Archive for December, 2008

The All-American Tennis Camp at the College of Wooster has sets its dates for the summer of 2009.  The camp dates are:

Session I – June 14-18, Session II – June 21-25, Session III – July 19-23, Session IV – July 26-30 and Match Play Week – July 12-16

Due to scheduling conflicts there will only be 5 weeks of camp this summer as oppossed to the 6 weeks offered in 2008.  In particular, our popular Match Play week of camp has been reduced from 2 sessions to just one.  This camp sells out very quickly, so please sign up as soon as possible to ensure involvement.

brand new website up at http://www.sportcamp101.com. Would like to add my twitter updates to the right side sidebar. Any experts out there?

The All-American Tennis Camp is proud of the fall, high school, achievements of several of our past campers.  The 2009 Ohio State High School girls championships featured 7 past campers.  These young players included, Stephanie Hollis, McKenzie Cona, Nisha Crouser, Maureen Stevens, Allison Dorogi, Elizabeth Blackburn and Lindsey Hughes.   This is quite a great accomplishment and we are proud of our involvement with each young lady.  Great Job!!!!

One of the most frequently asked questions and area of break down with many of the more advance tennis players at the All-American Tennis Camps is the issue of the Modern Forehand vs. the Classic Forehand.  While it is my feeling that the Classic forehand is great when learning and very good for beginners – advanced level players, top High School and tournament players should learn to incorporate the “Modern Forehand” into the stroke.  Below is an excellent video on the difference between the two techniques.

Thanks to all of you who have been noticing some changes to our website since the summer of 2008. We are in the process of completely rewriting the website from the ground up.  This should make the site more manageable, easier to find the information you are looking for, and be more compliant with the large variety of  web browsers that are out there.   We are looking at posting the new site sometime in the middle of December.  Please check back and give us your comments on the new site when it posts!!!

@JasonPeck Celtics or Wizard Fan?

The art of choosing the perfect tennis camp is often a difficult one for the families of young players.  Tennis is a fantastic sport in any season, but the summer is very special for this sport as it can be played outdoors while soaking up some sun rays. It is also a great sport to learn at a summer camp.

Tennis Camps come in many sizes, shapes and colors.  Some focus on a certain skill level (beginners, intermediates, tournament level), some are geared towards fun, and some are just for playing (with very little teaching).  There are day camps, residential camps, school camps, morning camps and many more.  How does a family choose the perfect camp for their needs?

One of the biggest mistakes made by parents and players alike is not doing the right type of research.  What camp would benefit you the most?  The first criteria to figure out whether or not you want a complete camp experience (with overnight stays etc…) or are just looking to focus on getting a lot of tennis with top flight instruction.  Once you have decided on this, next you should locate all of your viable options. If you are looking to attend a day camp, you should focus on camps within a manageable driving distance. If you want to do an overnight camp, research all the options in your travel radius.  A good source for finding available tennis camps in your area is mysummercamps.com and kidscamps.com

With that complete you should do a little research on what the camp offers. Ask questions, research each camps website and ask for references.  Important questions to ask are:

• How many hours daily is each camp?
• What percentage of that time is devoted to teaching vs. playing?
• Who makes up the staff?
• Is the director actively involved in the day to day operations of the camp (many large universities feature a big name coach who shows up on the first day to welcome the parents, and then is not seen again until the lst day)?
• What is the daily schedule? What is the coach/player ratio?
• How is the teaching curriculum determined?
• What level of players are at the camp?
• What is the main area of focus?  What does your camp do best?
• What other activities are offered? and What type of supervision takes place?

Once you have completed your research, ask for references if neccessary  or check out an indpendent camp site that allows for ratings and comments.  One of the best of these sites is tennisresortsonline.com

@JasonPeck I am a current College coach at Ohio St. and former DIII college athlete. Does that help?

Interesing article on the out growth of sports camps to the winter season as well as the traditional summer season – http://tinyurl.com/ …

@ChrisMcKinney Let’s hope so. I have always felt that camps are “somewhat” recission resistant. We’ll see