Great Tennis Journalism 2.0

[ashkor87]

I wrote this for Milwaukee magazine. You can decide if you think it's great or *great" tennis journalism. IMO, it's neither. It's OK. (It's about Essential Tennis's founder, Ian Westermann, who lives and coaches in Wisconsin.)

https://www.milwaukeemag.com/youtubes-m ... milwaukee/

Also, I just started writing for Tennis.com, and I admit this isn't great journalism. But I had to find a Baseline story that day while juggling editing other stuff for the website, and this worked. Emma-Serena was the talk of the tennis world.

https://www.tennis.com/baseline/article ... ving-large

Read it..really excellent...totally relate to watching yourself on video, that is how I teach communication too ..

[meganfernandez]

But you have the idea right there. You read your article, and the question is obvious: why don't the other pros do this? Why just the basket of balls? After all, today, everybody has a camcorder in his/her pocket.
So, why and how did Westermann hit on the idea, but other people don't do it? For example, when we go skiing, I always film my GF with my phone, on the 2nd-3rd day. Then I will film her about every two weeks, so she can see her progress.
Why isn't this method adopted, and what other media can be used to enhance teaching?

I am surprised that other tennis teachers/coaches of club-level players aren't taping the people they are helping. I remember someone telling me that they had gone someplace to take some tennis lessons, and the coach has taped them so they could see what they were doing wrong. And that was 20 years ago.

Yeha, this is probably a viable angle. I just worry about the reporting to determine if Ian's theory is correct and that most teaching pros don't use video. I'm sure they do in junior development. But among 3.0-4.5 club players, he swears they don't.

Why? Skill set is one issue - not everyone is adept with an iPad and video editing. Ian edits videos on the fly, on the court with the student, and shows the clip side by side with a pro player's clip. He can do a lot with the iPad in the moment. That's a totally different skill set than teaching.

Ian would also say that it's because most club players don't want that kind of feedback, so the pro isn't incentivized to provide it. It wouldn't work in a group clinic - it would slow things down too much. I'm guessing some pros use it in private lessons. The problem, as Ian sees it, is that without video, the teaching pro is just guessing about what's really wrong with a stroke or movement. I think most teaching pros would disagree - they would say their eyes are pretty trained, and that they have made many players better without video. But it's also true that most people think they are doing A but really they are doing B. And they never know, and that's at the root of their frustration.

[ponchi101]

As a starter, when you visualize yourself on the court, it means nothing for the reality. If you have some analytical capacity, you will immediately see all your faults: the short backswings, the improper footwork, the wrong point of impact.
If you are honest with yourself, just watching the video is an incredible option. But you have to be open to the fact that, in reality, you suck.

[meganfernandez]

As a starter, when you visualize yourself on the court, it means nothing for the reality. If you have some analytical capacity, you will immediately see all your faults: the short backswings, the improper footwork, the wrong point of impact.
If you are honest with yourself, just watching the video is an incredible option. But you have to be open to the fact that, in reality, you suck.

Right. We aren’t nearly as good as we think we are. But I push back against the idea that we have to see ourselves to improve. I have improved a lot in the last few years without video analysis. Thousands of players reach a 4.5 level without it.

He thinks you can improve in the short term but will usually revert back to your previous form out of habit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ponchi101]

I didn't say that you can't improve without video. But it is a fantastic tool.
You see? We have an entire article going on here

[Deuce]

I was amazed at how lazy I looked on the court when I saw myself on video about 15 years ago.
Sometimes it's best to avoid video .

[3mlm]

According to the Daily Schedule on the ATP US Open site, Chris Eubanks has defeated Raul Brancacchio 14 times on 9 different courts since 11 am EST today.

[ponchi101]

Better than risk it with one lousy, iffy TB. Make sure Eubanks deserves that spot.

[ponchi101]

Because finding a stock photo of Rafa is almost impossible nowadays:

Rafanews.jpg

I know they will be linked forever, but this is ridiculous.

[meganfernandez]

Because finding a stock photo of Rafa is almost impossible nowadays:
Rafanews.jpg

I know they will be linked forever, but this is ridiculous.

This made me laugh. It's like, Fed news is so popular right now they're just going to brazenly slap a photo of him on any story, topic be damned.

I'm sure it's just another automatic image search error (Rafa's in the keywords somewhere), but it's still funny.

[Owendonovan]

Be prepared for plenty of pictures of Serena when Venus retires.

[ponchi101]

For sure...

[meganfernandez]

Tennis magazine is going out of print. It's dead. The end of an era! I have read it all my life. The digital content will continue.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I used to check out back issues at my school library. I photocopied favorite stories, like Michael Chang winning the French and a poem called "The Night Before Wimbledon," a riff on "The Night Before Christmas." Actually, a few years ago I randomly met the person who wrote that poem! It must have been 30 years ago, at least.

[Deuce]

Tennis magazine is going out of print. It's dead. The end of an era! I have read it all my life. The digital content will continue.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I used to check out back issues at my school library. I photocopied favorite stories, like Michael Chang winning the French and a poem called "The Night Before Wimbledon," a riff on "The Night Before Christmas." Actually, a few years ago I randomly met the person who wrote that poem! It must have been 30 years ago, at least.

Yes, I also remember the days when Tennis Magazine and World Tennis were competing against each other... Tennis Magazine was almost always the better of the two.

Not surprising that they are ceasing the printed version. Many long established newspapers are doing the same thing.
Good for the environment, but not good for society.

[ponchi101]

With so little tennis shown in Venezuela at the time, I had to rely on Tennis Mag for info. It was a favorite read.
As a person that still does not have a Kindle, because I like the feel of paper on my hands when I read, it will be missed. Not that I can find it here in Bogota. Some excellent writing through the ages.