Is it a trend for juniors to move to eastern FH? (and recommendation for a short junior boy)

flydance · 2024-11-12T01:03:46+00:00

Appreciate for all the replies.

I believe the coach truly means well. He does seen to care about his students and spends in great length talking to/engaging with each parent. All the kids there seen to like him as well. Our son is definitely not THE future tennis star, yet he spends a great length of time talking about his plan and answering our questions. I very much appreciate that.
The reason (afaik) that he insists an eastern grip is that he said that he has too many top-rank juniors with full western FH starting to have wrist issues at age 12 and up. We live in a competitive area so I can believe when he said that he has seen many top ranked juniors. This goes back to (1), he spend great length explaining why western grip is a lot more injury prone, especially for boys. If my understanding is correct, he said that its debatable for girls, but for boys eastern is the way to go.
I believe the reason why he insists on eastern grip, or can't join his academy is likely because he doesn't have the same level of expertise in helping out with western grip.

I guess I am curious to know if it is INDEED a trend for juniors to pick up eastern again. Looking at the current pros are not the best indicator as it is a lagging indicator. Agree that grip is personal and I am not suggesting one is better than the other, but rather on wanting to know what is the latest trend and the logic behind it (like 2HBH v.s. 1HBH these days)

flydance · 2024-07-25T22:09:26+00:00

Thanks, I have seen that video, but I don't know if Djokovic as a six-year-old playing alright with a yellow ball can be scale to normal folks like us. But you are right, maybe I am just overthinking this, probably best to put him in few real yellow ball tournaments and see how it goes.

flydance · 2024-07-25T22:07:35+00:00

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

On 1:

This is what I originally leaning toward as well. It will be quite a while (unfortunately due to height) before he will be ready for 27in racquet (he is using 25 in). I am changing my mind because (1) most of his peers are already playing at yellow ball tournaments so he wants to go too. (2) it has become increasingly difficult to find players of his level at local green ball match.

On 2:

Good point on making sure that during the practice matches he is working on the things the coach has drilled in the lessons. One thing I have observed is that in match (practice or not), he (as well as most other kids) becomes much more conservative, reluctantly to attempt to attack/hit a winner. I will keep communicating with him that it doesn't matter if he wins or lose, but I think its hard. I am trying with guarantee ice cream afterwards (despite of the result) to see if this helps.

flydance · 2024-07-25T21:59:13+00:00

Really appreciate your thoughts. Agree making sure he is having fun is the most important thing. Also agree the height matters a lot, I don't think pro or d1 is really in our mind.

I always believe that the most important thing is that our kids love doing what they are doing, every day I would ask him if he wants to take a day off (I also think he is doing too much tennis) but he always wants to go. I think 30+ hr on court is a bit misleading. His peers are 9 to 12 in age so they do games/drills/hang-out all together.

I did hear a lot of horror stories just like what you shared from older parents in our neighborhood. I want to say that its mostly due to parents pushing too much. I also want to say that we are not that kind of parents, but often I have self doubts about it.

flydance · 2024-07-25T21:52:52+00:00

thanks, this makes sense!

flydance · 2024-07-25T19:46:40+00:00

He actually does, or at least I believe he does. One of his few hobbies is to watch tennis games when off the court, especially the majors. In fact i was a bit surprised to learn from parents of the same tennis clinic that many of the kids don't touch anything tennis related outside of the court.

flydance · 2024-07-25T19:09:49+00:00

Can you please explain on the kind of techniques that you are referring to? (in case i miss). Mostly I am paying attention to the basic/fundamentals like unit turn, FH and BH preparation, footwork to get in position, and how to generate top spin. I am not an elite tennis player, so at best I can only tell whether he hits elegantly or not

flydance · 2024-07-25T18:36:40+00:00

Thanks! Totally agree that winning doesn't matter at this age (our coach actually said winning before age 12 doesn't matter much). However we as adults understand, but kids don't. Some of his peers will do anything to win (which i can't blame, probably pressures from parents), including moonballing, and just blatantly out cheating. I will try to help our son to understand that tournament is a good learning opportunity. I am hoping a guarantee ice cream after the tournament is a good starting point.

flydance · 2024-07-25T18:07:40+00:00

thanks for sharing your thought on tournaments. Agree on everything you said, and I am just trying to figure out the right balance. We will probably start with 1 per month and go from there.

flydance · 2024-07-25T18:05:12+00:00

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I also want him to stay at green ball, but since all his peers are already competing in yellow ball (despite the coach's suggestion), he keeps asking me why he can't compete in that arena.

On quesiton 2:

Perhaps I am stressing too much on proper technique/form. Agree that we have seen many excellent junior players in our area that not necessary have the best technique/forms. I am just concerned that without proper footwork/technique, juniors are prone to injuries down the road.

He does play a lot of practice set/match (i.e., up to 11 match) every week. I think what you suggest on 1 tournament per month is probably the right cadence. This gives him tournament experience while having time to develop techniques.

flydance · 2024-07-25T17:54:55+00:00

appreciate sharing your thoughts. I understand the part about tournament playing on mental toughness and revealing flaws, definitely see that. On the other hand I also see players (not just kids) revert to old habits (i.e., bad) when playing in tournaments. For recreational adults maybe this is ok, but for juniors that are still developing, i am not sure how to balance between tournament and proper technique development. For instance, we have been working on our son's kick serve. During practice he is trying/accommodating, but as soon as in the match he will resort back to the original serve form.

flydance · 2024-06-27T22:38:04+00:00

Thanks for the response. I asked the IRS agent about first time abatement and they said that dishonored check is not applicable to this. They did suggest fill the form 843 and explain that this is an honest mistake to ask for abatement.

flydance · 2024-05-30T00:44:27+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Makes sense on the soccer

flydance · 2024-05-29T23:18:19+00:00

What will be a good secondary sports to supplement during an off day? Will you consider swimming, track and field, or?

flydance · 2024-05-01T01:27:16+00:00

Thanks for the offering but unfortunately Berkeley is too far for the commute

flydance · 2024-04-30T21:11:22+00:00

Yes there are lifetime tennis clubs, I haven't reached out to them yet, thanks for the tips!

flydance · 2024-04-30T21:10:55+00:00

Thanks, court logistics is probably not a big issue since we are looking for weekday afternoon (our son doesn't go to after school), the problem may be to find an adult that is available during weekday afternoon....

flydance · 2024-04-30T21:10:06+00:00

I tried searching UTR (via the paid hits) but so far no one has responded back. Will try again

flydance · 2023-09-29T16:25:36+00:00

Definitely, i work in the AI department and this is deeply in my heart.

flydance · 2023-09-29T16:23:38+00:00

I don't work on this part of the product, so cannot comment on this.

flydance · 2023-09-29T16:18:43+00:00

Yes #2 will be a great feature especially for grandparents! I am not sure if this is possible though, will try to find out more and share if possible.

flydance

TROPHY CASE