What you need to know - September 2024

Table of Contents

• Mark Your Calendar

• 2024

• 2025

• Andy Dowsett

• Book Review

  • PLAYING INTO THE SUNSET

• Oncourt Offcourt’s Training Resources

• Certification Courses

Mark Your Calendar

2024

2025

Andy Dowsett

Book Review

PLAYING INTO THE SUNSET

A complete instructional book for senior tennis players.
by Rod Heckelman

Rod possesses a unique talent for elucidating the necessary adjustments that tennis players must undertake as they reach a more advanced age. Aside from offering an extensive array of games and drills specifically tailored for senior players, Rod imparts invaluable advice that is both intuitive and essential, warranting inclusion in every senior player's repertoire. An example of such advice is as follows:

You may be surprised that as a senior, your strategy in play will be more inclined toward finding an approach that provides an opportunity for your opponent to lose to you… this for some may be a big transition from their younger playing days when they focused on trying to win by outperforming their opponents.

I appreciated the concept because it not only aligns logically, but I have also personally undergone a similar transition over the past decade or so.

Playing Into The Sunset contains 13 chapters, each with a unique theme ranging from "The Joy is in the Journey" to "Remembering the Good Old Young Days." Allow me to provide a brief glimpse into one of the aforementioned MEMORY experiences.

After several months of preparing and waiting for a clay court lesson with the great Mexican coach, Mario Llamas, I finally got an appointment. I had been playing for over five years and was fairly accomplished as a junior player and awaited this opportunity to make my game reach new levels. I took the court and the first thing out of his mouth was, “Mr. Heckelman, do you know how to go into the ready position for tennis?” I showed him, “Very good, very good,” and he proceeded to show me the very basics of how to hit a forehand and then a backhand. When I say basics, we are talking beginner lesson basics. We went through the entire ½ hour never hitting a single ball, just going over the basic approach to each ball. After the lesson, I was in shock, nearly sobbing from disappointment. “He thought I was a beginner and knew nothing about tennis.” My friend responded, “No, that’s not the case at all, that just happens to be the only lesson he knows in English.” There was a larger lesson learned that day about finding the right coach.

Nice!

Oncourt Offcourt’s Training Resources

Certification Courses