Potential Rule Changes? Coaches Vote Posted 10/5/2008 11:01:00 AM

Every two years, the state high school tennis coaches are surveyed on potential rules changes.  This year’s survey period recently ended with more than 200 coaches voting.

No decisions on which new rules to propose have been made yet by the leadership of the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association and the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association.

But here are some of the results of the survey:

> Eight teams should advance to the IHSAA State Finals instead of four.

      Agree 135              60.3%
      Disagree 48            21.4%
      No opinion 41        18.3%

> Tennis should be a multi-class sport instead of a single-class sport:

      Agree 115              51.3%
      Disagree 90            40.2%
      No opinion 19         8.5% 

> On Sundays during the school year, in the authorized contest season, working tennis professionals who are also high school tennis coaches should not ...

[ Read full post ]

Tradition: Three long-standing Sectional streaks continue Posted 10/5/2008 11:00:00 AM

It’s hard to calculate the value of tradition, but in the span of 24 hours this weekend, two traditional boys’ tennis powers won sectional titles in eerily similar fashion.

First, on Friday afternoon in Fort Wayne, Homestead extended its state-record streak of consecutive sectional championships to 30 with a scintillating 3-2 victory over rival Canterbury.  Homestead has four sophomores among the varsity seven.  Canterbury seemed on the verge of ending Homestead’s long dominance, but Austin Overlander rallied from a 3-5 deficit in the decisive third set at No. 3 singles to preserve the victory for the tradition-rich Spartans.

Then, Saturday afternoon in Muncie, my Delta team won its 16^th straight sectional championship – and again, tradition seemed to be a big factor.  With three sophomores and one freshman among the seven varsity players, a very young Delta team edged Muncie Burris 3-2 in the championship match....

[ Read full post ]

Thoughts from the Court Posted 9/12/2008 11:58:00 AM

Sectional tournaments begin in just three weeks, which means the tennis season is more than halfway completed. It zips by faster than a Roger Federer forehand. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind as the season winds down:

1.) The junior varsity is the future of the program. At this time of year, programs should pay special attention to the JV players and look for ways to keep those players motivated and improving. I always try to play an intrasquad JV doubles tournament and an intrasquad JV singles tournament in the closing weeks of the season. The kids enjoy the competition, and the results help show who has made the biggest strides this season.

2.) My athletic director sent out a memo this week to all of our school’s coaches with some useful tips. He reminded us to not forget about our weakest players on the team. He encouraged ...
[ Read full post ]

Establishing Lineups can be Challenging Posted 8/27/2008 9:43:00 AM

A little more than a week into the new high school tennis season, many coaches are still trying to settle on a varsity lineup. I am finding this to be an especially difficult challenge this fall because my Delta High School team is so inexperienced – 3 seniors, 1 junior, 12 sophomores, and 8 freshmen.

Many of the young players are going through that stage in their development where they are showing flashes of tremendous potential but are having trouble finding consistency from day to day.  It is normal for young players to suffer breakdowns before they achieve breakthroughs.

I have never been a big believer in “challenge matches” – the term for those practice matches that most high school tennis coaches use to determine their team’s lineup.  I have never quite understood why so many coaches put so much stock in challenge matches.

I cannot imagine the ...
[ Read full post ]

Lineup Strategies Posted 5/1/2008 10:34:00 AM

This time of year many tennis coaches have to decide whether to gamble or play it safe.  The lineup for the IHSAA postseason tournament (sectional, regional, semi-state, state) must be submitted to the IHSAA from each school by May 7.

Tennis is a unique sport in that whatever lineup (1-2-3 singles and 1-2 doubles) is used for the first round of sectionals must be used all the way through the state finals.  Coaches are permitted to use alternates, but cannot move a Top 7 player back and forth between singles and doubles.

The purpose of this rule is to prevent “stacking” – which is using a lineup where the 1-2-3 singles players and/or the 1-2 doubles teams are not lined up in proper order of playing ability. 

For many coaches, strategy becomes a guessing game as they try to figure out which teams they might potentially meet ...

[ Read full post ]

Download the latest verison of Flash to see this player