| Official e-newsletter of the Pat Cash International Tennis Academy & The Azzura Tennis Club |
| JULY 2007 Newsletter |
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Message
from Chris Steel - Academy Director
This month saw the Academy host its "home" Open tournament “The Azzura Open” and there were many outstanding performances from a number of Academy players. The event was a huge success with positive feedback from everyone. We also hosted the Wheelies events and they really showed us what true determination is all about. Great job from everyone! Overseas, Alex Sanders is currently competing in a Grade 1 ITF event in South Africa, while Jared Easton is on tour taking part in several ITF events including the Junior French Open and Wimbledon. In the lead up events to Wimbledon, Jared managed a quarter final showing in Offenbach Germany, going down to the eventual champion. Locally we will see several of our players travel to Darwin to compete in the two Grade 3 events on offer, while our younger players will compete in the QLD state titles followed by the Australian titles. DATE
CHANGE : You are invited to attend the second installment of the Pat
Cash ITA Parent Forum. The forum shall be held on Monday July 2nd at
7:30pm in the Academy gym. Presenters will include Chris Steel
(Program Director), Nick McCallum (Fitness Consultant), & Matt
Ahlberg (Sports Psychologist). The presentation will include an
outline of where the program will be headed along with some
additional structural changes in the content of the program.
To register please contact Ros Birrell on 5530 1177 or email to rosb@pcita.com.au See you next month! Chris Steel Academy Director |
 Wheelies Winners | ||
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SPECIAL
CONGRATULATIONS Director of Player Development for Tennis Queensland, Graeme Brimblecombe who was at Bundaberg several weeks ago said, "This girl is one to watch", and he wasn't wrong ! Monika leaves in 10 days for a tour of Asian events ! |
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UPCOMING
JUNIOR EVENTS
3-8
July : Rod Laver QLD Junior Champs - Brisbane
9-14
July : Winter Nationals - Brisbane
14-15
& 20-22 : University Open 14U, 16U, 18U -
Brisbane
12
& 19 Aug : Junior Masters Circuit - Gold
Coast
25-26
Aug : Toowoomba Age Champs
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UPCOMING
OPEN EVENTS
14-15 & 20-22 July : University Open - Brisbane 28-29 July & 4-5 Aug : BMW Rosebowl - Gold Coast 10-12 August : TQ AMT 1 - Venue TBC 17-19 August : TQ AMT 2 - Venue TBC 24-26 August : TQ AMT 3 - Venue TBC 30 Aug - 1 Sept : TQ AMT 4 - Venue TBC |
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| PLAYER
OF THE MONTH - July Nakisa Djamshidi Nakisa is currently 12 years old and started playing tennis at the age of 3. She trains here at the Academy three afternoons a week. Nakisa’s interests other than tennis are animals, fishing and playing the piano. She is very talented on the piano and recently won 2nd prize in a Gold Coast competition. Her main goal in life is to play at Wimbledon like her favourite tennis player Maria Sharapova. Nakisa’s recent results include winning the Taylor Byrne 12U singles, Azzura Classic 12U singles, runner-up in the Volkl Age Championships 12U singles and winning the consolation in the Taylor Byrne Beenleigh 12U singles. As these are the only tournaments that she has entered this year, she’s had a great run ! |
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TIP
OF THE MONTH - by Chris Steel THE SHORT BALL Too often players seem to get caught up in maintaining depth on all their shots from the baseline. Short balls can provide some great variety and also provide opportunities which otherwise may not have been available. Option 1 – make use of short angled balls to draw your opponent off court. This is great for opening up the court or attacking your opponent’s movement capabilities. Option 2 – make use of short balls (kept low) to draw your opponent into the net. This tactic is particularly effective at taking a baseliner out of their comfort zone and forcing them to play from a part of the court which they are not necessarily very experienced at using. Option 3 – make use of drop shots as a surprise to catch your opponent off guard. This take can be used as a change up to mix up the play, or to keep your opponent guessing. It also can highlight a deficiency in the forward movement patterns of your opponent. Players should understand a short ball can be advantageous if played at appropriate times and executed well. This is not meant to take anything away from the value of keeping good depth in a rally situation, however a short ball can be just the trick to change the momentum of a match. A short ball can be a disaster if your opponent reads the play or knows you are about to play one. So be sure to disguise the short ball by combining it with a sequence of other shots prior. Also short balls should be used sparingly to avoid your opponent looking for it and anticipating your next move! Try it out for yourself and have some fun with moving your opponent in some different directions. |
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FITNESS
TIP - By Nick
Coping with the cold weather One
of the issues we face at this time of year is the cold weather. Our
ability to maintain good flexibility and mobility of joints is more
difficult as the cold weather creates the shortening of connective
tissue in our bodies. The connective tissue wraps around all our
organs, muscles, ligaments and tendons and helps to create its
integrity and shape. The cold though, shrinks this tissue and causes
it to choke the muscles etc. This
can lead to abbreviated range of movement, reducing coordination,
and athletic prowess.
Try
using a sauna. Spend 15 minutes allowing the sauna to heat your body
and then do your stretching and self massage whilst in the sauna. A
few visits over the colder months will help to keep your movements
fluid and your body vibrant! |
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BEEP
TEST LADDER - July 1st
1. Jarred Easton : 17.3 2. Mav Banes : 17.1 3.
Alex Sanders : 16.9
4. Li Tang : 14.9 5. Nathan Helmes : 13.9 6. Tristan Stayt : 13.4 7.
Zack Itzstein : 13.2 8.Luke Morland : 12.3 9.Corey Sheppard : 12.3 10.Monika Weinjert : 10.9 |
RALLY
SPEED LADDER - July 1st
1. Alex Sanders : 2:21 2. Maverick Banes : 2:22 3. Jared Easton : 2:29 4. Troy Gilham : 2:40 5. Li Tang : 2.40 6. Joel Braund : 2.41 7. Leon Frost : 2.42 8.
Monika Weinjert : 2.43
9.
Tom Price : 2.43
10. Jason
Alpen : 2:43 |
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PRE-ACADEMY
NEWS Pizza
Match Play
Our
10 week term of pizza match play concluded on Monday 18th June
with the overall winner being Ben Stevenson on 49 points. 2nd place
went to Cade Birrell on 43 points and the 3rd place we had Daniel
Birak on 40 points. The
new season commences on Monday 9th July and will run for another 10
week season with the top 2 point scorers receiving trophies for
their efforts.
Term
2
Term
2 is now finished and it was great to see so many new faces in all
of our programs – with almost all our regular players back for more
fun and games on the court. All players who completed the term
received our special PCITA award certificates on their last day of
term. No doubt everyone is eagerly looking forward to term
3.
Winter
Holiday Tennis Camps
The
1st camp was on from Monday 25th June - Friday 29th June and despite
rain on the 2nd day, we still had a super fun time throughout
the week - the 2nd week looks like being just as popular
! Bryce Newel (11), who looks like a mini Roger Federer, and
his main rival in camp Cameron Greenhill (8), played some terrific
tennis all week and are certainly players to watch in the future.
Sarah Brown (8) and Cade Birrell (7) played one of the closest sets
of the week with Cade winning 10 - 8 in the tiebreaker. Excellent
tennis guys !
Term
3
We
get underway Monday 9th July and run through for 10 weeks until
Saturday 15th September. With Wimbledon being on each day of the
school holidays we are expecting lots of kids being inspired to get
on the court and take up this great game – why not bring a friend
with you !
We
teach kids as young as 3 in our mini tennis orange program and also
have our mini tennis green (6 - 10 yrs), our tournament squads for
our more serious players and our 2.5 hour sessions for fixture and
tournament level standard players on Tuesdays and Thursdays
(4-6:30pm).
Gold
Coast Junior Fixtures
The
PCITA has 12 fixture teams currently playing each Saturday and about
˝ of the teams are on the track to make the semi-finals in
September. The new summer season will commence in early October but
nominations need to be in by early September . Please let Wes know
if you are interested in playing.
Fed
Cup Comes to Gold Coast
PCITA
Pre-Academy Director Wes Pope is the official racquet re-stringer
for the Australia v’s Ukraine group match at the Royal Pines Resort
14/15th July. This is the weekend following the finish of Wimbledon.
Hopefully Samantha Stosur and Alicia Molik will both be fit and
available for the match, since Ukraine has 2 players in the top 80
in the world. |
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Copyright 2007 Pat Cash International Tennis Academy |