Everyone,
 

Over the last several years I have noticed that tennis drills are
non-abundant online.  There are a few sites out there that have some drills,
but not very many.  I have tried to accumulate as many good ones as I can by
letting viewers submit drills they have enjoyed or ones that I have written
myself.
 

I currently have 109 tennis drills but I am greedy and of course looking for
more.  I would like to host an extensive library for online viewers to be
able to use.  I thought this might be a good place to ask.
 

I allow anyone who submits a drill to link back to their site (if they have
one) to get credit for the drill.  For those of you familiar with my site, I
do all of this for fun, no profit to be made.  If you know of any good
drills you would like to submit and help me build a better library for the
online tennis communities that would be great.  My contact info is below.
 

Thank you,
 

Good Luck on the Court!!!
Scott Baker
http://www.tennis4you.com
Tennis Forum - http://tennis4you.com/phpBB2

Players ask us all the time why they are ranked below someone even though they have a better record.  The reason is because the ladder rank is based on your record, as well as how often you play.  The purpose of the ladder is to get players on the court so we want to reward people for playing games and not let people sit at the top of the ladder just because they have a good record but have decided not to play for awhile. 

Because of the Two-Week Rule, you can move up the ladder fairly quickly simply by playing games.  At the end of every two week period, players who played a game are moved up the ladder until the bump into another player who has played a game.  Then the player they bumped into is moved up the ladder until they hit the next person.  The same process is used to move people down the ladder.

Look for some exciting new national rankings in 2007. 

Good luck on the courts!

 

You might notice there are players with losing records at the top of your ladder.  This is most likely the result of the Two Week Rule.  The goal of the site is to promote and reward game play, and we do this with the Two Week Rule. 

Here is a recap of the rule:

You can move up the Rankings simply by playing games.  At the end of every two-week period, if you have played a game, you are moved up the Rankings until you bump into another player who has played a game. Then the player you bumped into is moved up the Rankings until they bump into another player that has played a game. The same process is used for players who don’t play games except they are bumped down the Rankings. You can move up the Rankings quickly simply by playing games regardless of whether you win or lose.

The beauty of the Two-Week Rule is that you only move down until you bump into the next player who hasn’t played a game.  Therefore, don’t worry if you don’t fit a game in for a particular period.  You’ll have plenty of time to play games as the season progresses. 

Good luck on the courts!

Brad

This year may be winding down, but Tennis-League and Flexible Sports have a number of suprises planned for 2007. On behalf of myself, Nieya and the Tennis-League team, thanks for all your great feedback and support, please keep it coming. Let us know what you like, don’t like, and what you’d like to see in terms of rules, format and features.

Congratulations to all the players who made the standings this year. 2007 promises sponsored prizes and much more competition as players ratings and feedback heat up the playing field.

Remember - when you join Tennis-League, you can play on or off the ladder, as much or as little as you want. Make yourself available to your local tennis community and help spread the love for the great game of tennis.

Brad

Here are some great articles for players who are just getting started with tennis:

http://tennis.about.com/od/beginnersgetstartedfaq/Beginners_Getting_Started_FAQ.htm

Brad

You can now add your favorite courts to your profile and see everyone else who has added the same court.  The best part of this new feature is that you can broadcast a message to everyone at that same court.  Use the feature to find a doubles partner or set up a match on the weekend!  This feature will be off the hook as people add more and more courts to their profile!

We just finished writing a really cool new feature that allows you to record practice matches with your friends.  Simply add friends to your profile and you can record the match results against each other.   The results of these matches will not have an impact on your ladder ranking but they’ll be visible under your My Practice Results.  We hope you like the new feature!

With winter in full gear, it’s easy to get out on the courts and pull a muscle if you don’t warm up properly before taking the first swing.

With your muscles still cold, trying to ‘warm up’ by hitting a few light shotsto get your blood flowing, can still cause injury.

Here are a few warm up exercises to perform in progression before you take the first swing on a cold winter day:

-1-> Line Jumps- Begin at the baseline with your feed side by side on one side of the singles line. Quickly hop back and forth across the line with both feet while moving towards the net and return to the service line.

-2-> High knees - Stand at the baseline and begin lightly jogging in place. Once your legs are pumping, begin slowly working your way to the net and return to the baseline. For the first set, don’t lift your knees too high during the ‘jog’. The point is to get blood flowing through your legs and you hip flexors. As you begin the second set, then begin bringing your knees higher and higher. On your return to the baseline, you should be trying to touch your knees to your chest with each step.

When warming up during the cold weather season, it’s best to start with a warmup that doesn’t use tons of joint movement (such as the line jump) and progress to exercises that use more and more movement. The point is to ensure your joints and muscles are gradually stimulated to prevent injury. After 5-7 minutes of warming up, you’ll be ready to hit the courts!

‘Til Next Time Train Hard & Win Easy!

Todd Scott
http://TennisFitnessTips.com

We implemented a really cool feature that let’s everyone know you’re interested in playing today.  Click the “I Want to Play Today” link from your My Tasks section, and you’ll be added to a list of players who want to play ‘today’ on the left hand side of your My Ladder page.  Your name will appear on the list until midnight of the same night.  Besides issuing your own challenge, this is a great way to let every one know you’re interested in playing today. 

We hope you like the new feature!

Brad

We’ve been getting a lot of requests for us to develop a way for you to rate opponents for items such as sportsmanship, responsiveness and the overall fun factor.  We’re excited to announce a really cool new feature that allows you to rate your opponents and leave comments.  You get 1 point for positive feedback and -1 point for negative feedback.  Players who get -5 points will have their accounts automatically turned off.  This will help improve the quality of the ladders and remove inactive players.  

We hope you like the new feature!

Brad