A player needs to master some techniques

A website about tennis needs to focus a little on the player. If there were no participants, the academy would not exist for a start, so I'd have nothing to write about. So, first of all, a big thank you to all you active tennis people out there!
 

Tennis academy at workouttennis.com

On other pages on this site you'll see much about the psychological make-up of a player and the various character types. By looking at an active participant in his base form we can see better what we have to deal with.

A player is a human being who comes nicely packaged with certain genes, a career and childhood history on and off the court and a certain link-in to the tennis world.

Most tennis girls and boys I've been involved with have also participated in other sports, no surprise there. There is a multiplicity of sports out there, many of them are a lot of fun. In my case I was addicted to soccer when I was young. It was the only sport that had regular matches on TV in those days, and I quickly learned all the team sheets of all the Division One clubs in UK. I became a fan of my own club, although I only latched onto a club that my mother used to live close to her in her youth. I only ever ended up going to that ground once!

Rugby

I played a few years of soccer at school until twelve, and I had not yet started growing at that point. I was a sturdy toe-punting defender! At junior school we were introduced to rugby, which I also enjoyed a lot, but I felt particularly ungifted in. I was always so puffed. In football I could stand around at the back a bit.
 

In senior school we played rugby, then field hockey and cricket. My body started growing and I learned how to run for long periods and throw in some sprints. I had sport on the school programme every day. What wonderful times they were.

I did enjoy classes as well, but every morning I was itching to get out onto the games field in the afternoon. I think there were one or two others as sports mad as me, but we shouldn't forget the good fifty per cent who were not interested in games, fresh air, competing, mud and physical exercise. Luckily at my school we had an astonishing array of options so that non-sporting types could also do their hobbies in the afternoons.
 

Sport every day at school

As soon as I got my body I became a confirmed player. I just loved running around, scoring points, catching and throwing, laughing and shouting, doing exercises, learning movements and strategies. I couldn't get enough of it.

So something must be in my genes for this, because I know that most others aren't such sports nutcases as I. My parents were both sporty types. My mother is still a very good tennis performer at the age of 76 with fizzing forehand and backhand slices, but she had played many "boys'" sports when she was young, so she followed all of our sports at school. She was an avid Sports on TV watcher too, often thinking about the games and personalities a lot. My father, now deceased, was quite similar. He had been a very good cricketer at school, but he excelled at most things where he had to play. I think he may have had limitations in the classroom as I too had. You can't be good at everything!
 

Learning how to perform

My father was also a school champion boxer. By my time this had become outlawed at my school, and quite right too. This is where the genes stop. I followed Muhammed Ali's great fights in the 70s, and was fascinated by the way such a big man could move and mesmerise an opponent, take punishment from men with big punches, and wear down an opponent with deft clever footwork over 15 rounds. I wouldn't have liked the hurt!
 

Much as I like playing with balls, I struggle to remain motivated for sports where there is no ball - running against the clock, martial arts, shooting arrows into targets, suspending the body in a perfect cross form between hoops, throwing a javelin 73 metres, creating beautiful figure of eights on the ice skating rink.

I appreciate enormously these sports, and the efforts the stars make to become champions. However, I only ever dabble in them. With some I have been nonetheless inspired.

Memorable Trophy

I remember two British ice dancers who won trophy after trophy in my youth, Torvill and Dean. Their story could have been a romantic masterpiece, but it was more intersting than that. The music and choreography and athletic skating skill brought tears to my eyes every time I watched them. I believe they went on to become pro skaters in the USA after their amateur careers were finished.

Me, as a player, how did I manage to appreciate ice dancing, a thing that to this day I have never tried?

For a start I believe that sport is an art form, and sports stars are masters of the techniques of their arts. This art is not shown in museums but in stadia around the world, and is our most popular art form. I have arty friends who tell me I don't know what I'm talking about!