finals.

Well- That Was Easy

2011-03-10T17:01:00.006-06:00

Amadeus took advantage of spring break by playing in the Blue Gray tournament in Montgomery, AL last weekend then dashing home and hopping a plane for Pittsburgh, PA and a trip to Meadville, PA to check out Allegheny College and meet Coach Luteran head tennis coach.

The tournament in Montgomery was another wonderful (not) weather event with a 24 hour rain delay on Saturday and all Saturday matches getting pushed to Sunday. For his first level 3 tournament after being cleared by the surgeon, Ama played really well but we both saw where his game had slipped after being off for so long. The next few tourneys will be local so he can wok on getting his timing and footwork back up to speed before qualifier in June.

After the trip to Montgomery, it was home and time to pack for a visit of Allegheny College- a small liberal arts school that prides itself on students and their unique combinations- each student has a major and a minor and I was really impressed with the wide variety of choices.

We arrived on a nice sleety sort of day to be welcomed by the admissions representative and we were then introduced to our personal admissions advisor. After the meet and greet, we were taken on a tour by Marla (great tour guide and she and Ama had quite a bit in common between homeschooling, taking community college classes in high school and a love of history) so he got a great feel for the students and the campus. I stayed quietly in the background so he could ask his questions and get a feel for the school. After the tour with Marla, Ama had a private interview with his admissions advisor then I got to join in and ask about financial aid and all the good stuff LOL.

Before the tour of the campus, Ama and I actually had a chance to watch the tennis teams practice in the morning. It's a good idea to get a feel for the coach to see if styles match and also to see what the players are like. Both scored very high on Ama's selection meter.

After the admissions sessions, we were also excited to see the electronic monitor in the admissions office which recognized all the prospective students by name and city/state. What a cool touch.

Lunch (pierogi's - that was a deal sealer) and then a more formal meeting with Coach Luteran and Coach Riskie. Coach had some suggestions for Ama on things to work on based on his recruiting video and they had a long talk about goals, resources for watching the pro's in stop motion and tennis in general. Then Ama had a chance to play some tennis and test out the indoor court surface (thank goodness for the fast courts in Louisville!- it only took Ama a few minutes to adjust to the surface). He played 3 tiebreaks- winning 1 of the 2 and the two that he didn't win were just by 2 points- he felt really good about that.

More on our thoughts about Allegheny tomorrow-

Tennis Recruiting Video

2011-03-02T13:39:00.002-06:00

Well, I finally got a chance to upload Ama's recruiting video to YouTube and decided to share it on my blog as well. Hope you enjoy and if anyone knows any DIII coaches looking for a hardworker with excellent academics and a commitment to leadership and community service, I'm sure my son would be interested in chatting.

Time to Tape

2011-02-27T17:39:00.003-06:00

We are learning how to manage the post injury effects and every day we learn something new. With the approval of his doctor and P/T we have also begun incorporating the use of Kinesio taping to help minimize the swelling between matches. Taping for the shoulder will be a little more interesting but I have good notes and the benefits, so far seem to be quite positive. Ama played the equivalent of 2 full matches yesterday with no swelling at all which is a huge step forward.

The weather in TN has been quite odd so we're trying to get in as many outdoor practices as possible- yesterday was warm, sunny and gorgeous and tonight/tomorrow we're due for more thunderstorms and tornado's. This weekend is the Blue/Gray in Montgomery, AL - keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.

Footwork Frenzy

2011-02-20T10:51:00.004-06:00

Hmm, not the best shot but this was taken with my phone from four courts away. It's been a busy week and I first wanted to say we got the link to Ama's tennis recruiting video and the folks at High-Tech Tennis far exceeded our expectations. I thought Danny did a great job capturing the strokes and Amadeus was excited to see that the match play section lead off with his Serve and Volley game, something he's been working on for a long time. Hopefully the college coaches who will be receiving the video will also be interested in his game. I'll post a link to the video once I get it loaded to YouTube.

Second, since he's still experiencing pain and swelling from playing, we're trying a few new things beginning with once a week sessions devoted solely to footwork and on court movement. The theory is that if he can get to the ball more quickly, he'll put less pressure on the shoulder because he can play shorter points. It was quite a workout last week and he also received several new exercises to use pre-match to help take the pressure off the shoulder.

With the pressures of juggling schoolwork and tennis, Ama is also beginning to get a real feeling of what life playing college tennis as a history major may be like. Fortunately, he's almost completed his first year of college while still in high school which should provide some flexibility when he moves on the college circuit.

The weather has been oh so gloomy this weekend which is a perfect reason to stay home and study. With a 10 page research paper due on 2/28 he also opted not to play a tournament but his schedule for March - April is packed to the gills- although he's not playing a lot of tournaments in April he is doing a lot of tennis travel including participating in a clinic hosted by Ian Westermann of Essential Tennis and Will Hamilton from Fuzzy Yellow Balls plus plans to play two Future's Qualifying if things work out.

Weekend Updates

2011-02-13T11:45:00.004-06:00

Time to update everyone on tennis happenings- after the wild experience last week at a very poorly managed local tournament, I needed a blogging time out so I didn't speak out of frustration. Amadeus is still learning the limits with his shoulder and we're finding for now, shorter matches are best - last weekend he played 2 singles - won the first match 0 & 0 then played a tight 3 setter 5-7; 6-3; 8-10 and realized even if he had won, he wouldn't have been able to play anymore singles the next day- by the time he walked off the court last Saturday night his shoulder was swollen like a football. He played doubles for the first time with another local player Madison and they won the B18s doubles so that was a positive.

Taking a few weeks off from competition to continue training and building the shoulder, we did visit the on-site Physical Therapist on campus Wednesday. She said the shoulder had not suffered any structural damage but was just swollen from over use- she also was very complimentary on both the surgical repair and the excellent condition Ama is in. The strategy for future tournaments is going to be kinesio taping to help control swelling and provide just a touch more stability.

The weather hasn't been overly cooperative this week but we were able to get in a couple indoor sessions- Ama has been working on his serve and volley and that's starting to pay off. Next week, we'll have some serving time, footwork coaching, and a few hitting sessions.

To top off the weekend, we drove to Atlanta yesterday and had a chance to see the beautiful Windward Tennis Academy in Alpharetta, GA. Ama worked with Julie and Danny from High-Tech Tennis to shoot his recruiting video and it looks like they were able to get quite a bit o useful footage. We'll know next week when we get our video back - can't wait as Ama's first recruiting visit is March 9 at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA.

That's about it for now. More after the next tournament which should be One Love in Atlanta at the end of February.

Busy Week- Tournament Time

2011-02-05T09:51:00.004-06:00

Yes, tennis in Tennessee has been a bit challenging of late- yesterday, Ama was supposed to play a practice match at 2- but with high's in the low 30's and rain/sleet in the forecast things got moved around a bit. Luckily, his practice partner has connections and was able to get court time at WestSide Athletic Club- the practice match turned into more of a lesson (Thanks Bobby) and Ama was working hard on his serve and volley- I swear he was airbound several times. It was a great session and both Bobby and Ama got a good workout. We're going to aim for at least one hit a week with Bobby- it will be a good time I'm sure.

I also had a chance to speak with Matt Decker- who is the footwork person in middle Tennessee. He works with many of the top players and from the parents I've spoken with they are seeing massive improvement in their players game after just one or two sessions. Matt was able to squeeze us in this month and I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements.

This weekend, we head to Clarksville for a local tournament- keeping our fingers crossed that the snow stays away and the roads stay clear- once we get to Clarksville not such a problem since there are actual indoor courts for the matches. Heard from a friend who played this morning that there was already quite a bit of snow (Ok Chicago don't laugh this is based on TN standards!).

Anyway, this is the first official tournament back after Dr. Pierce gave the all clear to full out play. Ama's playing in the 18s, need to get that ranking up to get in some tourneys this summer, and is seeded 2. Hopefully the shoulder will hold up for potentially 3 singles and 2 doubles matches (these will be 8 game pro sets I believe). Ama is playing doubles with Madison, they've never played together before and they have significantly different playing styles but that could work to their advantage. Since doubles is round robin instead of single elimination, I predict they will win at least one match.

Getting ready to head out to the Y for a pre-match warm up since there won't be any chance to warm up outside before the match. 3 hours before match time is still better than not at all.

Updates as the tournament progresses. And for those following the college recruiting adventure, Ama is going to visit Allegheny College March 9- he's very excited and is looking forward to seeing the college and meeting the coaches. Weather permitting, we're heading to Atlanta next weekend to shoot his recruiting video and can't wait to see our friends at High-Tech Tennis again!

Singing in the Rain?

2011-02-01T18:49:00.003-06:00

So, the winter weather doesn't really want to cooperate for playing tennis but Amadeus has been able to stay busy with school, Relay for Life, and now exploring new colleges and the prospect of playing college tennis.

Since he hasn't been able to get on the court much (either snow, cold or now rain) he has been busy with fitness (arms, legs, cardio), organizing Suit Up 1.0 on campus and now assisting with the Online Relay Committee and also serving as team captain for the 3rd year with Team D&D.

You can see him above in his Doctor Who t-shirt with another super hero and the ideas for our Relay booth are just growing, almost like a batch of Weeping Angels!

He had an opportunity to speak to the assistant men's tennis coach from Allegheny College the other day and we're flying out in March for a school visit. The school seems like a good fit for Amadeus but seeing the campus first hand will be helpful. Most of the schools he's visited so far have been large state schools so a smaller liberal arts school will be a new world. Lot's of great classes and courses in his area of study and that is a big plus.

More as we continue exploring. This weekend, he'll be playing his first "official" tournament since getting the all clear from the surgeon. I'll post updates as the goal is to complete his matches without any soreness and win a few rounds as well.

Snow Tennis Anyone

2011-01-23T10:17:00.006-06:00

Now, I realize for my friends up North think the 2-3 inches of snow that we received is nothing and they are laughing at us for closing the schools for a week, etc. However, in terms of tennis, this really does put a damper on things like practicing and working out.

Living in the South indoor courts are few and far between and court time is near impossible to get unless you planned ahead in the fall and reserved a permanent spot so prepping has been interesting.

Fortunately, we've been able to sneak in a little indoor time and if (when) the snow melts, Ama and his coach are ready to jump back in full speed ahead. At least the bad weather hasn't closed the gym and so he's working on cardio and weight work (although weights are still some what limited until we get the all clear from the surgeon at the end of Feb.)

In the meantime, Ama is also working on his mental game- he's enrolled in the Fuzzy Yellow Balls RX - Tennis program (we highly recommend it if you get a chance), working on school work and planning his tournament schedule. Lots of fun travel coming up including a clinic in Maryland with Ian Westerman (Essential Tennis) and Will Hamilton (Fuzzy Yellow Balls), a trip to Florida to spend a week training with former MTSU head coach David McNamara and a few other treats.

More updates when he actually gets on a court :)

Recap- HIlton Head Tournament

2011-01-04T11:44:00.002-06:00

The goal for the tournament was to see how much the shoulder could take and assess how much the competition has improved after a 7 month break. Based on those factors, the trip was a huge success.

After a 14 hour drive to the tournament, much of the way through blowing and drifting snow, we arrived at our destination. The hotel was great and the ocean was just a few blocks away- easily within walking distance.

Monday was a day to relax, meet the doubles partner and just get some hitting practice in. Tuesday saw more practice and a doubles match- the boys (who had never played together before-one being from Houston and one from TN) played well together but their opponents definitely were more experienced as a team and were just solid. Nevertheless, both Ama and Ben had some great plays and it was a fun match to watch.

Wednesday morning dawned bright and chilly and Ama played his first singles match. He got to play one of only 2 other TN boys in the tournament and lost 0 & 0 but you would have thought he had just won a junior slam. The goal for the match was to complete a full singles match and that was achieved. What both of us noticed is 7 months off the court has a strange effect on your timing- shots were just missing the line or placement was a wee bit off. Ama also noticed he wasn't able to read his opponent as well as before the injury.

Goal for January- hone the strokes, continue strengthening the shoulder and play as many practice matches as possible. No more tournaments until at least February. This trip was really a baseline to see what needed to be worked on before the spring season.

Ama heads back to the surgeon on Monday and hopefully that will be the last visit for a long time.

Lessons Learned First Tournament Back

2010-12-23T13:19:00.002-06:00

After having a few days to recoup, regroup and rest it's time to reflect on some of the lessons learned after the first tournament back in nearly 7 months.

Fitness - this is going to continue to be a key point. Working out before matches (especially when practice courts are covered with ice and snow was essential).
Ibuprofen and ice- keeping the shoulder iced between matches and taking ibuprofen to control the swelling are both necessary
Know the body- learning how to read the signs from the body- i.e. pain of over use vs pain of "I'm in trouble". Knowing when it's time to walk away and say can't do this anymore
Positive attitude- recognizing this is a learning experience and that wins will not come as quickly but for now it's all about testing limits and seeing how the new body parts work
Ask for help- the P/T and surgeon are there to provide support and answer questions. This is a new experience for all of us so calling the experts to find out if things are working correctly is good.
Get back out and play some more - need I say more?

Tennis or Shopping? Not sure at the moment...

2010-12-18T13:46:00.001-06:00

Arrived in Louisville for the KY Open and roads were okay but lots of snow and ice everywhere. No place to warm up outdoors and not planning quite to well, didn't think to book an indoor practice court. Ran into Preston (Ama's doubles partner) in the hotel restaurant so the boys had a chance to chat a little bit before heading over to the courts.

If the boys had played with each other before, it looked like they could actually win some matches, unfortunately it took them about 5 games to get in sync with each other and in an 8 game pro-set that's a little long. They lost 1-8 but had a good time and made some great plays.

Doubles went on at 8:45 and with a delay it was after 9 before they hit the courts. The match was over by 9:45 so we came back to the room and then went to our favorite place- Half Price Books on Westboro Road- love the store and the deals are amazing. Ama got all of his holiday shopping done and we had fun just browsing. After checking out the courts at Sawyer Park we decided an outdoor warm up just wasn't in the cards (snow and ice on the courts tend to do that). So off for some lunch then a quick look at Men's Warehouse. Turns out the quick look became 2 suits, shirts, ties and pocket squares (buy 1 get 1 free- can't go wrong and the boy needed some suits).

Anyway, he's napping now and we'll head to the gym in a few minutes to warm up for singles which start in a bit.

1st Tournament in 6 Months this Weekend

2010-12-16T14:34:00.002-06:00

Wow- time really does fly, although I'm not so sure about the having fun part- it seems like it was just last week and Amadeus was undergoing surgery and now, nearly 6 months later, he's participating in his first tournament. Of course, we can never do things the easy way so he's jumping in with both feet into a Southern Level 3- the good thing- his coaching team and I have all stressed- no pressure- the goal for the next couple of tournaments is just to get your feet back on the court, test out those new muscles and see how everything feels.

Needless to say, it's been a little stressful- oh and did I mention he also had to complete all of his finals this week! Anyway, he had a nice chat with his Physical Therapist who said the "twinge" he felt when practicing earlier this week was probably due to not being in the right position but his shoulder is very stable and he should be fine- as long as he continues to do his exercises.

Of course, for an added confidence boost- he does have the newest in headgear- a FEZ! I believe he plans to wear that Saturday as he warms up for his first match. Singles begins for him at 4:30 Saturday afternoon and I'll post updates as the match progresses. Not sure what time he plays doubles yet.

Making Progress

2010-12-11T21:36:00.002-06:00

Glad that Ama was able to get in some on-court serving practice on Thursday and Friday before the strange Nashville weather arrived. Today, he was able to work indoors with Devin Crotzer at the Y and the focus was just to get his strokes back in a groove.

Ama is preparing for his first tournament back on the junior circuit since early July and his surgery- although the TN State Qualifying in June was his last serious tournament. While there are still a few tweaks needed to the game, his groundstrokes are solid and his volley's are better than ever. Serves are consistent and improving every day.

Looking forward to seeing how he does when he gets back into competition mode. Playing points today against Devin he looked solid- ended up losing the tiebreak 12-14 not bad against a college player.

More as he continues training and prepping this week.

Back to the Courts

2010-12-06T20:49:00.002-06:00

Looking like an inmate waiting for his keeper to let him out, Ama eagerly awaits the arrival of his surgeon for what we hoped would be the all clear visit. At Physical Therapy last week, his therapist said she felt he was stronger than ever and could see no reason why he wouldn't be discharged.

After a few disappointments, we weren't counting on hearing the news we wanted but after a complete check - no pain, no soreness, strength 110%, range of motion- better than before the injury and so the "all clear" was given.

We were told to follow a regime similar to that of a pitcher or quarterback coming back from an injury, fortunately, we were already a little ahead of the curve and so once the weather warms up a few degrees, time to start working on the serve and overhead.

I don't know who is more excited, Ama, his coaches or his "momager"- anyway, stay tuned for the continuing saga as rehab continues and he approaches his first few tournaments.

Happy Thanksgiving Week

2010-11-23T08:57:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving week! It's been a difficult year in our household but still so much to be thankful for- most importantly our health and also Ama's recovery. Typically we would be preparing to head to Louisville for the Southern Fall Closed which begins tomorrow but instead we are staying in town and celebrating with the family. I'm excited to see my brother and his family again (the 2nd time this month) and while it will be a bittersweet few days, it's always fun when we get together.

Ama continues to make progress in his therapy- he leaves each session tired and sore but not hurt and the strength he is developing is really impressive. The P/T's have added several new torture exercises, all of which can be repeated at home and all of which can be continued throughout his career. These exercises include:

Using an exercise step and doing walking pushups up and down the short end
The "Caterpillar"
Side plank
and of course continued work with exercise bands, weights and pulleys

Links to a few sites explaining these.

Core Stability Exercises (good descriptions but the image links are broken on the site)

Fix Your Back

We go back to the surgeon in 10 days and hope the news will be positive.

In the meantime, enjoy your family and friends, don't shop too much and have a great week.

Time Flies- Waiting for Dec. 6 Release to play

2010-11-13T14:31:00.002-06:00

Seems like forever since I've posted- but no real change on the tennis front. Amadeus continues with P/T- he's now using both the silver and blue bands for strength in addition to doing lots more weight work to continue building strength in the shoulder.

Our last visit to the surgeon provided iffy replies- technically, he could play in a tournament but the surgeon strongly encouraged us not to do that since he was still noticing some problems in the front part of the forearm- rather than risk re-injury we agreed and are somewhat (im)patiently biding our time until the next follow up visit on 12/6 where we hope to receive the "all clear" to play.

In the meantime, Ama is continuing to work on his fitness both on and off court and has been experimenting with pressureless balls and not exerting more than 30% effort in order not to fall too far behind when he is cleared to play.

Next challenges include: getting the "all clear", working on an Eastern grip forehand instead of the extreme Western grip that the surgeon felt was a big cause of the injury, and relearning the service game.

More in a few weeks when we hopefully are cleared to play.

First Day Back

2010-10-02T18:50:00.002-05:00

Officially, he's not cleared to hit at all yet but his P/T session on Thursday was really positive. He's regained almost all of the strength in the right arm as the left and his range of motion continues to improve. We're still looking at several more months of P/T to insure both strength and stability.

The therapist wanted Ama to show Mark what his backhand looked like- she was afraid that in his therapy sessions he was quite swinging properly, and it's hard to do without a ball so today, he got to swing a racket for a few minutes and hit some pressure less balls. In P/T on Monday we'll be using a foam ball for his therapy.

I just thought this shot was so cool- it looks like he's shooting a laser from the racket.

His form looked good, his fitness has improved 100% since the spring and if he can stay healthy, this bodes well for the next year.

Week 9 Post Surgery Update

2010-09-26T15:47:00.002-05:00

We met with the surgeon last week and Ama is continuing to make good progress. At least 5 more weeks of P/T before he might be allowed on court and able to pick up a racket but during therapy he is working on his backhand.

Every P/T session gets tougher and tougher- his range of motion is almost back to normal and the strength on the back side of his shoulder has returned almost to normal. Now the challenge is to get the front side, where the tear was, healed and fully functional. The workouts are pretty intense and Ama is generally ready for a nap after his sessions.

He's also doing on court fitness training in anticipation of his return to tennis. Mark has been working him on footwork, strength, and stability and we're all seeing a payoff. He's much faster and stronger than he was in June and the drills are also correcting some balance problems that I've noticed.

One thing the surgeon kept stressing was Ama was "healing" not "healed" and it was a matter of biology in terms of how long he would be out. We can't get the body to heal faster than it was designed too. So far, Ama's maintained a very positive attitude and we're all looking forward to seeing him on court again.

Lest anyone think he has nothing to do in his off time- he's been swamped with schoolwork- in addition to the full-load of college classes he's taking for dual enrollment credit, he's also working on his Spanish and he's involved with SGA, D&D club and just began working on the requirements for being inducted into the National Society for Leadership and Success. He's also getting ready to start violin lessons, so in some ways, this injury was probably a blessing in disguise.

More in a couple of weeks as we get updates.

Week 7 Post Surgery Update

2010-09-13T19:50:00.002-05:00

Ama goes back for his 8 week check-up on Monday afternoon. Physical Therapy is progressing nicely-it's quite strenuous and each session leaves him pretty worn out and sore. He's added weights, therabands, throwing balls at a trampoline and today he got to pick up a racket for the first time. The only thing he can do is backhands (no tennis balls allowed) he does 2 sets of 20 backhand movements and 2 sets of 20 backhand volley movements.

The P/T is just beginning to work on strengthening the muscles at the front of the arm so it will be several more weeks before he can incorporate forehand reps into his workout. He's also adding Frisbee throwing to strengthen the backhand movement.

The P/T agrees that if he continues to progress at this rate, he may be able to play one or two local tourneys by Jan/Feb with a goal of competing in the Polar Bear in Little Rock the beginning of March (if not that, then the Blue/Grey mid-March).

He continues to work on his cardio, footwork and speed training.

In addition, he's keeping busy with classes, Student Government, D&D (of course) and he's also been nominated to the Society of Leadership and Success so he's got several meetings, projects, etc to complete by April.

Week 4 Post Surgery Update

2010-08-21T17:30:00.005-05:00

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Small-Traffic-Cone-Edited.png

It's been a busy week here with 2 physical therapy visits and the next post-op visit with the surgeon. Things have been progressing nicely, and as the surgeon likes to remind us, some of that is due to Ama's youth and some is just really good progress.

P/T update- the range of motion has continued to improve with a significant improvement over the initial measurements taken at 3 weeks post-op. Ama will continue with multiple sessions per week until we meet with the surgeon again in 4 weeks.

Surgeon update- still not allowed to pick up a tennis racket until the next visit but Ama is cleared to do foot work drills, exercise bike, and core strength training. He may need to go back to the brace for support and that's okay. The incision sites are healing well and the little quirk in his arm is part of the healing process.

Mental coach/trainer update- making progress on the pyramid of success, diet and nutrition log (easing into changing eating habits for a sedentary teen and back to food that will support the goals of an athlete).

Fitness update- with the okay from the surgeon, Ama has started incorporating some foot work drills and exercises to improve his quads and legs. This is in addition to the work he's doing on the bike and the stability ball. Looks like traffic cones will be his new best friend. (these workouts are limited to 2x a week in 30 minute segments).

In addition, Ama's taken a short version of the MBTI to learn his personality type (INTJ) to help in making training decisions and he will be watching the movie "Miracle" to strengthen his mental game.

Next update next weekend. The goal is still the Fall closed in November- we shall see.

Week 3 Post Surgery- Brace is off and P/T Starts

2010-08-15T15:24:00.002-05:00

Week 3 post- op and Ama is making really good progress. He started Physical therapy on the shoulder Wednesday and one of the comments made by the therapist was the surgical site looked like it was several months old and not just 3 weeks post-op. Almost no bruising or swelling at all (I credit that to the Arnica cream and reiki).

Wednesday was more of an evaluation with just two home exercises. Thursday was a full-out session and you could tell that lots more muscles were being worked. Ama worked with pulleys, learned what I call "Itsy Bitsy spider" where he has to crawl the fingers up a wall to strengthen the shoulder, and several other exercises. He also gets to do these at home every day.

Friday saw a great session with Dr. Breeding working on nutrition, stress management and the pyramid of success. All components that are needed to build an all around game and help with the rehab process. There's a chance that Ama will be back on the courts before November but no sure way to tell that at the moment.

We go back to the surgeon next Friday so I will update again then.

Week 2 Post Surgery Update

2010-08-08T10:06:00.002-05:00

No pictures today but just a short posting. The visit with the surgeon went well. Amadeus has good movement of the shoulder already but will still need several months of P/T to regain proper motion, etc. The best thing is the brace can come off starting next Friday and he will start P/T for labral recovery this coming week.

If all goes well, he can start spending about 20 minutes twice a week on the courts and will follow a specific protocol to bring back his shots, etc. In the meantime, once the brace comes off, he can start working on his core again and strengthening his lower body plus working on some speed.

All in all a very good prognosis.

In addition to all that, and getting "bit" by a stomach bug Friday he even managed to turn in his English paper (granted it was the last possible minute and it wasn't perfect) but all things considered a good showing.

We meet with the surgeon again in 2 weeks.

Half Way to Getting Free from the Brace

2010-08-02T19:07:00.002-05:00

Healing is progressing nicely- the black spots are where the holes were made to re-attach the cartilage (2 in the front and 1 in the back) and the stitches are gone. The yellow is actually the bruising but 10 days post-op is showing a nice recovery.

Still continuing to ice and take anti-inflammatories and Ama is noticing that his energy levels are still pretty low. I've been encouraging him to sleep as much as he needs since that is also a key part of the healing process.

He's getting caught up on his schoolwork and should have everything caught up by the weekend. Looking forward to a few weeks off before Fall semester begins.

He did his first rehab session on Friday- 20 minutes on the bike and 12 minutes on the elliptical and that just about did him in for 2 days. Working on acquiring an exercise bike this week (thanks to Justin at work for loaning us one). Friday we return to the surgeon for another post-op check and hopefully phase one of arm rehab. The goal- back on the court competing by the Fall Closed- time will tell.

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes. If you'd like to visit, just let me know.

Surgery Update

2010-07-25T09:58:00.003-05:00

Surgery went well- Ama made the right decision as the bicep had become detached from the cartilage in the shoulder. He's not really excited about the sling he has to wear for the next several weeks but it's necessary in order for the cartilage to re-attach itself to the bone (I think that's the correct reason).

First day post-op was a little rough but he's starting to adjust. Sleeping is the hardest thing so far, since he needs to stay propped up a little. He's found the couch is a little easier than the bed.

We also are keeping him iced as much as he can tolerate and that seems to be helping quite a bit, too. He's still pretty fuzzy- not good for doing schoolwork but he can play video games which has been good since he pretty much gave them up to focus on tennis.

He returns to the surgeon Monday for his first post-op visit and hopefully we'll learn more about the rehab process. I'll post weekly updates so you know what's happening.

News from the Surgeon

2010-07-20T19:18:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note- Amadeus will have surgery on Thursday to repair the torn cartilage in his shoulder. It's a relatively simple arthroscopic procedure and he should be able to start rehab not too long after the procedure. The surgeon has sketched out a general program including a gradual return to tennis with the hope of being able to play in the Fall closed over Thanksgiving but we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, we've put together a great resource team, including a wonderful sports psychologist and rehab and fitness specialist at Focus Fitness in Berry Hill. Such a wonderful and caring group of people.

I'll update everyone on Thursday after the procedure.

More Updates

2010-07-15T19:34:00.002-05:00

Met with the Orthopedic surgeon last week for a more detailed look see. While we are still waiting for the MRI results, looks like shoulder surgery is in the picture for the not too distant future. This means 4-6 months off the tennis courts, rehab, relaxation and no tennis.

The good news is once the rehab period goes by and if he follows the rules then he should be back stronger than ever.

We also met with a sports psychologist to discuss the mental strategy for coping with this extended time off and also to work on improving the mental game for when he returns to the courts. Also working with a specialist to help with the tendinitis and we'll be adding a personal trainer into the mix as well.

More as we learn. The strange part is learning to just ignore rankings, standings and tournaments.

A Brand New Phase in the Tennis Adventure

2010-07-08T22:16:00.002-05:00

We're entering a new phase of this tennis adventure- doctors, p/t, rehab, surgery, p/t, rehab, sports psychologist, more rehab LOL

Yes, we never would have imagined when we met 2 weeks ago to work with Ama's coach to set some goals for the next 6 months that almost all of them would be tossed out the window and we'd be starting from scratch. On a positive note, the tendinitis is healing and Ama was almost back to normal. He played in the Hilltopper Classic (B18s) last weekend to test out his arm and make sure he was up to par for the Southern Open this weekend. Ha! Things just didn't go as planned.

My friend Bonny and I knew almost the moment he injured himself just by the look in his face and the way he started massaging his right arm but we both thought it was his tennis elbow bothering him and the tennis elbow brace that he wasn't used to wearing. Now, I'll admit to trying to send him a message- I kept signaling him to pull out but he didn't get my weird charades and kept playing. He would have won on a regular day but this was not to be. He did figure out how to keep his opponent off balance and the slice and dropshot worked like a charm, however not enough to pull out the win.

When he came off court we noticed this golfball size swelling on his right arm but not being an expert in sports injuries, I was under the mistaken impression that a torn muscle meant you couldn't use the arm. So he came off court, we immediately iced him, ran into a friend who is a P/T and recommended a good ortho and left. Ama continued icing, using his Valtoren gel and ibuprofen but on Tuesday, at his P/T appt the P/T asked if we had seen our doc and we said no, we just thought it was swollen. He said to call ASAP- I did and Wed we got the now infamous message, "That's not swelling, that's your muscle!" So it looks like probably surgery, and then rehab for 4-6 months or more. The goal is to play the Winter closed.

Stay tuned!

Easing Back Into Tennis

2010-06-28T10:54:00.003-05:00

It's been an interesting June so far with injuries slowing Amadeus down but in many ways this has been good as he has been able to focus on his mental game and also on his fitness.

Rehab has gone well with P/T scheduled 3 x a week along with ice, kinesio tape, and anti-inflammatories.

Practices have been in the evening and Ama has been working on consistency and also on not stressing his arm. The injury is probably the result of a poor grip/wrong grip size and strings strung too tightly so we're experimenting with both new strings and new grips.

The first test of how well rehab is working will be this weekend when Ama plays in the 18s at the Hilltopper Classic in Bowling Green. We're using this as a tune-up for the Southern Opens which begin on the 11th in Columbus, GA

Listening to Your Body vs Listening to Your Brain

2010-06-19T10:18:00.002-05:00

The body says, "Ouch- this hurts", the brain says, "That's okay you need to keep playing" and the conversation between body and brain continues this way for most athletes throughout their career. The question becomes when do you stop, take a break and let the body rule the brain?

Ama's been faced with this decision off and on throughout his young career and now he's reached a point where he really does need to make a few important decisions. How much pain is too much? Can he play through the pain? What about changing his grip or other aspects of his game to minimize or eliminate pain?

He's spent the last few weeks being X-rayed, MRI'd, poked and prodded. The end result- no tears but severe tendinitis in both the elbow and wrist. He's rested for a few weeks and he's ready to come back but needs to be smart about it. As his doctor told him, he'll never be at 100% but that's okay if he plays smart.

Now, time to look at strength training, taping, and making adjustments. While to many it's all about the tennis, this is really about life. We never know what's coming our way but it's all in how we handle it.

The Waiting Game

2010-06-13T10:26:00.002-05:00

Waiting to hear back from the doctor about the results of Ama's MRI on Thursday- had hoped we'd have some news on Friday but alas- no word.

Ama's been taking his medication, icing his arm and trying to use it as little as possible until we get some official word. He has been commenting on increasing pain in the wrist though so that's not too good and this morning he dropped his tea mug- boom fell right out of his hand.

In the meantime, he's working on his footwork and improving his mental game and will go back to work on Monday- we'll make decisions on upcoming tournaments based on how he's feeling and the healing process.

More as we get info.

Best Qualifier - Ever- Day 4

2010-06-09T22:17:00.003-05:00

Day 4 dawned clear and sunny with all the indications that this would be a great day. Going into the match for the day, both Ama and I realized it was going to be a test of both his physical and mental stamina. To add to the challenge, his comments after his warm up were I can't feel my legs and I didn't sleep well because they kept twitching topped off with continued pain in the right arm. I offered some BioFreeze but he declined and prepared to play his match.

Within minutes of Ama getting on court, I realized something wasn't right although the other parents watching just thought he was having a bad day. After two or three totally misplaced forehands and a few volleys that didn't even look like volleys I sensed trouble. Add to that the subconscious rubbing of the right arm and I knew we were in trouble.

His opponent was a very solid playing hitting deep, heavy forehands and moving Ama around the court and while Ama tried to fight back, it was doomed. Final score was 2-6, 0-6. Ama was toast and ready to go.

As soon as we got to the car, my "mom sense" took over and my first question was, "Do I need to make a doctors appointment for this afternoon". The immediate reply was, "Yes". So after a quiet drive home, a nap and some lunch we headed to the doctors. Turns out he was quite a mess with a severe case of tennis elbow, a probable torn muscle in the right forearm (MRI on Thursday), potassium levels that had dropped dangerously low (hmmm, can we say not properly hydrated) and keratin levels that were a bit too high. Left the doctors with a prescription for an elbow brace, medication for the tear, orders to rest the arm for at least 7 days and possibly up to a month or longer depending on what percent of the muscle is torn, instructions on proper hydration and recommendations for some products to help prevent this. I've picked up the Myoplex
and now I'm searching for the Sport Beans and the "Stick" to help with the break down of lactic acid after each match.

I'll post more after the MRI and the meeting with the doctor. Hopefully he'll be mended enough to play Southerns but healing is more important at this point than tennis- always have to keep the big picture in mind.

Best Qualifier - Ever- Day 3

2010-06-09T22:10:00.003-05:00

From Blogger Pictures

Day 3 dawned overcast and we knew it was going to be a long day. Ama had a good warm up with two other Nashville guys before taking the court for what we knew could be a long day. His first match was at 8:00 a.m. against a local player who is also in our team tennis league. The guys played some good points but Ama prevailed with a 6-0; 6-0 win.

The next match was at noon and the guy he played also had done some clinics with Ama and Zach in the winter time. Zach also had beat George in the Round of 64 in a close 3 setter and the guys played some long hard points with Ama prevailing 6-2; 6-2. I'm really excited to see how Ama is growing as a tennis player and beginning to realize the turning points in the match- as we were discussing the match, he was commenting on how George had a really good serve and he new it was his weapon. He said he realized that the key to winning the match was to break his opponents serve and then hold to send a clear message. This was a huge improvement from Fall when he just went out to hit the ball. It's so exciting to see him growing into tennis.

The last match of the day was played against a Knoxville player we knew nothing about- more long rallies and hard hitting balls and you could see the wheels turning as Ama strategized the points. There were 2 key turning points in the match, one was the first game of the second set when he realized he had to send a clear message or his opponent could get back into the match. Final score was 6-2; 6-0.

We then stayed to watch some of the girls matches - they were on a long rain delay at the McCallie site while Champions received very little in the way of rain and just one rain delay late in the day.

After returning to the hotel, we realized that although Ama made it to Monday (a huge accomplishment) it was going to be a real test of his physical conditioning. A big challenge lays ahead.

Best Qualifier - Ever- Day 2

2010-06-09T22:09:00.000-05:00

The day dawned overcast and humid but the guys were troopers and arrived at the practice courts at 6:45 a.m. for a warm up before they were able to get on court and complete their doubles match. After a little scare, the guys came through and won the match 8-5.

Immediately after doubles, both Ama and Zach got on court to play their first singles matches (round of 128) and both guys won. Time for lunch and then Ama was scheduled to play his next match (round of 64) vs #3 seed Brian Carman at noon. However, the weather had other plans and after a rain delay and lightning delay their noon match finally went on court about 3 p.m.

Before lunch, Ama mentioned that his right arm was starting to hurt but we both thought it was just a bit of over use between his first week of working at tennis camp, training and then the matches so I put on some "BioFreeze" and he went out on court. He played very well although he was only able to win 2 games in the match. His shot placement was solid, you could see him constructing points and most importantly staying in the match mentally up until the last point. His opponent was just a much better and more experienced player but we've come a long way since Charlotte last fall.

After the singles match, doubles went on and the boys were entertaining and won points- both Ama and Zach even got some aces but ultimately they went down 0-8.

From Blogger Pictures

Of course, it's not just about tennis when we travel- another goal is to seek out fun and interesting restaurants and of course we have our favorites- in Chattanooga it's the City Cafe Diner and the reward that Ama earned for playing so well was a slice of the Sampler Cake- five layers- each a different flavor- this time it was chocolate, carrot, red velvet, white and then cheesecake slathered in a rich white frosting and covered in sprinkles. Yum!

Best Qualifier - Ever- Day 1

2010-06-09T21:26:00.006-05:00

We arrived in Chattanooga and attempted the guys attempted to warm up for doubles- unfortunately, the weather was not going to cooperate and we went into a 2+ hour rain delay. Ultimately, the guys were able to get on court for their first doubles match but were pulled off when the score was 6-4 deuce- the match would be continued in the morning- moving all 8 a.m. singles matches back an hour.

Waiting to find out if (when) Friday night matches will go back on court. Despite multiple rain delays and attempts to get matches on- the weather just wasn't going to cooperate.

What a Difference a Year Can Make

2010-06-03T20:31:00.003-05:00

Hoping for sunshine and clear skies this weekend at the qualifier but if this year's weather is true to form, I'm anticipating rain delays and other natural delights.

It's interesting to me what a difference a year can make in the life of a tennis player. I picked Ama up from work today (he's working as an assistant coach at a local club) and asked how his day was. He started out with a private of his own and played a set plus did some tuning up on his strokes, his comment was we didn't do anything to strenuous but it was the type of pre-match warm-up I would have done with Rob. He learned alot this past year from Rob and it was good to hear that.

The more interesting comment was Ama discussing how last year he would have been not sleeping and stressing over the qualifier and he said last year he was just a nervous wreck. He felt that this year it was really just another tournament and he knew what had to be done. Looking back on the last year, he was very philosophical saying he realized he "hit bottom" in Charlotte and since then it has just gotten better with playing a Future's qualifying round, his first National Level 3 (complete with a win), the Fall Closed and lots of southern Level 3's. Now that he has a feel for that level of competition, he just needs to make the adjustments he needs to win more often.

On a somewhat sadder note, we said good bye to our good friend and former coach David McNamara and we wish him well as he explores new tennis adventures. We'll be in touch and hope to see you on the courts soon.

Making Progress- Gotta Love (hate?) those Standings

2010-06-02T21:23:00.002-05:00

Winners keep score but sometimes, it's hard to tell what the score is when it's constantly a moving target.

Another thing we've been learning over the past year is the difference between standings (a moving target that changes at least once a week) and ranking (the end of year position you earn). It's also interesting to see how points and standings vary depending on which age and section you are looking at.

Currently, Ama is 102 in the Boys 16s in the state of Tennessee- now if someone is new to playing tournaments, and doesn't realize the state ranking doesn't really matter- they might get lulled into a false sense of security if they were to play him, thinking he's a beginning player- but if you look at the B18s you'll see he is ranked 30 in the state- so which is the true indicator of his ability? Since standings are based on the best 6 singles tournaments and 15% of the best 6 doubles hard to tell for sure- especially since we rarely play TN events any longer.

So now, we move on to a slightly bigger stage, the southern section- this is probably the more accurate indicator, although standings move up and down almost weekly depending on whether you play a tourney or not. Currently he's 195 in the B16s and 435 in the B18s. Not bad at all, but still not quite good enough to make the cut for a Bullfrog.

Now, we are also beginning to see real progress as he's also developing a National standing. This week saw a huge jump from 1847 to 1053 in the country. This will open more doors and opportunities, provided he continues to keep winning.

It's all a numbers game and we'll keep following the clues.

Peach State Junior Tennis Classic- Rnd 2 Update

2010-05-29T15:16:00.002-05:00

Competition was much fiercer in the round of 32 and while the score doesn't look great (Ama lost 0 & 0) he rose to the occasion and threw everything he had at his opponent. The boys haven't seen each other in nearly 5 years and both have changed dramatically both in height and ability.

It was interesting talking to his opponent's mom and comparing how the boys game styles have changed due to the different coaches they had and also geography. She was very pleased to note that both boys played a fair game and said that most of the Tennesseans played fair calls and was glad that was instilled early on. After that, we noted that her son played more of a Florida style game while Ama's was more Aussie in nature (wonder how much that has to do with their coaching)?

For breaking in a new coach this weekend not bad so far. The best thing for both Devin and I was to see that Ama stayed in the match even when he was down a set and 5 and continued to play a focused match and remain positive. No yelling or other loud court behavior from our two.

Moves into the backdraw and plays tomorrow at 8:30. Either way, a very successful weekend.

Peach State Junior Tennis Classic- Rnd 1 Update

2010-05-29T09:59:00.004-05:00

The morning got off to a good start with overcast skies but no rain. Went to breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to what we thought was the tournament site. Apparently, there are two Field Club locations in Norcross, GA. We were not at the right one- by 8:00 when there were no other players or cars I started wondering what might be going on. Quick check of directions and turn the car in a new direction and we actually got to the right site.

Ama went on at 8:30 and played a boy from the Atlanta area who he had lost to last summer in a grueling match. Today, Ama was definitely on fire holding serve and only losing 3 games the whole match. He also was able to dig deep and win the first round which has been his "curse" the last several tournaments.

Ran into the Woodson's who also played at Ridgetop (Wilson Tennis Academy) years ago and we got caught up on everything and everyone. Looks like Ama might be playing Jared next. Also ran into another dad who had a brief experience at WTA. It's interesting to see how people remember Ama from years ago and then see a new and more seasoned player.

Looking forward to this next match and I hope the rain holds off. Either way- he made it to Sunday and that's the important thing!

Peach State Junior Tennis Classic

2010-05-28T20:28:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since we've traveled for a tournament and we're starting the summer with a bang. First stop is the Peach State classic- a tournament on the National circuit and one that is sure to be a great experience. Reading the booklet that was distributed at check-in it's interesting to see how many of today's tour players also played at the Peach State. Now, if the weather will cooperate things will be really good.

This is going to be the tune up tournament for the qualifier- this year's goal at the qualifier is to get into Southern's on the merit of tournament play and not just ranking, etc. Ama's been working with a new coach who is also traveling with us this weekend and we'll see how things work out.

Not much more at the moment. Will update as matches are complete and stay tuned next week for lots of qualifier updates as we have a slew of kids going together to compete.

If April Showers Bring May Flowers What Do May Storms Bring?

2010-05-15T23:01:00.009-05:00

It's hard to believe that 3 weeks ago we were in Vero Beach, FL and Ama was playing in his first Future's qualifying tournament. We returned to Nashville after running into some rain on the way home (hmm maybe this was a signal of things to come) and got back to the normal routine.

On April 30, Ama hosted his Relay for Life Mixed Doubles tennis fundraiser and we haven't finished totaling the donations but he should come close to $500 for this year. Each year we get better and this year we had Country Music Stars in attendance, and onsite photographer and a great bake sale.

Knowing that the fundraiser was on Friday, Ama opted not to play the last Bullfrog before the qualifier because it was a 6+ hour drive and playing after driving all night just isn't the best way to start the weekend so he made plans to attend his first "Con" - an Anime Convention-unfortunately that was cut short as we had an adventure of a lifetime with the Great Nashville Flood of 2010. Since then, he's been lucky to play tennis a few times total in the last month- most of the time has been spent in hard labor (ripping out wet carpet, knocking out walls, boxing up items from Grandpa's house and more).

Today we had the first real chance to play some tennis and headed to Columbia, TN so he could practice with his doubles partner- of course the rain had other plans so the match was never finished. We're hoping that the guys can play again next weekend.

That's where we've been. Hope everyone is doing well. The upcoming tournament schedule is:

May 21- Maryland Farms

May 29- Peach Tree Classic

June 4- TN State Qualifier

Day 1 Future's Qualifying

2010-04-25T13:51:00.004-05:00

The facility was beautiful and this was one of the courts. Ama was probably one of the youngest players in the Qualifying rounds and he met several other juniors from both the Southern section and FL. He was able to hold his own with them in warm-ups and I thought his match went very well.

When matches were called, he want on at 9 a.m. in the first round. His opponent was 23 and played for Samford, in AL. The match was very fun to watch and Ama started strong winning his first service game.

The rest of the set went to his opponent, although Ama, definitely had his chances taking all but one of his first set service games to deuce. A few issues with the backhand, although he has started to switch to a one-handed backhand and that helped on a few points. The biggest challenges were lack of experience in clutch points and mentally losing focus for just a moment.

Second set started off well and Ama ended up winning 2 more games and taking several more to deuce. His goal for the tournament was to win at least 3 games and be competitive and he effectively met that goal.

We also learned a few things about playing on the pro level that are different from the juniors these include:

Instead of registering online and being charged when you get in, you must register online, wait to see if you get accepted, then arrive the night before to pay and sign in
Draws are not posted days in advance- we found out at 8:15 a.m. that he played at 9:00 a.m. the same day
There are very specific rules about the clothing that can be worn and the size of the logo. The stripes on the Adidas shirts and shorts are considered part of the logo and he had to go change. The rules apply to hats, shirts, shorts, rackets, racket bags, shoes, etc
There are lots of fines that apply, for ball abuse, etc. Ama said the Ref explained in detail to him and his opponent.

I'll post more about the trip later.

Road Trip Day 2

2010-04-22T19:12:00.002-05:00

It's been a fun two days so far. We left around 3:30 on Wednesday, made a quick stop in the 'boro to return something to Carley's mom and grab some dinner and then we hit the road. Our goal was to reach Byron, GA before midnight, splitting our trip into 2 seven hour portions. We actually arrived a little early- caught a good nights sleep and hit the road again by 7:30 a.m.

Today, we made a few extra stops, picking up some snacks and getting actual cash for the tournament fee- unlike junior tournaments where you pay in advance, here you pay when you arrive, fill out a bunch of paperwork and then wait until sometime in the night to find out when draws will be posted.

We spent quite a bit of time looking for the hotel, which we couldn't find at first- we did find some really nice city park courts, the tournament site, the beach and finally our hotel. Ama had reserved a 6 p.m court slot and at first, it looked like he wouldn't have anyone to warm up with him. Turns out several other kids were in the same situation so it turned out there were about 10 juniors all warming up together on two courts. A few had played Kalazmazoo and based on the qualifying pool, I have an idea who a few of them were. Ama was able to hold his own which is a good sign.

Also want to say Thanks to Bill Riddle for the new clay court shoes. They made a big difference.

More from the road tomorrow after the match

Next Up- Vero Beach and a Future's Qualifying

2010-04-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Rome, GA wasn't quite as successful as planned but it was a good opportunity to see how Ama handled the pressure of being seeded and playing some of the top Georgia players. He and Zach battled it out in doubles losing a close one 7-10 in the tie break.

Next up- Vero Beach, FL and the Qualifying tournament for this Mens' $10,000 Clay Court event. Working hard this week to up his game with practice matches scheduled and some serious training. We'll see what happens.

Following Vero Beach is the Relay for Life Fundraiser- we welcome all tennis players to join the fun as we raise money for this worthy cause. Guests will include members of the Country Band Hilljack and local tennis coaches and college players. For more info, leave a comment and we'll send details.

Training Time

2010-04-02T21:34:00.003-05:00

Not your average looking tennis hat- we found the Fedora to complete the look while in Huntsville last weekend. Just had to share.

This week the weather has been fantastic for tennis, although we seem to have missed spring completely. Earlier in the week, Ama played most of a match against an acquaintance from Sweden. While his opponent was older and a bit more powerful, Ama was able to adapt and when the match ended, due to time constraints the score was 4-6, 2-2 with Ama having made a comeback from being down 1-5 before the losing in the 1st set.

We're taking a slightly different approach right now towards match play itself setting more manageable goals such as percent of points won and 1st serves percent instead of just win/loss records. We're taking a bigger picture view of this right now and using matches in tournaments and practice to prepare for the future.

After watching the Roddick match today, we're also adding an element of 30 minutes a day just working on serves and hitting targets along with the goal of hitting 1000 balls a day. Results should start happening within the next few weeks would be my estimate. It's an adventure.

Another Rainy Weekend

2010-03-30T19:04:00.003-05:00

It was another rainy weekend on the tennis courts and playing on the clay delayed matches even further on Sunday. While we chose to play in Huntsville, other friends went to South Carolina and the weather wasn't much better there- I'm really looking forward to some sunshine and warmer temps.

The tournament started on Saturday and it was a gorgeous, sunny day with lots and lots of wind. It looked like Ama might be able to pull out the win, as he stayed even with his opponent throughout the first set- watching the boys was like watching a mirror - lefty vs righty with very similar games, however, Ama couldn't quite get a racket on the opponents serve and had a few mental lapses at key points so it was into the back draw with a 4-6; 2-6 loss.

Sunday morning dawned cold and wet and matches were on a 6 hour rain delay. We spent the morning relaxing then did some window shopping (plus found a fedora to complete his look) and then back to the courts. His 11 a.m. match went on at 4 and abbreviated scoring was used with both sets starting at 2-2. He won 6-2; 6-3.

Next match was a 7 against the number 2 seed and the courts were slippery- after getting a feel for his opponent, a good battle was put on but ultimately, his opponent prevailed with a final score of 2-6; 4-6.

Overall, an excellent tennis weekend. We've decided that more attention needs to be devoted to developing a clay court game and we're looking at a tournament in Florida in a few weeks- we shall see what happens.

Next up- GA Spring Championships in Rome, GA in a few weeks where Ama and Zach hope to play doubles together again.

Clay Court Here He Comes

2010-03-26T19:57:00.005-05:00

It's been about 2 years since Amadeus played a clay court tournament and he hasn't had a chance to even on practice on clay so tomorrow's match should be entertaining at best. While he was practicing today, we discussed that and he feels that since most kids in this area don't regularly train on clay, it should come back to him like riding a bike.

We skipped the tournament last year to go to AR- from an event perspective that was a good decision since AL got rained out and AR just had cold and heavy winds. The forecast for this weekend is much better- fingers are crossed that tennis weather is actually approaching.

On another note, Ama has also put his name in the proverbial hat to try and play qualifying for two futures tournaments. The first one is in Little Rock, and historically, the qualifying draw of 64 has never filled, of course, this year, there was an alternates list of nearly 140 people- when that list was first posted, he was 111 he's moved up to 44 as of tonight so who knows what might happen before the freeze date! It's yet another aspect of the sport to learn about and the only thing that can happen is good. He's also trying to get in at Vero Beach, FL at the end of April with a 128 qualifying there may be a slightly better chance, but one just doesn't know. More on that adventure as things fall into place.

For now, the focus is on Huntsville and the clay- updates to follow.

Updates from the Road

2010-03-17T22:58:00.002-05:00

I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever see sunshine and warmer weather again. We've learned to keep several blankets in the car, plus gloves and jackets even if the weather forecast says it is supposed to be warm.

With that- a few updates after the Blue-Gray at Montgomery, Ama had 2 "good" days to train and then we headed to Little Rock for the Polar Bear Classic. Weather was a little warmer and he did better this year than last so that's a positive. I try to keep things in perspective and here's a little bit of his progression 2 years ago, he barely made it into the B14s, last year, I registered him for B14s and B16s and he played B16s (lost both singles but he was still several months out from 16), this year he was seeded 9 and played 3 very good matches. Lost 2 won 1 plus made it to the quarterfinals in doubles with Andy (they were also seeded 5). Overall, a huge improvement. Of course, we always want to see more but sometimes, I just need to remind myself of where he was and where he's going.

The next couple weeks should be busy. First off, heading to Huntsville for the Clay Court tournament- he hasn't played on clay for nearly 2 years so it will be interesting, then perhaps another trip to Little Rock, followed by either a trip to Memphis or Mississippi and of course another tournament in Rome, GA. Luckily all of these locations are close and that's a plus.

More to come after we get to the tournaments.

It's a Process the Journey of a Junior Player Notes from the Blue-Gray 2010

2010-02-28T06:06:00.004-06:00

We arrived Friday night and both kids were feeling confident and comfortable. Had a solid practice session and then off to Waffle House for dinner (it's a ritual when Ama and Carley are at a tournament together- it started last year in Pell City). Early night since both had 8 a.m. matches.

Arrived at the courts around 6:15 to be sure to get an open court, over time, we've learned that the practice courts fill quickly on the first day. As you can see in the picture, we got there while the sun was still coming up. Beautiful, sunny morning that turned cloudy and cold by 8.

Ama arrived at his site for the first match and what looked like a winnable match turned into a loss by the end of the day- but in the words of his coach, it was a "good loss". Points were lost by being agressive, coming to the net and taking control rather than just waiting for the ball to come to him. Ama also had significantly more winners than his opponent. The key to winning was to close out the points that really mattered.

Back to the hotel for a nap, then lunch and a practice session before the afternoon round. Ama was playing the #5 seed. Started the 1st set out very solid then slowly his opponent edged his way back in and by the 2nd set was dominating. Again, a good loss as Ama did everything his coach has been working on with him, his opponent just did it a little better.

Lessons learned: continue working on the more aggressive game, work on making the close points, and practice at least 2-3 times before the tournament. This time again, the weather worked against us with no real practice except Saturday (the week prior).

Next tournament is the Polar Bear in Little Rock then a few weeks off to train.

Lessons Learned: Playing in the Cold

2010-02-16T17:56:00.003-06:00

There are quite a few sites with information about how to prepare for summer matches and playing in warm to hot weather. We've learned a few things this year about preparing for the cold and I'd like to share some of these lessons with you.

Players

Hydration is key, perhaps even more so than in the summer. You can dehydrate just as easily when it's cold outside but you don't feel thirsty since you are probably freezing
Staying warm
Dress in layers
Have some "Hot Hands" in your pockets
Wear two layers of socks if needed (a thin insulator sock and then a regular tennis sock)
When coming off court or before matches, be sure to keep warmups on
A hat, gloves, fleece blanket are also helpful off court
Hot chocolate in a thermos is good to have, too
Stay warm between matches- get in a car or shelter and out of the wind

Parents/Spectators

Dress in layers- long underwear is not a bad idea
Multiple items that can be added or removed since players may play outdoors and then indoors
"Foot Warmers" tucked inside boots or sneakers are good
Hat, scarf, gloves and fleece blankets
Portable propane heater
Hot chocolate
If you must sit on the bleachers, be sure to put a fleece blanket down first to help minimize the cold seeping through or if you have football seat chairs or a stadium cushion that will help, too

Any other suggestions for staying warm or playing in the cold are welcome.

NE Arkansas Open a Success

2010-02-15T21:45:00.003-06:00

We (coach, mom and player) went into the tournament with no expectations at all. Having only played one tournament in six weeks and with the weather being miserable for most of the last two months, Ama was definitely not well prepared for the tournament, or so we thought. He showed us some amazing improvements and played consistently throughout the tournament. To view all results check out the tournament site here.

Positives included decreasing the number of unforced errors, increasing first serve percent to 70%+ and also increasing the number of winners hit. In addition, the errors that were made, especially in the final singles match he played were "good errors"- Ama was going for shots and using his forehand to take advantage of the situation. This will continue to improve in the coming weeks.

For me, another key moment was when the coach of his final singles opponent not only complimented him on his ability but also on his on court persona, he said it was nice to see a player who did not expend extra emotional energy on the court (very opposite to what his coach wants to see), I keep arguing that you can't change someone's personality. I was very happy with that comment.

The final score for singles was 3-6; 6-4 (coming back from being down 2-3 which has never happened) and then 4-10 in the tiebreak (I take some "blame" for that as I had encouraged Amadeus to not make it to the finals due to the storm we were going to have to drive home in). Bad call on mom's part.

On the doubles front, Ama and Mike are turning out to be a pretty good team making it to the finals and ultimately losing 2-8 to the #2 seeds and playing in some very brutal weather conditions. Cold (in the low 30's), windy, and damp. I keep thinking one day we'll see warmer weather but it doesn't appear to be in the near future.

Next weekend, Fun at the Y at Donelson playing in the B18s

What a Weekend

2010-02-13T22:19:00.004-06:00

A new kind of snowball- practice courts on Sat. a.m.

Back on the tournament scene and except for a rocky start Friday night, it's been a great tournament so far. Balmy temperatures (ha! ha!) with highs in the low 40's and most matches played outdoors have worked well for Ama since he's used to training in those conditions. Unfortunately the parents, spectators and coaches all froze much of the day.

Rocky start on the first match between a very late 8:15 start time and a little incident with the car had Ama on edge. Even though he was seeded #4 he lost 3-6; 4-6.

Saturday dawned with new expectations and the goal of winning which is exactly what he did. First match was against a local(Nashville) player and Ama won 6-2; 6-2. Then a break for lunch and the next match was won 6-2; 6-0 (I think). A 2 hour break and the next match was 6-2; 6-0 also. In all of these matches, Ama really demonstrated what he's been practicing hitting some excellent serves, mixtures of backhands and solid volleys. A few too many double faults but unforced errors were cut back alot.

Final match of the day was doubles which he and his partner won 8-0.

Tomorrow, it's the singles consolation at 8 a.m. then hopefully doubles and then who knows. The goal is to win the consolation finals.

More tomorrow.

Wondering if He'll Ever Get to Practice

2010-02-05T22:23:00.002-06:00

I've watched practices in all kinds of conditions but Wednesday night was the most interesting as there were still piles of snow around the fences at the tennis courts. It was a good practice though and apparently the snow and cold weather had gotten to several people as we saw about 15 other players out on Wednesday night. It was pretty clear that Ama hadn't swung a racket in a while and while he eased into his shots it was scary to watch.

Near the end of practice he got another one of his never ending nose bleeds but he was able to stop that and continue practicing. As you can see in the picture, the 3 hours of practice in the cold wore him out and he was a sleeping boy on the drive home.

I had to make one of those tough "mom" decisions for tomorrow- take him to a practice match indoors with his mentor Devin or go to the Tennessee Tennis Awards luncheon to receive my award as Jr. Team Tennis coordinator of the year- with the weather situation and a tournament less than a week away, the needs of the son, outweighed the needs of the "mum" (to paraphrase Spock). I feel it's the right decision.

If the rain goes away and the sun comes out Ama and Mike will practice their doubles for next weekend- if they can play as well as they did in the Chattanooga doubles, they should be able to win the tournament and hopefully get enough points to both play in the Polar Bear together.

Break Time Over - The Insanity Begins

2010-01-28T21:01:00.002-06:00

This weather has been good and bad for us. Good in the sense that we've both had some time at home to focus on things like schoolwork, housework and relaxing but bad for training. At least

Ama has the Monday night indoor clinic and the Saturday night match play so he's hitting a little bit.

Plans for this week look like they will be snowed out- this is causing a bit of concern since the first real tournament of the year is in 2 weeks in Arkansas. After that, it gets interesting tournaments in Montgomery, Little Rock, possibly Baton Rouge and if not there Huntsville and that's just through the end of March.

On an academic note, Ama started taking college classes last week at Vol State and he was also inducted as the Secretary of State for the Student Government Association. He's excited and he's doing well in all of his classes. The real test will happen when the travel really kicks in.

More updates in just a few weeks.

1st Tournament of the Year

2010-01-10T21:12:00.003-06:00

After a very good run in Rome, GA the weather definitely worked against us with 2 weeks of rain, snow and very cold temperatures. During that break, Ama got to hit 2x - once with his friend and once in the 20ish weather at Bluegrass on the ball machine. Not playing tennis for nearly 2 weeks was not the best way to prepare for a tournament, even if it was just a local one.

Deciding to work on a few aspects of his game, he registered for B18s- which turned out to be quite an assortment of players ranging in age from 12- 18. Amazingly- (or not) the 12 yo won the entire B18s draw- very solid player. Ama was his first victim but after that, Ama's normal game kicked in and he won the B18's back draw.

Looking forward to several changes in the next few weeks including: a) his coach coming back to town, b) more consistent training and c) moving up to play some bigger tournaments this spring.

Stay tuned for progress reports.

Year End Wrap Up

2010-01-05T09:02:00.003-06:00

This was definitely a year of ups and downs for tennis. A few coaching changes occurred in the late spring and adjustments were made to the new coaching style.

Amadeus was able to help with tennis camps in the summer and got a new appreciation for teaching and the work involved.

Joined the inaugural GRIPS program at Bluegrass and as of today, waiting to take his on court skills test for the Red Grip level- passed the written exam with flying colors.

Setting goals for the 2010 year which include making it to Southerns in June, playing at least 2 Bullfrogs and a National Open and landing in the top 100 in the South-a stretch but do-able.

Just saw the final Southern year end ranking- Ama is 207 in the South in B16s which is a huge accomplishment for him, especially when you think that 3 years ago we didn't even know anything about Southern rankings or higher level tournaments. His goal was to be ranked at 150- a few more wins and he would have done that but at least he knows what the target is.

Stayed tuned, this year is going to be very interesting....

Happy New Year! Let's Set Some Goals

2010-01-01T10:22:00.008-06:00

Happy New Year to all.

One of my personal goals this year is to develop this blog into a more useful resource for both our tennis team and the readers. While I don't have a player's expertise, I am good at hunting down information and finding resources so each week I'll post resources to help improve your game. I'll also continue to post update's on Ama's adventures.

Today, the focus is on setting goals. Here are some sites on setting tennis specific goals and life goals. Happy reading and please leave a comment to let me know if this information is helpful to you.

Setting Tennis Goals

An older article but still very useful from Turbo Tennis discusses the importance of goal tending in reaching your tennis goals and potential. This article clearly breaks down the primary areas of goal setting and also addresses ultimate goals, long term goals and most importantly setting and achieving short term goals. Those steps that must be mastered before you can reach the long term goal.

I found these tips for setting Tennis Goals on the All About Tennis blog.

And one of the most useful pieces in general about setting goals using the SMART principles of goal setting. There are several variations on SMART goal setting but these are the ones I've used. A SMART goal should be:

Specific
Measurable
Acheivable
Realistic
Time-based

Applying SMART goals to your sports is a bit more complex because some factors will be totally out of your control. For example, if your goal is to be ranked in the top 50 of your region, this is a moving target based on both your performance and the performance of other players. If you reach the end of the year and you are at 53 not 50, can you be satisfied with that result?

One last link for you on setting SMART sports goals. This is another older article but in my opinion, the information is still relevant.

Good luck on your goal setting and why not stop back here and let the readers know what your goals are for 2010?

Setting Goals

2009-12-31T15:38:00.003-06:00

With the New Year almost here, it's time for Amadeus to start working on his 2010 tennis and academic goals. We are reviewing some goal setting information and will be working on goals in the following areas:

Fitness
Competition
Ranking
Academics
Community Service

Once these are complete, I'll post them here

Day 3 Results - GA Winter Open

2009-12-30T07:28:00.002-06:00

Dressed for the match? This was commonplace attire this week, along with hand warmers, portable heaters, gloves and anything else the players and parents could find to stay warm.

Had a good warm up before the match but the player was just too good and Ama ran out of steam. The boy he played was one of the 5 seeds and he made some incredible shots including an overhead that no one should have been able to get too!

Final score was 1-6; 0-6 with a return to the unforced errors.

Goals for the coming training session: Cut back unforced errors, work on the backhand, and improve fitness. Looking forward to returning to training 1/13.

Overall, a very successful tournament- 6 matches 3 wins - if this was baseball, it would be a winning run for sure :)

Day 2 Results- GA Winter Open

2009-12-30T07:22:00.003-06:00

Day 2 dawned, and it was brutally cold but still the boys were up (without complaint) and on the courts before 7 a.m. to warm up. At the time, temps were 30F (with a northwest wind making it feel like 20F) and they were ready to go. The guys each had an 8 a.m. doubles match and their partners also met them on court to get some play time and strategy.

Zach and his partner Charlie squeaked into their doubles match after winning by default the night before. Ama and his partner Alex had an easy win the day before but knew they might have some trouble facing the #1 seeds in the Round of 16. The guys played well with some good points and strategic moves but their opponents were just better- end result 3-8.

A few hour break, second breakfast then back to the courts for singles. Ama had never made it to the round of 16 in a Southern Level 3 and in fact, hadn't won a singles match in nearly 3 months so this was a good event. The boy he played was on a roll and the match was fun to watch and some excellent tennis. Unfortunately, Ama was on the losing end 4-6; 2-6 but looking at the match stats, it came down to 6 unforced errors that made the difference- both boys were evenly matched on winners and errors. The conditions for this match were brutal again, with strong northerly winds not helping either player.

Not quite sure how to train and prepare for these conditions but Ama was definitely ready for the court time.

Day 1 Results- GA Winter Open

2009-12-28T04:51:00.002-06:00

So far, it's been a good tournament in GA- even though the temps have been in the 20's at the start of the day (good thing for gloves, hand warmers and dri - fit clothes).

Ama's friend Zach is traveling with us, he got selected for the tournament on Christmas Eve. It's been great to have another tennis friend as the guys have been able to warm each other up and also entertain themselves after the matches.

We arrived in Rome, GA on Saturday night and met Ama's doubles partner Alex who is from GA- the three boys then hit for about an hour until it was just too cold to move. Ama also broke strings so it was a good thing we were early- stringer had the racket done before the first match on Sunday.

Sunday morning arrived and it was a crisp cold morning. Guys got on court about 7:15 to warm up for their 8 a.m. matches and the thermometer read about 23 F (brr). Ama won his first match 6-1; 6-3 and was able to see the extra work paying off. Zach had a tougher time, losing 3-6; 3-6 to one of the #9 seeds.

Off for second breakfast then time to take the boys to their next matches. Zach played at Alto and won his match 6-3; 6-1. This was his first win at a Southern Level 3 and it will boost him in the standings quite a bit. He plays again at 11 today against a #9 seed.

Ama played at Darlington and had an interesting match against another GA player. The opponent used both a two handed forehand and backhand but the most frustrating thing to watch and I'm sure to play against was the 12 year old style moon ball game this kid employed throughout the entire 2nd set. The most frustrating thing was the kid was actually a good player and when he did play tennis like a 16 yo had several really good passing shots and was solid at the net. Ama just reverted back to his 12 yo game and played the "I'm just going to keep hitting this back to you until you get tired or make a mistake". It was a good test of his patience.

Ama plays again at 12:30.

Both boys also played doubles. Ama and Alex won 8-1 and Zach and Charlie won 0-3 when one of their opponents got injured. I hope the player who was injured has a speedy recovery- the ankle didn't look too good when he went down.

More after today's matches.

To see the full results visit: GA State Winter Open Tournament site

Underdone or overcooked?

2009-12-23T21:30:00.002-06:00

It's been a busy tennis week around here- good thing for vacation days and a holiday break. The last few tournaments, Ama's coach has been concerned that he was a bit "under done" in terms of preparation and readiness. After this week, I'm beginning to think he might be a bit "over cooked" so we've decided to take Friday off (and of course, the weather is forecast to rain so we may have a day off anyway).

Today he had another great session with Andreas and worked on setting training session goals- today's goal was consistency and not pushing the ball- I think that was achieved. Another end of session with a mini 3 game set and Ama was able to take it to deuce twice so that's very promising.

After the morning session, time for lunch, a short nap then off to the Y to hit with our friends the Groome's. The boys warmed up and then played 2 8 game pro-sets- it was fun to watch as both boys have improved quite a bit since summer. Kevin finished off the session with some drills and then we all headed out to Fletchers for some pizza.

Tomorrow, forecast is for rain so no outdoor tennis but Ama and Devin plan to play a match at the Y before taking the next day off.

Waiting for draws to be posted for the GA Winter Open- we do have a first match time- Ama's favorite 8 a.m.

Happy Holidays to all.

Twas the Week Before Christmas and All About Town

2009-12-21T21:57:00.004-06:00

The fun thing about Tennessee winter weather is you just never know what you're going to run into. Last week- it was warm and misty on Sunday, brutally cold on Tuesday, raining Wednesday-Friday, snowing on Saturday and nearly 50 on Monday- hmmm makes planning for anything a bit more interesting. Luckily, things have worked in our favor and while Ama was only able to fit in two practice sessions last week, this week will see several hours of practice, match play and preparation for the GA Winter Open.

Saturday was the instructional match play clinic at Nashboro Village hosted by local pro Bill Riddle. Plenty of opportunity for singles and doubles and players were pretty evenly divided by skill level.

Today was a special treat- Ama had a session with Andreas Siljestrom who is currently ranked about 170 on the ATP tour in doubles. He worked hard and was focused on both playing his best and making it worth a pro's time to hit with a kid. It was exciting to hear both the compliments and also suggestions on ways to improve his game. After that it was time for lunch then off to Nashboro Village for the annual Christmas clinic that Dale Short does each year along with David McNamara and other coaches from the area. Today was 3 hours of well orchestrated drills and instruction with players in groups of 6 based on skill level. Tomorrrow is more of the same plus more competition. It will be fun to see what happens.

Tomorrow, will also be a practice match with Devin and then Wednesday morning another session with Andreas, hopefully before the rain moves in. It doesn't look too good for any tennis Thursday or Friday, although if the weather holds up, Ama plans to hit the ball machine before visiting family for Christmas.

This is all in preparation for the GA Winter Open, the first level 3 tournament where he has been seeded, granted he's one of several 9 seeds but it's a huge leap for him. If he can play as well in the tournament as he has in practice, it should be good. The downside about the whole tournament is his doubles partner, Zach, did not make the "cut" for the tournament. However, Ama did have a new partner arranged for him so at least he can still play doubles.

More updates on the clinic and tournament preparation as the week progresses.

When is it Too Wet (or cold) to Play Tennis

2009-12-15T20:25:00.002-06:00

So, when is it too wet or cold to play tennis? I guess when the courts are under water or the temps are below 28F (yikes). Sunday was a warmish December day although the courts were damp (okay so there were still some puddles) but we have no indoor courts and the kids needed to practice. A 3 hour clinic occurred with the 3 diehard players and their coach. While there wasn't a lot of running, they were able to do lots of doubles practice, volleys and serves so it was well worth it- especially since all 3 are playing a tournament right after Christmas.

Today on the other hand, I questioned my sanity a bit as the boys were on court hitting from 4- 5:15 in the freezing cold. While the thermometer said it was 38, by the time you factored in the wind chill it was brutally cold. A one point the boys couldn't even feel their rackets. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and to succeed, you need to do what others don't want to do.

I'm hopeful that all of this training will pay off in the very near future.

Exciting News

2009-12-15T20:23:00.003-06:00

I was pleasantly surprised when I learned I had won the Jr. Team Tennis Coordinator of the Year for the State of Tennessee. Especially since I don't play tennis!

This would not have been possible with out the support of the players, parents, and coaches from our area including Bill Riddle, Devin Crotzer, Cathy Harris, Susan Newell and too many others to name.

I am glad to have the chance to give back to the tennis community after so many people have taken such good care of Amadeus through the years helping us learn more about tennis and how to succeed.

Thanks again-

December- the month for rest?

2009-12-12T11:44:00.002-06:00

Well, it's December in Tennessee and that means not many opportunities for outdoor tennis practice. We've been able to squeeze in a few sessions between the rain and the cold, but even I draw the line when it drops below 30F.

Even with that, he's been spending the time working on schoolwork and also fitness- while the weather might not be cooperating, there is still plenty of core work that can be done inside including pushups, situps and jumping rope. We're also using this time to work on his mental game. This month we're reading the following books (or listening to the audio versions):

Ed Tseng's "Game, Set, Life"
Anthony Robbins "Personal Power" classic edition
Andre Agassi's "Open"

Hopefully this time of slowing down a little and reflecting on what needs to happen in 2010 will help.

On a more positive note, we have indoor clinic tonight for 3 hours and our Monday night clinic has found an indoor home for January and Febuary. Plus, we've been able to work out a comprehensive training plan with one of the coaches and have some very specific performance goals set for Ama along with ranking and tournament goals. Looks like the next year is going to be fun.

Next tournament is the GA Winter Open starting 12/27. Ama plans to play singles and doubles so that will be a good time.

Awesome Centerpiece

2009-11-26T06:18:00.002-06:00

I did want to share something fun- ordered this "cake" from Candylicious in Hendersonville for the trip. The guys had a great time with it- the Zotz were a big hit as were the Chunky bars. The entire 1/4 sheet cake is made from candy.

Fall Closed Update

2009-11-26T06:14:00.002-06:00

Well, not quite the result we were looking for but definitely an improvement from 2 weeks ago. Ama entered the close better prepared physically but for some reason, he just can't get his mental game together.

The good things: came back from being down 3-4 in the first set to tie at 6-6 and then after being down in the tiebreak won the set. Played consistent rallies more regularly, went for his shots, had a mental plan of where to hit the shot.

The not so good things: when stressed just started whacking at the ball with no plan, lost his composure (no outbreaks though), and lost his mind- 3rd set his serve forgot it was his serve.

Next steps: more training, tougher training, work on mental toughness and fitness.

Next tournament- not the Winter Closed as originally planned, instead play the Rome, GA winter tournament with an eye to making it to at least the quarters.

More to come as the day unfolds.

Fall Closed 2009

2009-11-23T12:21:00.002-06:00

After the fiasco in Charlotte last weekend, Ama has been training hard for the Fall Closed. The extra fitness and the attention being paid to consistency seems to be paying off. He had a session on Friday evening with a different coach who was appalled that neither Ama nor Daisy had learned the fundamentals of constructing shots. After nearly an hour and some heavy coaching in terms of thinking about where the next shot was going to be placed, I could see a noticeable improvement.

This, combined with the strokes and strategy he has been working on with his regular coach should make a difference. It was also interesting when he was told not to be a "mental midget" which is what he was told someone who makes lots of unforced errors is. Interesting way to look at things.

He did have an opportunity for some match play on Saturday and beat a boy who last time they played beat him in both the 16s and 18s. I think that was a huge improvement.

Why?

2009-11-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

I watched players warming up in the cold on Saturday morning and kept asking myself why? Why do they get out on the courts at 7 a.m. on a cold fall day to hit a tennis ball? Why do they keep going back to practice day after day when they could be playing video games, hanging out with friends, or sleeping?

I asked myself during the matches, why my son can't hit the ball like he does in practice? I asked myself why 35 unforced errors in one match against an opponent who should have been an easy win. I asked myself why does he keep going back on the court only to get beat up again and again and again.

It's got to be love of the game. To watch these young players want to succeed and grow, is a special gift. To see the determination come back in their eyes when they know they really messed up but the choices are quit or get better and they choose to improve. To see them battle through the punishments the coach creates because they missed so many times. It will make them better people and players, right?

Only time will tell but I think we're on the right path.

Doubles

2009-11-08T16:22:00.004-06:00

Amadeus and Michael A are doing well as a doubles team so far. We went to Chattanooga last weekend for the Chattanooga Doubles Tournament (STA 2 National 5) and the boys did a really good job. They won their first match in a 3 setter after a 90 minute rain delay. Their 2nd match (main draw quarters) was a double bagel losing to Caison Best and Nick Wood. Back on the courts Sunday morning for a very cold start but an easy win and they a tough 3 setter in the consolation semi's where they ultimately lost 6-7(5); 7-6(3); 10-8. It was by far some of the best doubles I have seen Ama play all year and the boys really worked well together. I do believe the preparation and training paid off.

This weekend, Ama and Michael had a chance to play some more doubles in the Ghosts & Ghouls tournament at Bluegrass. No teams signed up for B16s so they played B18s dominating their two matches. First round was an 8-1 win over two boys who play at Ridgetop and this was a fun match to watch. The second round was an 8-0 win over two boys from Shelbyville who were just out played. The boys are on the look out for another doubles tournament as they are thinking about what they can play in next year.

Next weekend, we head to Charlotte, NC- time for Ama to play some new kids to see how his game stacks up.

Chattanooga Doubles Draws Posted

2009-10-29T09:05:00.001-05:00

The draws for the Chattanooga doubles tournament this weekend have been posted. It looks like the boys have a pretty good shot at winning their first round if they keep their wits about them and play their game. Win or lose the 2nd round will definitely be a bit more challenging since all 3 teams have had some experience playing doubles together.

However, as I have repeatedly mentioned to the boys- being a good singles player does not necessarily make a good doubles player. We shall see. I'm hopeful they will still be playing on Sunday!

To follow the tournament visit the tournament site and then look at results B16s doubles.

High Tech Tennis and Tennis TV

2009-10-27T10:09:00.004-05:00

We've been fans of High Tech Tennis for several years and have appreciated their great job filming tennis matches. Now, they have rolled out a new project- Tennis TV and Amadeus was a guinea pig for one of their new training options.

First up, was a split screen comparison of his game in 2008 v 2009. It's interesting to see not only how much he has physically changed but also how his game has changed.

You can see that video at Dartfish TV under Stroke Analysis 1.

Then they did something very cool which was to compare Ama's 2009 game to the shots of some different pro's- interesting experiment.

You can see that video at Dartish TV under Stroke Analysis 2

To learn more, check out High Tech Tennis

Busy Times

2009-10-27T10:05:00.003-05:00

Sorry for not posting more frequently, it's been a strange time for tennis between the rain and then training. Here's what we've been up to so far.

Began exploring the college tennis process. Amadeus has become a client of NCSASport. While I was initially concerned about paying someone to help in the college search process, I realized there is so much I don't know about college sports that having someone to help guide us through the process would be useful. Amadeus is excited and he's already working on his homework. I'll post more about this as we continue our journey.
We also joined The Grips Program (http://gripsprogram.com). This is a really interesting method of assessing tennis players skill level and knowledge of the game. Bluegrass Yacht and Country Club is one of only two facilities currently using the program in Tennessee. In a nutshell, grip colors are assigned based on skills (similar to belt levels in karate). Amadeus did the initial assessement last week and tested into Dark Green, according to the tester from the company, he was only one of a handful of kids around the country that tested at that level right off the bat. His big weakness was the dropshot- we've been working on that already.
We are also busy training for the upcoming Chattanooga doubles tournament and also for the Thanksgiving tournament. Not quite sure which tournament Amadeus will be playing. He's applied for the National Open in either Pensacola or Michigan and if he doesn't get selected for that we'll apply for the Fall Closed. Results matter and he'll need to reach close to 200 in the South in the next couple of weeks if he is going to have a chance.

Top Gun Doubles Tournament

2009-10-11T19:01:00.002-05:00

It was a learning experience this weekend. Amadeus and Devin, a friend who attends Cumberland U, teamed up to play in the Top Gun Doubles Tournament (Southern Level 2). Since Devin is 18, Ama had to "play up" and it was a really good taste of where he needs to improve in the next year or so if he is serious about playing college tennis. While many of the guys playing in the 18s were only 16 they were definitely highly ranked junior players.

We got to the courts on Saturday after a 3 hour drive and a short warm up. The guys started out strong, and probably should have won their match but they took a "vacation" during the second set and didn't really get back in the match until half way through the 3rd set.

With a bye until Sunday morning, we took some time to visit the sites of Louisville going to the Louisville Slugger Museum, the Science Museum (where we got to see the Titanic exhibit) and then Cheddar's for dinner. After dinner, a stop at our favorite used book store Half Price books were we were able to find lots of treasures.

Sunday mornings matches came early and the guys played much better even though they lost. The net game was truly a good doubles game and Ama's ground stroke game was very consistent. He ran into some trouble holding serve (never a good sign) and his partner had some challenges returning serve. They were able to play very close though and with their opponents being the #2 seeds I thought the represented themselves well.

Next tournament, hopefully, is McCallie next weekend. Singles only. Just waiting to see if he makes the cut.

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-09-27T00:00:00.003-05:00

I must get better at keeping this updated. The trip to Mobile was a success and Amadeus met his goal for the tournament. We arrived around 1:30 p.m. on Friday in plenty of time to take a nap, check in and warm up before doubles. Ama was randomly assigned a doubles partner and we couldn't have asked for a better pairing. He played was paired with another boy just moving up into the 16s from Lake Charles, LA. The guys had a great first match winning 8-4. I had an opportunity to meet the mom and grandmom and they were very pleasant. Looking forward to seeing them again in the future.

The boys were then scheduled to play their round of 16 doubles match at 6:30- they were down 6-1 when the rain came so the matches resumed at 7:15 Saturday morning. The only thing I can say is if they boys had played as well as they did Saturday, they may have won their match against the #1 seeds. As it was, they had the best results of everyone who played that team losing 3-8.

Singles started at 9 a.m. for Ama and he played a virtually flawless first round match winning 6-0; 6-1. We also broke the "curse" of the video(video provided by High Tech Tennis of Atlanta). This was the first time in 4 recordings where he won the match! The round of 32 was played later in the day and Ama lost 0-6; 1-6 to the #2 seed. This guy was great- when Ama finally figured out how to handle the pace, he was able to stay in the match but it was a little too late. We worked on some strategy for this at his lesson on Thursday. I did have this match photographed(photo's provided by Your Game Face) so we'll have a chance to analyze strokes, etc. The key thing was Ama stayed positive and focused the entire time.

Got a win in the first round of the back drawn when the player withdrew due to injury. The tournament ended for Ama with a 1-6; 2-6 loss to the #9 seed. The match was very well played, Ama just made a few more unforced errors than his opponent but stuck with him pretty closely.

We've got the next two weeks off and then on to Louisville (hopefully) for a doubles only tournament. Ama will be partnering with Devin Crotzer and playing in the 18s if they are accepted. More to come...

Alabama Fall Hard Courts this weekend

2009-09-16T13:57:00.002-05:00

I just realized it's been awhile since I've posted. Not too many exciting things happening in our tennis world until this weekend. The last few weeks have been spent training, practicing and playing in a local tournament.

Now, the test begins- will the training pay off and how much will not playing for 3 days due to rain have an impact this weekend? The tournament takes place at the Mobile Tennis Center (the largest outdoor tennis facility in the South with over 64 courts). It's split into 2 sides and it's a place you have to see at least once if you like tennis.

We head to Mobile bright and early Friday morning. Ama was able to get paired up with someone for doubles so he and his partner will meet for the first time on Friday just before their match. Doubles play starts at 5 p.m. Friday and it's an 8 hour drive. We do have one of Ama's coaches traveling with us this weekend so that takes a lot of pressure off of me to warm him up! I still get to do lots of driving :)

If this year is like last year, we should also be able to get some sightseeing in on Saturday. Fingers crossed that the weather holds and that the boy can actually make it to Sunday. Monday would be fantastic but Sunday is the goal.

More from the road.

Draws Posted

2009-08-20T15:34:00.004-05:00

The draws have been posted and the boys play at 8 a.m. They are at the Rome Tennis Center which is a nice facility and has some positive experiences already attached to it since Ama and Andy won their first round match there a few weeks ago. Another exciting thing is they won't have to play anyone from the Nashville area for a few rounds since most of the Nashville/Chattanooga players are on the bottom half of the draw.

If you want to follow along with the tournament and check the guys progress, the tournament site is located here. Just click the results tab and then look for B16s Doubles.

Also, almost everyone else from Team eXtreme is playing in the Murfreesboro tournament this weekend. To see how the rest of the team is doing, you can see results here.

Waiting for Acceptance List

2009-08-17T15:30:00.002-05:00

Waiting has never been a strong suit, especially when travel arrangements are part of the equation but right now, Amadeus and Zach must patiently wait and see if they have been selected for the Southern Doubles championship. You can follow the tournament by visiting the tournament website.

This would be both of the boys first experience at a Southern Level 1 tournament, Ama just missing the cut for the singles tournament in June. It's interesting to look at several of the doubles partnerships that are entering the event.

The boys prepared for the event by playing doubles at the State team tennis tournament and winning their matches and they have been practicing together since they, trying to hone their skills and their game before the weekend.

Along with that, Ama is quite excited that Rob will be back in town and serious tennis will begin again in about 10 days!

Getting Back in Shape

2009-08-09T09:36:00.002-05:00

After taking almost an entire week off, other than a clinic on Monday, it's time to start training for the fall tennis season. Most of the tournaments coming up are on the road and selection only so Ama's going to need to step up his level of play if he plans to meet his tennis goals for the next few months.

First up is Southern Closed Doubles tournament the weekend of August 22-23 in Rome, GA. It's a selection tournament and Ama and Zach are hoping to make the cut. They played a match yesterday and are looking for a few nights in the next 2 weeks to get together and play some doubles. They did well together at the State Team Tennis tournament and should have some good matches in GA if they make it.

After that, it's a possible trip to either Little Rock or Augusta, GA over Labor Day weekend. Trying to decide which tournament and also watching to see where Ama will have a better chance of being selected. Then one more road trip in Sept. as we hopefully head back to Mobile, mid-month for the Fall Hardcourt championships.

Ama has been focusing on his conditioning and is looking forward to having his two coaches back in town after both have been on the road most of the summer. Time to start improving some of the finer points of his game now that he's in the bracket that really starts to matter.

State Team Tennis Tournament

2009-08-07T10:28:00.002-05:00

The weather was gorgeous almost the entire weekend and the kids all appeared to have a great time at the State Junior Team Tennis tournament in Chattanooga last weekend. We were one of 19 teams playing in the 18 U Intermediate division and this year's tournament was the biggest in the history of the event.

Team eXtreme had a first round bye and so we didn't play until 5:30 on Friday afternoon (due to a one hour rain delay). When we arrived it was hot and sunny and the kids were ready for action. Our first opponent was the Jackson Intimidators and we were able to win 3 out of our 5 matches. There were some fireworks regarding the ability levels of some of our players but overall, it was a close match in all events but Girls doubles which was a slam dunk by Carley and Kylie.

Saturday morning rolled around and the team was a bit sluggish for their 8 a.m. match against the Chattanooga Heat. Ultimately, we also ended up winning this one but it was pretty close. Our doubles practice paid off as we consistently won at the doubles point but had trouble at singles throughout the weekend.

Third match of the weekend, and our coach was given some faulty information- we were lead to believe that Cedar Bluff would be a rather easy team rather than the team to beat. This was our only loss of the weekend with just one win Amadeus at Boys singles. Cedar Bluff would go on to win our flight and come in as the 18U Intermediate winner at the end of the weekend.

The final match of the day was against Memphis and that match was left unfinished due to torrential rain - at the time the match was called, we were up 4-1 and just starting in mixed doubles.

Overall, another exciting weekend. The players enjoyed the team environment and are now eagerly waiting to see how many ranking points they also earned. Already making plans for next years team.

TN Closed

2009-07-28T20:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not posting in a while. It's been a busy time here. We've been on the road just about every weekend in July and while August looks a little better it's still going to be hectic.

Ama went to the closed with high expectations and the goal of making it to at least the consolation quarters. Unfortunately, his health decided to not cooperate. His level of play deteriorated as he felt worse - ultimately we ended up at a walk-in care clinic to find out he had an upper respiratory infection and virus.

Saturday morning did get off to a good start. He won his first match 6-4; 6-4 against Logan Yerby. It was an interesting match. Early in the match, his opponent received a warning for racket abuse. Then at 5-4 ad in Ama serving for the set, the opponent let out an OMG whic earned him a point penalty and Ama won the set. The 2nd set started off with Ama down 0-3. Ama won a game and then a few points which set his opponent off again- this time a game penalty for racket abuse. This was all Ama needed to to get his momentum back and he won the match. After it was over, Ama said he was not going to 3 sets again and knew he had to get in gear.

After the match, I commented on how slow he had been moving and was told that he was having a very hard time catching his breath. After several puffs on the inhaler but no relief, we both realized something was wrong. The 2nd match was against long time rival Aaron J. both boys took this a bit to easily and while Ama played well, he lost 2-6; 2-6. I knew he wasn't feeling well but a bit more energy would have been good.

Matches done for the day- off to the clinic then back for doubles practice with his assigned partner. The boys did well and on Sunday morning, they almost pulled out the win. It was very close at 6-8. By this point, Ama was really feeling the effects of the virus and for his final match he could barely focus- between all of the medication and the fever he was lucky to get any games. He lost 2-6; 4-6 but is focused on the upcoming team tennis matches this weekend.

Good Run in Rome. Heading Home in the Morning

2009-07-19T17:48:00.002-05:00

Playing the GA Open was a great decision. First, there were very few players that we knew and having the opportunity to play different opponents with different coaches and playing styles was important.

We arrived in Rome on Friday evening, checked in for the tournament, then the hotel, then met the Druffels at the courts for a 30 minute warm up just to get the guys stretched out. After warming up, we headed to Outback to celebrate Ama's birthday. Everyone ordered the same thing- pretty funny but it was late and we had an early morning wake up call so after dinner back to the hotel and then bed.

Saturday morning dawned and it was a gorgeous day. Ama played his first match at Berry College and Andy played at Alta Park. Since Ama had an 8:00 match, the boys warmed up at 7 then Andy left to check in and Ama played. Easy first round with an 6-0; 6- 0 victory. It was nice to see a first round win.

Andy had a fairly easy singles match as well. Then it was back to Berry College for Ama and the round of 64. Tougher match against one of the seeded players. Ama did everything he has been learning the last few weeks including placing the ball, using targets and creating a strategy for how he was going to build the point. While he did all this well, his opponent did it even better. A very well played match despite a score of 1-6; 1-6.

A few hours break while Andy played his second singles then over to the Rome Floyd center for the first round of doubles. True to form, Andy and Ama wanted to make doubles last as long as possible going to 8-8 before winning the tiebreak 10-6. It was fun to watch and glad they pulled off the win.

Sunday morning doubles didn't go quite as well with the boys losing to the #9 seeds 4-8. There were some good shots, several errors and a few near catastrophes with some miss hit balls.

Ama headed to Etowah courts for his 9:30 match and was fortunate (or not) to win be default. After 15 minutes, his opponent never showed up. At this point, a win is a win so we were glad for the break. The day finished with a 3 p.m. match that was very close, especially the first set. Ama ended up on the losing end of the racket with a 5-7; 0-6 loss. However, he learned alot and is looking forward to the TN Closed next weekend. It will be good to be home tomorrow!

Getting Ready for the Georgia Open

2009-07-15T20:14:00.002-05:00

Well, Ama is playing his first official tournament as a "real" 16U player. He turns 15 on Friday and we're heading to Rome, GA for the Georgia State Open. Looks like a tough tournament but a lot of fun. Ama and Andy will try to re-create their doubles success from the Polar Bear playing B16s doubles. This tournament is for National points in doubles so even one win can mean a lot to them.

Unfortunately, weather and schedules have not permitted them to practice together in weeks. However, we have a plan and the goal is to arrive in GA around 6:30 on Friday so they can check in, practice and then grab something to eat. Looks like B16 singles will be a round of 128 so this could be a long weekend- hopefully Ama will continue to play well and get a few wins under his belt in preparation for the TN State closed next weekend.

We'll be updating from the road so stay tuned.

Change Is In the Air

2009-07-08T21:50:00.004-05:00

Wow, it's been a busy week here. First, a very unusual tournament in Bowling Green- between the stormy weather and no form of online information about draws, etc. we spent a lot of time just waiting around. But we did have a chance to chat with friends, discuss the Roddick/Federer match and for Ama to realize he now has the knowledge to know what he's doing wrong while playing he just needs to figure out to fix the problems.

The biggest change is we've switched coaches. We knew the time was coming and conversations between our former coach, the new coach and Ama all seem to agree that this is the best choice for now. Ama will continue working closely with Rob (as schedules permit) but his more experienced coach will be Bill Riddle. Bill's close, he and Ama have a good working relationship and he's very knowledgeable about the game. He's also a bit flaky and his reputation locally can be questionable sometimes, but mainly due to flakiness.

We've had the opportunity to work closely with Bill this year on the Relay for Life tennis fundraiser and Junior team tennis and Ama and I both like his style. We'll re-assess in 6 months but I think this is going to be good.

One of the first changes that Ama's had to make is to keep a tennis journal. After every clinic, practice match or tournament he has been asked to jot down, his thoughts and how he was feeling. He and Bill will review this every 2 weeks as they work on his mental game. We've also had to schedule more practice matches and wow- we've had 1 or 2 a day almost every day and well into next week. Big difference between match play and clinic. Now just need to find a few players who will stretch Ama.

I'll update more as this new adventure continues.