Announcing the iTUSA Paul Segodo Africa Tennis Foundation

iTUSA is proud to announce a major new tennis charity, the iTUSA Paul Segodo Africa Tennis Foundation. The goals of the Foundation include:

• Providing tennis equipment and coaching for the children of Africa. The initial focus of the Foundation will be helping the children of Benin, Africa, Paul Segodo's home country.

• Sponsoring several Benin children to come to the iTUSA tennis center in Scottsdale, Arizona to realize their full potential as tennis players and to get a first-class education.

The Story

In 1995, iTUSA founder Rafael Font de Mora traveled to Africa to conduct a tennis clinic in Benin, Africa. Benin is a small country on the west coast of Africa and one of the poorest. There he witnessed something amazing—talented, dedicated young tennis players who loved the game of tennis. They had all the raw athleticism and enthusiasm to become great tennis players, but they lacked all the basic tennis resources such as shoes, racquets, facilities and coaching.

When he saw a young Benin player Paul Segodo competing in the African Tennis Championships without shoes, Rafael decided he needed to do something. He sponsored Paul to come to the iTUSA training center in Scottsdale, Arizona to learn the game of tennis and to get an education. During the next several years, Paul Segodo realized his dream for himself. He became an elite tennis player, earning a four year scholarship to a Florida college. He now is a tennis teaching pro in Florida and has a family with two children. Now that he has realized his dream to make a better life for himself and his family, Paul, along with the iTUSA Paul Segodo Africa Tennis Foundation, wants to help make the same dream come true for the children of Africa.

What Can You Do?

Click here to view a special video and to learn how you can help the Foundation.

Crushing the Two Handed Backhand, by Elliott Pettit

When you watch the pros hit their two-handed backhand, several things probably jump out at you; first, the power in which the ball jumps off the strings, second, the spin that they produce, and third, the speed at which they are able to swing. Chances are, someone watching your two-handed backhand will probably not see the same three things they see with the pros. Many times, the problem players run into on their two-handed backhands is that they swing as hard as they can, but the product off the strings does not illustrate their effort. What has a tendency to happen to everyone, aside from Rafael Nadal, is that their dominant arm tries to steer the racquet through the zone while their non-dominant arm also tries to take the lead; the results are disappointing. Instead of using your two arms and having them work together through the stroke, what happens is they end up fighting each other and effectively canceling each other out.  

If you are right-handed, your non-dominant hand is your left, no matter what. In order to hit your two-handed backhand as well as you possibly can, you must make your dominant arm back off and let your non-dominant arm take over. This means, for a righty, that your right hand is no longer dictating where the racquet goes through the zone; it is now along for guidance as your left arm powers the racquet up and through the ball. With the right arm now playing more of a supporting role, you are now free to swing faster and more through the ball with your left arm, resulting in an increase in power.

In order to increase your swing speed, it is important to take note of how you are swinging through your strike zone up to the finish. Aerodynamically, the racquet moves through the air faster when it is swung on its edge. Therefore, in order to increase the speed of your racquet head make sure that the top edge of the racquet head is leading the way through contact and all the way through to the shoulder.

The two-handed backhand can be a powerful weapon when hit correctly. By letting your non-dominant arm take charge and swinging through on edge, you will be well on your way to making your backhand a weapon in itself. 

Developing Defensive Recovery Skills, by Mariano Peinado

One of the keys to success for the Spanish players is the excellence of their defensive recovery skills.  The way they move from defense to offense within a point is another key skill they possess. It is also true that they depend on other factors like the return of serve. In this newsletter we will focus on the first two.

Modern tennis is characterized by the great power with which people hit the ball.  The speed of play forces players to be on the defensive, meaning that you need to learn how to defend and counterattack. On clay courts it is easier to defend because you can slide and the ball bounces slower. If you notice, Spanish and South American players even slide on hard courts.

How can you counterattack when you are hitting on the run or when you receive a powerful shot? Like everything in life, it is all about training. In your training you should include simple, but extremely effective drills; like hitting 4, 6 or 8 balls on the run crosscourt, from corner to corner, when you are under duress. The key in these drills is to maintain the balance and stability in your body and to recover your position on the court.

The same thing happens when you receive a powerful and aggressive shot from your opponent. If you are positioned properly, you can take advantage of the speed and power of the ball to counterattack with a more aggressive shot.  If you are in a forcing position, you have to learn to slow the ball down and re-establish your balance and stability.

The key is in your footwork. You must learn to hit in an open stance with balance and stability in your forehand and your backhand, even if it is one-handed. You also need to have the ability to hit good slice shots off both wings to be able to defend from extreme positions. You also need to understand the tennis concept of putting pressure on your opponent to force them to win a point from you. Put the ball in play! Make your opponent have to hit one more shot to win the point. Don't try for a winner when you are in a bad position because the percentage of effectiveness and success will be a lot lower than your potential for errors. 

Click here to see how Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer master their defensive recovery skills from the iTUSA match analysis report menu. Select the 4th menu item "Recovery And Won/Lost Point."

Calling all Coaches!!!!, by Chris Holeman

After my collegiate career which included a conference championship at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, I began working with several tennis academies and participated in Challenger ATP Tour events. As a coach I have found coaching to be the ability to communicate the proper movements and functions to produce a desired result. When this communication is conveyed effectively it becomes a vessel to connect player, mind and body. Finding a tool which bridges the lines of communication between player and coach is a necessity for all player/coach relationships. I have found that iTUSA’s Stroke Analysis provides state-of-the-art, frame-by-frame analysis, on-screen drawing tools and side-by-side stoke comparison, all leading to a shorter learning curve and dramatically improved results. A picture is worth a thousand words, and with the frame-by-frame stroke analysis I can clearly and precisely communicate with my players through words and images, minimizing the ever-present communication barrier presented by words alone. I have personally found the process very easy to use with a step-by-step process. The on-screen drawing tools provide solid, illustrative, measurable feedback during each session, pinpointing weaker areas of a player’s game through a simple-to-use website. And now with the ability to pull up 1,000’s of video training and correction drills, my players are seeing results even faster. With the expansive video library, finding an example of a correct technique or a specific shot is extremely easy. Students can now compare their swings and techniques with professionals, seeing how the best players in the world execute the same stroke in a side-by-side comparison.

http://www.itusatennis.com/stroke-analysis