What a stunning day! The temps in Naples rose to a beautiful 80°F and the crowds came out from the ITA conference to see the line up that the WTCA had put together.
We kicked off the morning with Emilio Sanchez on the court, showing us some different cross court drills and working on opening up the court, with use of different targets and drills. It’s always refreshing to see similar drills (thanks for the reassurance that us coaches are on the right track!) coupled with new ways of viewing them. His use of targets against the fence or over the net to assist with angles and directions were very useful.
We then rolled into the high energy session with Ian Barstow, an excellent hour on movement, because, of course « Tennis is a Movement Sport » stating the often over looked obvious and showing us on court workouts that mimic real situations. From my own personal experiences I can say this was always my favorite form of fitness and strength training.
This was followed up with a Groundstrokes Unlimited session by the powerful duo of Sarah Stone and Ann Grossman Wunderlich. A series of drills aimed at speeding up the forehand swing and getting the mindset into moving forwards built on what Emilio had been showing us earlier.
After a short break Eva Borras Borreguero jumped into communication with female athletes reiterating what was becoming the theme of the day, with regards to positivity and solution focused sessions. This was followed with a panel answering questions, Ann Grossman Wunderlich, Trish Faulkner and myself. Thanks so Sarah Stone for asking thought provoking questions that put me nicely on the spot! It was a balanced panel with us all having different perspectives to offer.
We concluded the day with a strength training review from Dean Hollingworth, who as always brought energy and insight to his presentation.
A lovely high energy day with the WTCA crew, a big thank you to everyone that helped make the event a success.