Australian Open Update #2 |
Comment First |
This is my third day in Melbourne as a speaker and my first time to Australia. It has been an awesome experience…..
Today I walked about 6 blocks from my hotel on Russell St down to the tram (trolley) which I took over to Hysense Arena. I am the 2nd presenter today on Hysense and they have the roof open today. My presentation is on “20 Best Games for Strategy and Tactics” and I have 6 young players who will demonstrate the drills I will do.
There are 4 cameras on and about 250 coaches. It is like a match and today I am on. Good energy and I make quick friends with the kids so they respond well to all the drills we do. My jokes are good as well today and I can tell I connect with the audience well.
The weather is cool this year so far and has been a bit cloudy. Cool weather comes in form the south and hot weather from the winds out of the north.
Got voted the best presentation of the weekend to date. Every DVD I brought with me sold out after my presentation and they were asking for more, so I told them to go to www.kendeharttennis.com to order. Gave everyone who bought DVD’s a copy of my “Today” card with Kam and me on the top of it.
Got to be on the court to assist Dan Santorum with his presentation on Corrective Techniques and with a top physical trainer from Australia for the youth doing exercises to prevent injuries. Later Dan and I went over to Rod Laver Arena and went to the players area. We saw most of the players practicing. Said ‘Hello” to the Bryan Brothers and Fabrice Santoro and got to see Donald Young from the US play his qualifying match. We talked to a long time friend of ours, Brian DeVilliers who is the coach for young American player Melanie Oudin from Atlanta, said “hello” to Donald Young’s dad and a couple of other international coaches.
We took the players van back to the hotel. Dan got a ticket to a Crickett match at the big stadium next door and I chose to go with Frank from Holland and Mike Barrell from England to visit Kooyong Club. It was built in 1879 and was the site of the Australian Open for several decades until they built the new stadium in Melbourne. We had dinner there with a couple of friends who are members (10 yr wait list to join), 52 courts – 30 grass and about 20 clay, pictures of all the great Aussie players from the past and a few hundred silver trophies. They are having a tournament going on now as a lead up to the Australian Open. Songa and Verdasco will play in the finals tomorrow. Federer will be there to play a practice match as well.
What history at this club. They just spent $132 million renovating the facility.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Coaches Conference back the Hysense Arena from 9-4:30. We will have a 4 hour course on all aspects of the serve from Bruce Elliott, one of the top bio-mechanist in the world, a presentation from famous Australian player and coach – Ray Ruffles and Miguel Crespo on Drills, think before you feed.
I have Sunday off except for a dinner for the speakers at the conference to do some sight seeing. Monday I have Rod Laver Arena tickets to watch first round play.
Ken DeHart
Related Posts -
Australian Receiving Formation – Both Back - 1st Point of the Match **This UDF works well at club level play, USTA league play, junior and high school matches as well as college matches. This (UDF) Unusual Doubles Receiving Formation puts the receiver and partner on the same side of the court. One player is in the deuce court near the deuce...... -
Ken DeHart Presents "Strategy and Tactics of Tennis" at Missouri Valley USPTA USPTA Master Professional, Ken DeHart was the kick-off speaker at the 2009 Missouri Valley USPTA Conference at the Homestead Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri. Ken presented a 4 hour continuing education course on Strategy and Tactics to more than 80 tennis teaching professionals and high school coaches attending...... -
Davis Cup Report [/caption] Playing in Serbia on the red clay, Americans John Isner and Sam Querry showed heart and where American tennis still has a great crop of young players coming along. In their first ever Davis Cup appearance, John and Sam lost their first matches as USA players. That had to...... -
Tribute to a Hall of Fame Teacher: Dennis Van der Meer Early in my career as a tennis teaching professional, I was living in Nashville, Tennessee and teaching tennis at the Sequoia Swim & Tennis Club. A friend of mine, Thay Butchee, the Director of Tennis at the Belle Meade Country Club talked me into driving to Sarasota, Florida to participate...... -
Racquet Mail: Trusting Your Strokes This is the first of hopefully many Racquet Mail posts. I received an email with a question about trusting your strokes, and wrote this article in response. Trusting your strokes is a skill that is obviously quite mental in nature. In my program, called Defeating the Monsters in your Mind,......
Related Websites -
Race for Sony Ericsson Championships Continues Doha 2009 has finally come to an end, and Jelena Jankovic has qualified, becoming the eighth and the final player to be qualifying for this championship during the singles competition. Jelena Jankovic is going to be joining Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Serena Williams and...... -
Preview for the ATP Cincinnati Masters, to be held in Mason Ohio The U.S. Open tennis series is about to kick off week five in Cincinnati, sending the tour to another humid and hot excursion through hard clay courts throughout North America. Now that Montreal is in the books, the ATP boys are going to have to take on the challenge of...... -
Roddick wins Brisbane International Andy Roddick won the Brisbane International this past Sunday at the Pat Rafter Arena by defeating the defending champ Radek Stepanek in two sets, but it wasn't easy. A tiebreak was needed both times. This was Roddick's first tournament after his knee injury last year that ended his season...... -
Tennis Tournament Preview: Roger Federer against Juan Martin Del Potro Roger Federer, World no.1 (-308) against Juan Martin Del Potro, seed 6 (+278) Roger managed to take care of our red hot favorite, Djokovic in only three sets, but are things going to get even more challenging against him when he goes up against Juan Martin Del Potro from Argentina?...... -
Ogilvy takes the SBS Championship Geoff Ogilvy took the SBS Championship on Sunday in Kapalua, Hawaii with -22. It was a familiar feeling for Ogilvy, who won here last year by 6 shots and maintained a fairly easily lead. This year he was behind by 2 shots, but made it up for a 1-shot defeat......
australian open, Australian Open Coaches Conference 2010, best games, coaches conference, devilliers, donald young, exercises, fabrice santoro, holland, hot weather, international coaches, jokes, long time friend, match, Melanie Oudin, Melbourne, rod laver, rod laver arena, russell st, santorum, strategy and tactics, third day, trolley
... and focuses on:News and Updates, Tournaments and Championships
Stumble
Reddit
Digg
Del.icio.us
PropellerNext: Australian Open Coaches Conference 2010
