How can I prepare for tennis tryouts?

How should i prepare for tennis tryouts at high school if i've only played once?

• I am really nervous i went to open court once and got a little help there but i'm not sure how i should prepare for tryouts.

• Answer:

  It sounds like you're an absolute, brand-new beginner. That being the case, I would **ask the coach** if he/she has a "No-Cut" program, or if there is a cut. If it's a No-Cut program, then you needn't worry. If the coach makes a cut and you're the only brand-new beginner trying out, then you'll not likely to stay with the team. **However,** if you do get cut, but you still think tennis is pretty cool, then the thing to do is to take lessons at a nearby tennis club or other type of tennis facility. Getting cut in this situation, IMHO, would actually be better because you won't be thrown into competition without knowing how execute the strokes correctly and be able to use them in a variety of situations. In the long term, that's worse than getting cut. There are a number of very successful coaches around the world who have forbidden their young players from tournament play until they've been practicing for about three years. Tennis is a SKILL sport, as Rick Macci said in one of his lectures to his fellow teaching pro's. Tennis normally takes long periods [years] of time to develop a high level of skill. Tilden used to say that it takes five years to make a tennis player, and ten years to make a champion. The champion's ten years concept might be a year or two longer than reality, but not that's about it. The fastest [and best IMO] way to improve is to take lessons. Here are three very good tennis-teaching organizations in the USA: http://www.uspta.org/ http://www.ptrtennis.org/ http://www.mtmca.com/ Each of the three web site above has a function where you plug in your city and state, or zip code, so that you can see if there are teaching professionals who are credentialed and teach at facility near you. Being certified or not certified does not a guarantee that the coach will work out for you, but it takes a certain amount of study & work to become a certified teaching pro. Coaches are not all the same. Private instruction is usually your best value, but group lessons are also very good and have a "magic all their own," as Vic Braden once wrote. If you can do both without injuring yourself, do it :-) OK, [finally] now to your question: ***How should I prepare for tennis tryouts at high school if I've only played once?*** If tryouts involve playing some kind of a match with other players, then the best way to prepare would be to play practice sets and practice matches. IMHO, the fairest way to separate the better players from those who are not very strong yet is to hold a tryout tournament. I like round robins, where everybody plays some kind of match with everybody else. This type of tournament gives the coach a pretty clear picture of who can play well and who needs time to work on their game. If someone complains about getting cut, the coach can point to the tournament results and say "I'm sorry, but you lost to some more experienced players." If the coach is using some other method of evaluating the players, then you should practice doing whatever is going to be observed. What that will be, I don't know :-( Here are some other things you can do: If you're an American, get yourself a copy of "Rules of Tennis" or the more elaborate "Friend at Court" from http://www.ustashop.com/ <--- click on "Books" in the left-hand margin. When your copy arrives in the mail in about a week, read "The Code" first. If you have any questions about it, ask your instructor. Next, start working your way, little by little, through the Rules. Here are some sources of online tennis information. Some things are free, others cost money: http://www.tennisplayer.net/ http://www.tenniswarrior.com/ http://www.oscarwegner.com/ http://fuzzyyellowballs.com http://www.moderntennis.com/ Sportsmanship might not be #1, but it's way ahead of whatever is in 2nd place :-) Best of luck; hope you have a little fun with it as you struggle to become the best player you can be :-)