Squirreltown

February 7, 2026

It’s just a guess but it seems that today is day number seventy-nine or so 79 days of delectable Planter’s peanuts laid out on the back porch for Tiny and his furry friends The protagonist and pesky character arrived early today and with an expression of great disdain seemed to mouth the McEnroe words “You […]

The Golden Nugget

February 6, 2026

In every life there are pinnacle moments when God smiles upon us and all is good For balance sake perhaps there are seasons of storms that rock the boat that once sailed so smoothly and lulled us into believing that He had wrapped us securely in a cocoon of contentment This cocoon is a mirage […]

One great new artist

January 21, 2026

There are more great new artists than ever and Imani Shiloh is terrific! Just click on address below. And…if you’re looking for a great read, try Braveing The Way by Laurel Fox   https://youtu.be/mVU3Gf_Q7No

Anam Cara

January 21, 2026

Anam Cara May you be blessed with good friends. May you learn to be a good friend to yourself. May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness. May this change you. May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in […]

Five decades

January 6, 2026

After nearly five decades of teaching/coaching adults and juniors focused on fun and improving, I’ve decided that I’ve become a bit like Robert Lansdorp. I’d rather have a root canal with no anesthesia than coddle unfocused, scatterbrained, pampered kids whose main goal is to disrupt classes with foolish shenanigans in an attempt to bring others […]

Mary

January 1, 2026

Mary booked a private lesson and arrived to be asked these two questions …”if you could improve one or two things today, what would they be? “ When she said backhand and serve, the second question was…”would you prefer that anything we explore today would be subtle and not damaging to brain cells?” ”Absolutely”, she […]

A Hollywood Coach

January 1, 2026

Al Secunda was a tennis coach to many of the stars in Hollywood. in a book he wrote, Al described a corrective technique for helping tame the turbulence often seen in the racquet with amateur players’ volleys. Most folks fifty years ago were familiar with stick horses that had the head of a horse atop […]

Hang time

January 1, 2026

The average hang time for punts in the NFL is 4.5 seconds. It gives players a chance to sprint toward the receiver and make an immediate tackle or distract him and cause a fumble. We used to go watch the finals of The Denver City Open annually to see players like Butch Buckholz, Larry Loeb, […]

Intensely Tennis

January 1, 2026

The year was 1977 and Randy Ross and Art Thomsen were conducting this two day tennis camp at Ken Caryl Ranch. I was invited to be one of the coaches and gladly accepted. It was a terrific weekend as players moved from court to court learning new ideas from six coaches. The most memorable image […]

Rafa

January 1, 2026

Footwork Often, I will gather players together at the net and have them repeat after me…. WE LOVE TO COMPETE WITH OUR FEET Our high school basketball coach, Bob McKendry, was fond of saying that ‘you play the way you practice.’ Far too often, tennis coaches feel like a dentist removing a tooth….we try to […]

Tim Mayotte

December 30, 2025

Was Tim Mayotte on to something? John Williams was the popular head tennis pro at Boulder Country Club in the good old days. He invited me to come up and attend a clinic and exhibition by Tim Mayotte who was ranked as high as #7 in the world while winning an Olympic silver medal and […]

Priorities

December 26, 2025

  I like to give players a little test on the important aspects of tennis. They are asked to put the five dimensions in the correct order of importance. Can you pass the test?   Depth Spin Power Consistency Direction  

Carlos Goffi

December 26, 2025

Carlos Goffi was a coach of a young left handed player from Douglaston, New York who became the number 1 player in the world. Can you name him? Goffi wrote the book Tournament Tough and is credited with using a stoplight concept to assist players in shot selection and point play. Many coaches  have, like […]

Focus

December 25, 2025

Be relentless about routines — they calm the chaos. Anonymous  

Eleanor

December 25, 2025

She’s a little pixie…this 8 year old. Eleanor seems to possess an innate respect for good form on the tennis court. Recently, we tried to expand her skills on the two handed backhand. I showed her how to hold the racquet choked up in her significant other hand (Welby Van Horn) and to toss the […]

Tom Cruise on steroids

December 15, 2025

Sally and I were in New York waiting between shifts to watch some US OPEN tennis. We took a seat on a bench and a friendly fella asked if he could join us. He introduced himself as Don Grensted from California and said he was a tennis teaching professional. In the course of our conversation, […]

Shakapotomous

December 12, 2025

A player has a well orchestrated backhand unit turn and makes an aggressive swing at the two hander. Occasionally, the ball finds the sweet spot and a beautiful topspin cross court finds its target. More often than not, the ball caroms with a thud from the bottom edge of the racquet and goes fifteen higher […]

Under siege at Inverness

December 12, 2025

The year was 1991 and Denver was invaded by millions of the dreaded Miller moths. At the Inverness club, they took a special liking to the indoor courts.  Those pesky intruders would camp out on the backdrops behind the courts. When players would enter the courts, hundreds of these agitated assassins would show their displeasure […]

Truncated

December 10, 2025

Truncated ….shortened in duration or extent. System 5 would identify a Madison Keys forehand preparation as a number 6-7…exceedingly lengthy. Most groundstrokes in the modern era finish over the opposite shoulder at a 4 or 5. What about those groundstrokes that are truncated on the through swing?  Pete Sampras at 10 years of age had […]

Pistol Pete and The Maestros

December 7, 2025

Pistol Pete Maravich played basketball for Louisiana State University and averaged over 44 points for thee years before there was a three point line.  If he’d played with a three point line, Pete would have averaged 57 points per game. He was the most dazzling player on the planet rivaled only by Michael J and […]