Tsonga inspiring kids in South Africa

"As a kid I never had a chance to go to clinics which were conducted by the world's top players," said Tsonga. "It's really great for them although I think many of them do not know the players here. But I would like them to go home and dream about becoming professional tennis players one day. They've got to be able to dream about it because that could be the start of great things for them. It's so important that they are able to dream."

Without a break after the Australian Open, Tsonga was on his way to the South African Open. He is now through to the semifinals and that is not the only good news from the trip thus far.

The tournament director arranges for the top players to teach a clinic to the little kids playing in the area. Escorted by the police, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie visited Soweto (South Western Townships) on Wednesday to meet these little kids at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in White City, Jabavu. The pro players took an hour of their time to run drills, play games and try to inspire and relay their love of the game to the children of these townships, many of them seeing tennis and holding racquets for the first time. The kids thanked the guys by singing them a song. This really sounds so cute! "It's extra special for me because I am part African. Hopefully by coming here today I can build on the legacy that the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre has started. It was an important opportunity for me to come here to Soweto. As tennis players we are really well looked after, so the chance to give something back to the community is very important and I am glad that I was able to play some tennis and muck around with the kids and hopefully I can inspire more kids from Africa to play tennis in the future" said Tsonga of his visit.

South African Wesley Moodie was also really touched by the experience and said, "It was great. I was on the court with kids who had never played tennis before and I was pleasantly surprised how good some of them were. It just shows what type of potential can come from Soweto and if they have the right funding and the right guidance stars can be produced from there."

Moodie's doubles partner, Jeff Coetzee, also loved the opportunity, "I think it’s such a great thing! Arthur Ashe was such a great legend and to have something like that at that stadium - and I know they are going to have a Challenger there in a couple of months - and just to get tennis going, especially in Soweto, is going to be phenomenal. Hopefully people will come and support it and get tennis growing again in South Africa and in development areas. I enjoyed it, obviously giving back to development. You know I come from that kind of thing and it’s nice to see. I was lucky to hit with some players that had never touched a ball and I was very impressed. If they keep doing what they are doing there might be some guys and girls coming through hopefully in the near future somewhere."

It is really great the the ATP is not only hosting tournaments in under developed regions where tennis isn't as popular as some other sports, but also encouraging these types of workshops. South Africa already has some great players, but as a region of the world, it is an amazing place to further develop the sport. All you really need is a dream, some nice weather, a couple tennis courts and someone to pass the game on!

"Me, Myself" and I

No, its not that movie with Jim Carrey featuring a whole 10 seconds of Anna Kournikova and no it is not the confession of a narcissist. It is news from the sports retail world. It is the name of Adidas's new ad campaign.

“The new Adidas philosophy of Me, Myself is inspiring to me because it shows women as individuals; that we are all athletes in our own right and that we all have things that we do differently whatever level of athlete we are,” said Ana Ivanovic about her new Adidas campaign that is going to be in print and broadcast. That campaign is called “Me, Myself’ and features text that explains the 30 minutes that athletes need to themselves to peak. "Ana, 30. Thirty minutes of 'me' time - it's what I need before I can meet my next challenge. Impossible is nothing." This sounds like a very good and inspiring campaign.

I really like the sound of this campaign. It’s a good example to kids, who often forget about what their 30 is all about. Unfortunately that can be a lot of things from brushing their teeth twice a day, to writing out flash cards for an exam, to stretching before and after practices. Taking away from this particular campaign, I think this will serve as a great reminder to kids particularly about their 30 mins of stretching before and after tennis. So many juniors skip this step because it is “boring”.

Newsflash, sports are about routine, at least in preparation. Unlike many truly routine sports like gymnastics and swimming, tennis at least is a game with many interesting nuances and unlimited time to turn things around, to ploy game plans and dissect opponents. But those opportunities don't come to those that don't take preparation seriously. Take some time to figure out your 30, Me, Myself.

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

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

Have an extra racquet? Give it away! Tennis is more than just a sport!

There is one thing that is particularly true of great athletes and that is that they begin working on their skill sets as children. Sports provide people with such a great range of activity, collective solidarity at games and a fun healthy past time, professional careers for some, and the best part is that your commitment can really be taken to any level desired. Not to mention, they can be picked up at any age and there are things to work on and perfect throughout a lifetime which makes the pursuit an exciting journey.

That is not to say that learning a sport comes as easy to adults as it does to children. Just like kids learn languages with ease up to a certain age, they learn the fluidity of motions that contribute to proper technique, the feeling of anticipation that comes with being in a given environment from an early age and they forever have the advantage of time spent practicing and years spent competing over athletes that start later in life. When kids pursue sports they have boundless options still ahead of them ranging from playing in the pros, to college scholarships and overall benefits to their health, discipline and development. While not everyone may be cut out for sports, everyone should pursue sports while they are young because it extends so much farther than just highlighting innate abilities and learning how to play but becomes something that stays with you for life. Telling your kid, "You’ll learn when you can pay for it" may cut off a world of dreams and opportunities.

Unfortunately, most sports are quite expensive. Tennis for one hones so many great qualities in kids and opens so many doors later on for them as young adults, however, not without an investment first. It is a pricey sport to play with expensive private instruction, court time depending on location, equipment and you can never discount the parental dedication and time out it takes to get kids to their lessons and practices. But regardless of the goals you set, if you choose to stick with it then even reaching for the moon and landing among the stars has tremendous pay off. Anna Ivanovic, the current WTA #4, has said in interviews that she used to practice in empty pools growing up in Serbia and that it has been an important experience that has made her into the player she is today. Ivanovic is an example of doing without to keep the dream of becoming a professional player alive. Even if sacrificing for tennis didn’t get Ivanovic to top 4 in the world, it is a trade for life that you can always fall back on whether you teach, get a free education or simply maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Today, there is a lot of awareness of importance of sports like tennis for children and the issues facing them in terms of inability to pay for it. It is for this reason that there are great aid programs sprouting up for these families to seek out and take advantage of. Programs comprised of people that love the sport so much that they want to share it with those that can’t afford it by giving back. Programs giving hope to those on whom the unfairness of life plays out, even if it is solely by providing some of the expensive equipment so that kids can get out there and start hitting those tennis balls. Tennis Racquets for Kids is exactly that kind of organization.

The great tennis champion, Bill Tilden has once said, "Tennis is more than just a sport. It's an art, like the ballet. Or like a performance in the theater. When I step on the court I feel like Anna Pavlova. Or like Adelina Patti. Or even like Sarah Bernhardt. I see the footlights in front of me. I hear the whisperings of the audience. I feel an icy shudder. Win or die! Now or never! It's the crisis of my life."

How beautiful and true that is, and how worth it makes picking up a racquet and embarking on a life long love affair, or better yet giving away a racquet so that someone else can find that same love of the game!