Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Sweat Socks: RL HS Coaching Tennis Dynasty

Young Drachma · 08-26-2022, 11:38 AM

Season report

The thing about a 5-week tennis season is you have to change up everything you normally do. I'm used to having a lot more runway and seeing opponents from the conference twice. Here, you just don't get that opportunity.

The other thing is, I've had to recalibrate my expectations and coaching to players who are kind of all coming up through the same system -- or in most cases, don't play but for a few months out of the way -- which changes how you can communicate with them about adjustments.

This has been good for me as a coach. I wanted to do a clinic or something, but as all-compassing this is with super long days and coaching two teams without another on-court assistant, I'm starting to hit my stride and I think I've figured out an approach to get us through the rest of the season.

We only have two regular season weeks left. Next week, we travel 4 hours away to play 3 matches over two days. Then the following week, we'll play 4 matches in 5 days including a Saturday doubleheader to end the regular season.

We lost yesterday to another Southern conference team that might be a rival for a state title for us, but I will say that much like I assumed before I got here, the levels in talent are so razor thin among the best players that you're really just trying to deal with temperament and mindset more than anything.

The mistakes the kids make between here and Oregon aren't that different, but I will say that you can't be as sloppy in Oregon -- even in 4A -- and expect to be able to consistent put up a positive result as you can here, which is an opportunity.

After yesterday's loss, I realized that we need to reframe the entire way we practice and prepare them for regionals and state by working on how we approach games and matches. There's not really enough time to change their strokes, so all you can really fix are positioning (to the extent that it takes) and most of all, their approach to shot selection.

I've been joking that coaching a 5-week season with two teams is a really nice way to pad your career record, because if the team is any good you can win a lot quickly over the course of a season.

Realistically, the boys finishing Top 4 in the state this year after finishing 7th would be huge. I think we can really aim for Top 3 and if things break our way, contend for a (shared) state title or something crazy.

Girls side, anything besides a Top 3 would be a disappointment. The difference is both rosters are totally new kids, only 3 of the 8 boys starters played varsity last year. On the girls side, only 2 of them are returners. They'll only lose one varsity boy (who is a fringe starter) and the girls will lose one starter who has had injury issues and went from 2nd singles to 2nd doubles, so...with the core intact and the recruits impending, the girls will be excellently positioned next year.

I think finishing the year strong and seeing what breaks there are will be super interesting for me, coming from a totally different model, here's a flighted state tournament so all the positions (1/2 singles 1/2/3/ doubles) crown their own state champion, in addition to the team champ.

I don't like this model because it makes kids want to get preferential roles so they can say they were a state champion, even if they weren't good enough to play top positions. In that way, I favor Oregon's model better. Wyoming doesn't have enough teams for a team state tournament like I'd prefer, and if it did, 100% there'd be massive cheating and stacking because sports are too cutthroat here and like what would be the point with so few teams anyway?

So the format of flighting it (like Colorado does and likely where they copied it) makes some sense.

08-26-2022, 11:38 AM	#71
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Season report The thing about a 5-week tennis season is you have to change up everything you normally do. I'm used to having a lot more runway and seeing opponents from the conference twice. Here, you just don't get that opportunity. The other thing is, I've had to recalibrate my expectations and coaching to players who are kind of all coming up through the same system -- or in most cases, don't play but for a few months out of the way -- which changes how you can communicate with them about adjustments. This has been good for me as a coach. I wanted to do a clinic or something, but as all-compassing this is with super long days and coaching two teams without another on-court assistant, I'm starting to hit my stride and I think I've figured out an approach to get us through the rest of the season. We only have two regular season weeks left. Next week, we travel 4 hours away to play 3 matches over two days. Then the following week, we'll play 4 matches in 5 days including a Saturday doubleheader to end the regular season. We lost yesterday to another Southern conference team that might be a rival for a state title for us, but I will say that much like I assumed before I got here, the levels in talent are so razor thin among the best players that you're really just trying to deal with temperament and mindset more than anything. The mistakes the kids make between here and Oregon aren't that different, but I will say that you can't be as sloppy in Oregon -- even in 4A -- and expect to be able to consistent put up a positive result as you can here, which is an opportunity. After yesterday's loss, I realized that we need to reframe the entire way we practice and prepare them for regionals and state by working on how we approach games and matches. There's not really enough time to change their strokes, so all you can really fix are positioning (to the extent that it takes) and most of all, their approach to shot selection. I've been joking that coaching a 5-week season with two teams is a really nice way to pad your career record, because if the team is any good you can win a lot quickly over the course of a season. Realistically, the boys finishing Top 4 in the state this year after finishing 7th would be huge. I think we can really aim for Top 3 and if things break our way, contend for a (shared) state title or something crazy. Girls side, anything besides a Top 3 would be a disappointment. The difference is both rosters are totally new kids, only 3 of the 8 boys starters played varsity last year. On the girls side, only 2 of them are returners. They'll only lose one varsity boy (who is a fringe starter) and the girls will lose one starter who has had injury issues and went from 2nd singles to 2nd doubles, so...with the core intact and the recruits impending, the girls will be excellently positioned next year. I think finishing the year strong and seeing what breaks there are will be super interesting for me, coming from a totally different model, here's a flighted state tournament so all the positions (1/2 singles 1/2/3/ doubles) crown their own state champion, in addition to the team champ. I don't like this model because it makes kids want to get preferential roles so they can say they were a state champion, even if they weren't good enough to play top positions. In that way, I favor Oregon's model better. Wyoming doesn't have enough teams for a team state tournament like I'd prefer, and if it did, 100% there'd be massive cheating and stacking because sports are too cutthroat here and like what would be the point with so few teams anyway? So the format of flighting it (like Colorado does and likely where they copied it) makes some sense.