Mini tennis: get kids into the game!

MINI TENNIS: GET KIDS INTO THE GAME

At the Gymkhana and the Rose Hill Club we have been very active with
the mini-tennis and getting kids from the age of 5 into the game.

We have the kids play with soft balls and in a small court. We either
set up a special net or we lower the real net.
One program that has been a great help is the PLAY AND STAY program
set up by the ITF.
The basics is that you make the game easier for the kids and make sure
they have fun!
Fun is the most important aspect for the kids, the main rule is never
explain any technical aspects, just have them running after the ball
and trying to hit it over the net.

We organize 3 mini-tennis tournaments a year, and the last one in
November 08 we had 250 participants.
Any kid can participate in a tournament if he can serve underarm in
the service box. Play the match to ten points and the whole tournament
over one day!

One advice for the coaches, as soon as you start having kids coming to
the tennis school get them interested by organizing a little
tournament and you will see the kids become hooked to the greatest
sport in the world!

MINI TENNIS: GET KIDS INTO THE GAME

Where do tennis stars spend their holidays? MAURITIUS

NADAL IN MAURITIUS

In the last few years Mauritius has become the ideal destination for
tennis stars who want to rest after the gruelling season.

it all started in 2003 when I organised a tennis exhibition with
Andrei Pavel, then no 13 in the world. The year after that I
organised a 125,000$ ATP event with 25 top hundred players
participating. All of them stayed on after the tournament in order to
practice and enjoy mauritius.

A couple of years ago, Nikolay Davydenko and Dimitri Tursunov chose
Mauritius for training in between seasons.

This year a few top french players were in mauritius: Jeremy Chardy,
Julien Beneteau, Nicolas mahut, Paul-Henri mathieu and Gilles Simon.
But the big news is Rafael Nadal. It is the first time we have an
actual no1 enjoying the charms of our island.

Mauritius is a mix of nice weather, great service, friendly people and
great tennis courts and service.

Just like the tennis stars come and discover the joys of playing
tennis in Mauritius ith Advantage tennis!

NADAL IN MAURITIUS

Kamil Patel
Managing Director
Kamil Sports Management Ltd
+(230)7289343
kamil@advantage.mu
www.advantage.mu

Keep your front foot steady to generate power on the serve

The serve is the shot that you control completly, it is therefore
important that it is a weapon in your game.

One of the main resons for inconsistencies on the serve is due to
balance.

Most people looking to generate power on their serve start pushing on
the knees and jumping. Very often this leads them to moving the front
foot before they hit the ball.

A great way to get your consistency and power ont the serve is to keep
your balance by making sure your balance is on the front foot. This
will steady your movement and create a snapping action for your wrist
which will improve your power.

A great way to imprve your balance on the serve is to practice serving
while kneeling down on the floor.

This will have you work on the upper body movement which is the most
important for your serve.

After practicing this we wish you to serve a lot of aces!!!

Best regards

Kamil Patel
Managing Director
Kamil Sports Management Ltd
+(230)7289343
kamil@advantage.mu
www.advantage.mu

tennis in mauritius

I am very happy to present two new tennis schools now managed by
advantage tennis.
The schools are located at the rose hill club which is a club that
exists for more than a century. It has 8 clay courts and is located in
Rose Hill.
The other club is at the legendary gymkhana club founded 1844. The
gymkhana has 8 grass courts and 2 clay courts.
I am very excited by both projects and I am sure that we are on the
way to train the next mauritian champions.
In hotels the things are a bit slow these days since it is the low
season and that the sugarbeach is being renovated.
But when the sugarbeach opens on the 1st of August it is going to be
absolutely beautiful with the new spa, restaurants, gym, and of course
the 5 brand new synthetic grass courts.

see you soon on the courts

--
Kamil Patel
Managing Director
Kamil Sports Management ltd
+230 7289343
www.advantage.mu

Santa Shumilina: a rising star

Santa Shunilina: a rising star

 

Last week I was very fortunate to have a few training sessions with 15 year old Santa Shumilina from Russia.

The fresh under 16’s champion of Russia was in Mauritius on holidays but she still came out and had a few practice sessions with me.

 

Santa has very good hands combined with simple and efficient technique. We had some beautiful rallies with over 50 hits at maximum speed.

She has the precious ability to take the ball early combined with a great physical resistance that enables her to be very consistent.

She also had a very sound technique on the volleys.

This girl has got a lot of qualities and she is on her way up to the top of the WTA rankings. She has one big thing to work on in order to get there fast: her serve.

As we saw with Maria Sharapova in Australia, a good serve makes a huge difference in big matches. Santa is tall, talented, intelligent and hard working. There is no reason why she cannot transform her serve into a weapon

The main problem she has on her serve is that she is trying to force it instead of focusing on rhythm and flexibility.

On her serves she has to check two things: her wrist has to be loose and her body has to be nicely balanced on her left foot.

 

As you can see on the picture of Tim Henman’s serve, Santa has to learn to snap her wrist. A loose wrist and good balance on the serve gives precision, speed, spin and power.

 

I would advise Santa to go out to the practice courts and hit a lot of serves thinking about being relaxed and focusing on precision. In a year from now, she should be able to hit topspin, slice and flat serves with the same ball toss so that the opponent cannot guess what is coming at her. This will help her win a lot of free points which is extremely precious when you are on your way up and facing new situations.

 

Good luck to you Santa!!

 

Santa Shumilina: a rising star

 

 

 

Kamil Patel

Managing Director

 

Kamil Sports Management Ltd.

Tel: +230 7289343

www.advantage.mu

 

Always stay positive

Always stay positive

 

Like Mickael LLodra that has just won the Adelaide Open this afternoon, you must always stay positive.

Mickael Llodra decided a bit more than a year ago that he would concentrate more on singles than doubles. Mickael Llodra is a great doubles player and with Fabrice Santoro he won his first grand slams.

Unfortunately, the 2007 season didn’t turn out as he had wished and he finished the year with only 13 wins.

But where Mickael has been great is that he has stayed positive all the way through, sticking to his training routine and discipline of a top athlete. He has managed to conquer his nerves in Adelaide and he is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

In pursuing your tennis career always remember to stick to hard work, a healthy life style and a positive attitude. It will always pay off!!!

 

A lot of my clients at the sugar beach resort and la pirogue hotel can relate to that. They come to Mauritius to find peace, play tennis, live a healthy life in order to “feel new” again when they go back to their normal lives.

 

To find out more on how you can benefit from the healthy life style in Mauritius click on www.advantage.mu

 

Always stay positive

 

 

 

 

 

the key to a great two handed backhand: straighten your non dominant hand

Straighten your non-dominant hand for a great backhand

 

A lot of the clients who come on tennis holidays to Mauritius complain about two things on their two handed backhand:

1. all the balls are going crosscourt
2. they are unable to generate power

 

Both of these problems can be very easily cured by straightening the non-dominant arm.

 

For a right hander, the non-dominant hand is the left hand.  A right hander has to understand that left hand has to dominate on the two handed backhand. The right hand is only there to guide the racquet.

 

As you can see on the pictures of the David Nalbandian, his left arm stays straight all the way through the shot. The most important is for your left arm to straighten out and point towards your target after the contact. It is the only way to get power, precision and spin.

 

So when you are hitting your two handed backhand next time, think about straightening your non dominant arm out in frout.

 

Enjoy your game and see you soon in Mauritius

 

Straighten your non-dominant hand for a great backhand

 

 

 

Kamil Patel

Managing Director

Advantage tennis

+230 728 9343

www.advantage.mu