BEGINNER
Our beginner level programme aspires to develop new talent from the ground up. This level of programme is for anyone from the ages of 3 years old up to adults of any age who are looking to learn the fundamentals of tennis. In this programme we focus heavily on coordination, footwork, balance, racquet arm spacing, contact point, use of the non dominant hand, preparation, reading the ball, focus and concentration and very importantly we introduce the teaching of all the fundamental stroke progressions including: the forehand, backhand, slice, volley, serve and return of serve. Our beginner players will follow the ITF regulated pathway with different coloured balls (of different pressures) and different court sizes in order to develop technique as quickly and as safely as possible without hindering technique and by preventing injury.
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OUR BEGINNER PROGRAMMES ARE LISTED BELOW:
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BEGINNER FOUNDATION RED
Age: 3 - 5 y/old
BEGINNER DEVELOPMENT ORANGE
Age: 5 - 8 y/old
BEGINNER DEVELOPMENT GREEN
Age: 8 - 11 y/old
BEGINNER YELLOW
Age: 11 - 13+ y/old
Hard-working: Our view on hard work is simplified by a famous quote that goes “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”
Open minded: Being open minded to us means being accepting of criticism and other people’s opinions, stances or vision. How our players accept constructive criticism by our coaches can be a big determining factor on their growth as a player. Open minded players are good listeners and are able to accept comments from various angles. Being this flexible and able to absorb information and come to conclusions or action plans to move forward helps our players immensely in match situations. When scenarios change, conditions change, locations change or opponents game plans change our players have to be able to navigate through these changes and find ways to win. Open minded players are able to navigate through change. This also closely links to the importance we stress on having a growth mindset where our players are not scared of limitations rather focus on what they have to practically do in order to achieve tasks that then ultimately translates into achieving their goals.
We believe it’s fundamental to set out a blue print and have our players follow important values that we believe will pave the path for them to become better tennis players and people. In order to have success at our Academy and any future endeavour we narrowed our player profile to the above four character traits. Being respectful, passionate, hard working and open minded.
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Respectful: Although we have narrowed down four main traits we look for in our players, we believe this to be the most important. We value the person we coach and simple actions such as being polite, supportive of other players and coaches, being respectful after losses and showing fair play, to us shows we have developed not only a great tennis player but a great person. As coaches being part of someone’s development means transmitting the right values and also being role models. Our coaches are all expected to show the utmost respect to all the players we train and we are very happy when we see this behaviour reciprocated by our players!
Passionate: We believe success and passion go hand in hand. In order to become successful at any given task or discipline one must work endlessly and meticulously for a sustained amount of time, and if someone is not truly passionate about what they do they simply will not put in the amount of time and effort needed to become great. When we see our players smiling on the court, sweating and working hard or fist pumping and roaring after winning an important point we know we are on the right path, because if you’re not truly passionate about what you do why do it at all?
PLAYERS BLUEPRINT
FOLLOWING OUR BLUEPRINT
It is important that players at all levels including our Beginner players starting from beginner foundation red (B) understand our player blue print. Now of course we understand that a 3 year old won’t know these words however it is our role as coaches to teach our players these important character traits through coaching moments and picking up when our players are going against our player blueprint. It is our role as coaches to not only coach technique and tactics but to also employ empathy and relate to everyone we coach, whilst instilling our philosophy and system. By implementing this blue print from our beginner level our players will be very mentally ready and have good habits when they progress from beginner to intermediate and eventually to our high performance level programmes.
PLAYER ATTITUDE
EVALUATION SCALE
1
2
3
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
In order to be in line with our player blueprints our players at all level and ages need to score at least 7/10 in each area in order to remain in our Academy groups and in our programmes. It is essential that every player at the Academy is on the same page and follows our vision.
At the end of the term our players will be judged on a Total score /50. In order to stay in our Academy and our groups for the following term our players must score a minimum of 35/50.
RESPECT
The player must integrate well with other players in the groups and our coaches. We expect our players to be polite to other peers at the Academy. Simply treat others the way you would like to be treated.
PASSION
Does the player show passion on the court during trainings. Does the player come motivated and enthusiastically to the court.
HARD-WORKING
Does the player give his 100% every training and in different aspects of training - drills, live rally ball drills, point play. Giving 100% for us is purely measured in relation to the players effort on the court!
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Is the player open to suggestions and does he take constructive criticism well. Is the player welcoming to new players.
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
SCORE
/10
The final grading criteria is outside the Player Blue-print, however it is fundamental in regards to training and being part of the Academy.
COMMITMENT
Does the player take the commitment of tennis training seriously. Does the player miss trainings frequently.
SCORE
/10
PROGRESSION IN PLAYER PATHWAY
After developing the correct fundamentals, our coaches will scout and allow players to progress to either:
1. An older age beginner group (which sometimes results in the change of colour ball and court dimension).
2. Progress to an intermediate group of the same age, or of the age above depending on the level of the specific player and their improvement.
* The technical, tactical, physical and mental components of training from one level of programme to the next change substantially and players are to be aware that a jump from level from beginner - intermediate is earned through hard work and shown improvement both as a player and as a person.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
RED BALL LESSONS
ORANGE BALL LESSONS
GREEN BALL LESSONS
YELLOW BALL LESSONS
* Morlotti Academy offers early afternoon lessons (2-4pm) for students that finish school earlier ( GSIS Students, CDNIS Students)
* Morlotti Academy offers early afternoon lessons ( 1-4pm) for students that have half days of school.
* Sunday Group / Private lessons available on request
* Morlotti Academy coaches are available to work from 7am - 11pm daily Monday - Saturday