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[LTA USA]

What would be the ideal scenario in developing players to become a professional player?

[tommyfr]

We already had a thread on that under Tournaments heading, labeled Philippine tennis future....

My main points would be

a) start early, like 2-5 years of age, although 6-8 years of age might work also, but the earlier the better
b) the above implies initially playing with smaller rackets, maybe different balls, smaller courts, a lot of good drills...ie "Quick start", later renamed '10 and under tennis', and ITF have another name, and other tennis associations over the world have other names for it. As I understand ITF has a stipulation that all tournaments from jan 2012 should follow that format (smaller court, bigger softer
 balls)

c) well educated coaches that can teach right techniques, not the stiff, unnatural conventianal ways, based on so many misconceptions. (ex forehand: "Racket back, turn your side, hit through the ball, weight on front foot, finish racket towards the direction of the ball". Go with opens stance and topspin as the bread and butter forehand.

d) If we have quick start in place, tennis potentially can be a mass sport in Philippines, kids can play in street, school grounds, or on basketball courts when they are empty...not only tennis courts, and if we have  mass base like that, for sure chanses to develop worldclass players will increase

e) National tennis association. In our case Philta, seems to be incompetent organisation. Thats a problem. Need to kick their a--, protest from tennis community, or start an alternative body. Imagine: No web page update since march 2009, with no updated rankings (that seems messy  to start with) on the web, same with tournaments calender, reports, articles on Davis Cup and players, and so forth. It is only 4 months till Jan 2012 when Quick start is mandatory as per ITF, and no word from Philta...

f) then probably some elite academy/-ies is necessary on national level. For the best kids 10-13 years of age up to 18. I dont think international academies are necessary like Sanchez-Casal, Bollettieri, etc. We need high potential kids but also top coaches. Do we have any beside Tecson and Sison?

And maybe we need to have guest coaches from abroad with even bigger skills at least in some areas. Last April i met a coach in Manila and I think he could have stayrd here for a few days more just room and accommodation arranged for (he has been coach to Li Na and two other top 20 WTA players)

g) Volume of practice, practice , practice. Smart practice, drills mainly, also some strength and conditioning, education on tennis theory, tactics, strategy, mental, diet, medical etc. 3-4 hours per day on court. Personally I think 5-6 hrs per day as some academies have is too much, risk for burnout etc.

h) The tough practice might also imply home schooling. (btw, I understand many of the best age groupers already go home schooling programs, what are the recommended once in PHL?)

i) Academies implies sponsors, and as Philta seems incompetent (or not trustworthy enough) to get funds from private sector, additional private funds are necessary also for international travels. But international networking can make these travels not so expensive. Players can stay with host families, help with transport and many things.

Our private sponsors and tennis patrons like Cong Jalosjos and the people behind the new PTA academy are key as of now.

What do you think?

[santeb]

The toughest part of handling a top level player here is the hitting and match practice. Let's take a specific example in Mendoza. Mendoza has already beaten Tierro, meaning that if he is already at that level, those who would be effective to him in match practices or even one on one hitting here in the country will be Arcilla, Patrombon and Reyes. That is slim pickings and these guys will not hit with him that often, if they will even practice with him. Next in effectivity would be 2 on 1 training and even here, the cost would be prohibitive. If it will be 2 on 1, you wouldn't necessarily need the top players of the Philippines to hit with him, but, you would still need  top level hitting partners who would be in the range of P300-400/hr. each and the number of hours a top player needs to hit is not just a few hours a week. You could say just feed him balls, but if you know the hierachy of feeding balls in training, you know you could only do so much feeding. When a kid gets to that level and he wants to turn pro, it would be better to get him to a training camp where he will be among not only his equals but his betters. He will be competing against the best when he turns pro, it would be better that he competes against them at an early age. A lot of players at the top did not train in their countries during their juniors, they pick the program which they think would give  them a shot at being the best they can be.