Tennis Cross Training-XFIT

Many tennis players get their cardio benefits, but choose not to address their exercises to strengthen and stretch their muscles, joints, tendons, and bones by going to the gym. With a little extra work, tennis players could improve their level of play, help recover from injuries or prevent them from happening in the first place. It doesn't take that much time, maybe, 20 minutes to just do basic maintenance. Beyond that, 40 minutes could be allotted toward improving hand-eye-foot coordination, agility (footwork), explosive movement (plyometrics), anaerobic/aerobic capacity (cross-training), reaction time, and stroke production.I'd like to impart my experience from tournament tennis and martial arts in a way that is both interesting, exciting, and enriching for all players by addressing the attack and defence tactics that both disciplines have in common. I suggest that players looking to improve their athletic performance combine their current fitness regimens with sports specific techniques. These techniques include work outs that practice their strokes in between sets of conventional push-ups, crunches, squat-thrusts (burpees), squats, lunges, and jumping jacks. Stroking on forehand and backhand sides high, middle, and low with topspin, backspin, or side spin, using open stances, closed stances, and front stances for ground strokes, volleys, overheads and serves could be implemented with one's hand. A table tennis paddle can be used in a crowded space and progression to added resistance can be accomplished by utilizing a paddle ball racquet. Depending on space considerations, racquetball racquets and tennis racquets could be used as well. Consider using both right-handed and left-handed sides and eventually simulating short points in shadow-boxing or in this case shadow-stroking solo routines as a martial artist practices their martial routines (known as kata,kuen, abakada, or Pyrrhic). Remember that although functional core training exercises are in vogue right now, I feel that if you really want to make an exercise sports specific with tennis in mind then combine these and other exercises with your tennis racquet while doing your strokes and footwork between sets or within the set...just ask some of my former clients:Ivan Lendl,and John McEnroe. posted by: Spencer Gee

If you have any questions regarding the charity, or how to donate tennis racquets, visit TennisRacquetsforKids.org

Internet – Friend or foe?

Over the past couple years Internet has consumed us entirely. We rely on it for information, for meeting people, for keeping in touch with those we already know, paying our bills and consuming products online. We store all of our information there. Everything we Google is on record and everything we post and write about ourselves is free to the internet world. This is great, but this is also scary.

Internet is a blurry line today between the big brother that watches over us helping and the big brother that watches us reporting. Our consumer patterns perhaps help define our interests and customize to our individual needs, but our individual needs are often misread and misinterpreted, perhaps to the gain of others, some bad guys. People are now getting fired from their jobs based on their internet affiliations and social network information published online, defamation in a way, private life in a way, but all of a sudden punishable. For example, an employee of an Ottawa grocery chain was fired for his posts and affiliation with a “just for fun” Facebook group, despite his outstanding record offline. This definitely affects athletes as well. College athletes are closely administered by their school’s communication departments for inappropriate Facebook material and email content. This recent event that had to do with the election is proof of that. When a UT Football player posted a racist status update about Obama to his facebook profile. He may have meant it as a joke, but it is in writing and that is enough to look bad for the University. He was consequently kicked off the team.

The web is worldwide as it is called, and this is true for other countries. Recently Internet postings have affected junior tennis players in England. When the British Lawn Tennis Foundation cut off its funding to their top two junior tennis players in England, Naomi Broady and David Rice. They were being supported by a professional organization that paid for their achievements but also invested in their ideal, and thus they were expected to conduct themselves accordingly. Clearly hacking into their Facebook/Bebe accounts and digging up photos of them partying, drinking and eating junk food was unacceptable.

The problem is clear; you have to be responsible for what you represent about yourself online. The issue is not clear, is this monitoring of private lives justified? People can’t get hired, or get fired for revealing messages that can be read in several ways without proof? The solution is not clear. The Internet remains both friend and foe.